Massage and Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular disease is one of Australia’s largest health problems. The heart foundation Australia states it is the single leading cause of death and it affects 1 in 6 Australians. Cardiovascular disease includes all conditions involving the heart and blood vessels. Conditions include stroke, coronary heart disease and heart attack. (Heart foundation Australia website http://heartfoundation.org.au)

​Risk Factors for Cardiovascular disease

• High blood pressure
• High blood cholesterol
• Smoking
• Diabetes
• Overweight/Obesity
• Physical inactivity
• Family history
• Age

Improving cardiovascular health
The most obvious way to improve your cardiovascular health is by improving your lifestyle. For example, not smoking, regular exercise and a healthy diet.

​Massage may also play an important part in improving cardiovascular health?  
Massage has an impact on the autonomic nervous system, a system linked to cardiovascular health.  The autonomic nervous system has two states; the sympathetic (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic (rest and digest).  The sympathetic nervous system prepares our body for action in a stressful situation, by raising blood pressure and heart rate.  With modern day stresses it is not uncommon for our bodies to stay in this state for a prolonged period (sympathetic overload), therefore increasing our vulnerability to heart disease.  The benefit of massage is it activates the parasympathetic nervous system bringing the body back into a state of rest thus bringing down heart rate and blood pressure.

(Moderate Pressure Massage Elicits a Parasympathetic Nervous System Response, Miguel A. Diegoa* & Tiffany Field International Journal of Neuroscience  Volume 119, Issue 5, 2009)
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Research suggests a regular massage may help reduce blood pressure therefore adding a regular massage may help and improve your overall cardiovascular health.

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by Ben Hewitt