The benefits of mindfulness meditation, increasingly popular in recent years, are supposed to be many: reduced stress and risk for various diseases, improved well-being, a rewired brain. But the experimental bases to support these claims have been few. Supporters of the practice have relied on very small samples of unrepresentative subjects, like isolated Buddhist monks…
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Plan for Today: Workout Habits for Success
Massage therapy is a physically demanding job, especially on our hands and wrists. According to an article published in Arthritis Care & Research, exercise can protect against carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive stress injuries (RSIs).2 The article discusses a study in which participants who engaged in moderate exercise (such as half-hour walks) three or…
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The Rewarding Work of Massage for Addiction Recovery
Addiction is a powerful problem; more than 20 million Americans age 12 and older had a substance use disorder in 2015, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine. As Scearce spoke with MASSAGE Magazine about her experience working in a specialty facility with this clientele, one word came up over and over again: rewarding.…
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Consumers Drive Complementary and Alternative Medicine Movement
A growing number of hospitals are adding complementary or integrative therapies to their menu of services. One reason for the growth is the rise of consumerism in health care. “As patients want this, providers are being forced to help deliver some of these services,” says Andrew Ziskind, M.D., a senior vice president at Premier Academic…
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How to Avoid Running on Empty This Holiday Season
“There are lots of physiological benefits to massage therapy, but honestly, clients tell me they just feel a lot better after massage and that’s the most important reason they do it,” indicates O’Connor, a professional massage therapist herself. “Massage is the one thing that’s all about you. It’s one hour, out of 720 hours…
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