Spa Therapy To Help Alleviate Arthritis Symptoms

Independent article submission by Liz Thomson, Health & Content Specialist

Spa therapy is a wellness treatment that includes various massage techniques. It gained popularity after World War II in Europe and the United States for getting relief from torment and wounds. People often relate to massage and spa as a luxury service, but it offers more than just relaxation and pampering sessions. It has some incredible benefits that help heal your body, relieving body aches, and increasing productivity. One such use of spa therapy is its ability to reduce arthritis symptoms. 

Arthritis is the inflammation of one or more joints that cause stiffness, swelling, fatigue, and joint pain. There are many treatments for arthritis, like surgery and medications, but spa therapy can be one easy way to get relief from joint stiffness. It involves pressurized hand movements, along with some essential oil. 

Here are a few spa therapies that can help reduce arthritis symptoms.

1. Swedish

This is a popular massage type most suitable to loosen muscle knots and any stress in the joints. Swedish massage helps relax your mind and reduce anxiety. The masseur uses long, kneading strokes in the heart's direction, known as petrissage stroke, that focuses on the underlying muscles. It is mostly done without any lubricant for a better grip and kneading of the muscles. 

 The pressure applied can be painful for some, so you can ask the practitioner to reduce the pressure as per your pain threshold. An effective petrissage massage helps relieve muscle tension, increase blood circulation, and enhance movement range. 

 For a smooth massage, therapists also use oil or lotion along with the hand movements. You can ask for a massage using CBD-infused oil, an excellent oil known for its anti-inflammatory properties. Getting a spa therapy using CBD oil will help decompress your muscle, increase blood circulation, and flexibility. Thus, getting 40 mins of a Swedish massage can bring you relief from arthritis. You should make sure that your CBD oil is of supreme quality procured through a licensed, trusted canadian weed dispensary. 

 2. Shiatsu

 This is a famous Japanese style of stroking that concentrates on the whole body but specifically on the body regions that need attention. A shiatsu massage assists in diminishing muscle tightness and elevates the mind and body relaxation. The massagist applies regular or pulsing force using their palms and fingers. 

 Shiatsu practitioners believe that shiatsu massage helps balance qi's flow (the life force in every human). A typical shiatsu massage lasts for 60 to 90 minutes, and you can keep your clothes on as no oil is required.

3. Lymphatic massage

Proper lymph flow is vital in maintaining good health. Lymphatic massage can help deal with conditions like arthritis, orthopedic injuries, knee or hip surgery, and systemic sclerosis by focusing on lymph flow. Fitness enthusiasts sometimes use this spa therapy as a post-exercise recovery treatment. 

 Scientific studies show incredible benefits of lymphatic massage in reducing swelling, fatigue, lymphedema, and increasing blood circulation throughout the lymphatic system. Therapists apply gentle patterned strokes along with essential oils like citrus or geranium oil, which acts as lymphatic stimulants. This massage helps release the excess fluid from the inflammatory process occurring in the body. Thus, arthritic patients can find relief in their joint and muscle pain after a lymphatic massage session.

  4. Reiki

 Reiki therapy is a kind of acupuncture therapy based on the theory of the flow of life energy in every person. Any disruption in the flow can lead to pain and health concerns. Reiki therapy boosts vitality by controlling the proper flow of energy in the body. 

Therapists use light hand touch on your body, which stimulates the healing process. During this massage therapy, you need to lie down comfortably, and the practitioner guides your energy to the specific joints using certain hand positions. A Reiki session lasts typically between 60 and 90 minutes.

5. Aromatherapy massage

Aromatherapy helps enhance the emotional wellbeing of a person. This spa therapy might not cure arthritis but helps reduce the pain level. The different scents used during aromatherapy stimulates the smell receptors in the nose, activating the nervous system. It also releases the feel-good hormone called dopamine, which controls the emotions.

 Essential oils play an important role in aromatherapy. They are used as scent and also mixed with lotions to apply during the massage. You can try aromatherapy using the lavender essential oil, which has a very soothing and relaxing scent. It has anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties that enhance overall relaxation. 

Aromatherapy is very efficient in overcoming anxiety, easing muscle tension, and discomfort. The massager will apply gentle pressure while massaging an essential oil onto your skin. While undergoing a massage, you will also be inhaling essential oils through a diffuser that gets absorbed into the skin. A full-body aromatherapy spa will relieve the muscle tension of the entire body. You can still ask the therapist to focus on problematic areas like the back, shoulders, and joints. A good aromatherapy massage lasts for 60 to 90 mins.

Conclusion:

 These are the different spa therapies that a person with arthritis can go for. A therapy best suited for you will depend on the degree of pain and the area that required treatment. Based on your problematic region, a therapist will recommend the right arthritis massage for you.

 Always indulge in spa therapy at a reputed massage center with qualified practitioners. Most people get relief from a massage. However, along with your massage therapy, continue to follow the instructions given by your physiotherapist for better results.

https://www.everydayhealth.com/conditions/massages-for-arthritis-pain/

https://www.healthline.com/health/osteoarthritis/arthritis-natural-relief

Brain noise contains unique signature of dream sleep

First EEG measure of REM sleep allows scientists to distinguish dreaming from wakefulness

August 6, 2020

Science Daily/University of California - Berkeley

Dream or REM sleep is distinguished by rapid eye movement and absence of muscle tone, but electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings are indistinguishable from those of an awake brain. Neuroscientists have now found an EEG signature of REM sleep, allowing scientists for the first time to distinguish dreaming from wakefulness through brain activity alone. This could help in determining the prognosis for coma patients, and allow study of the impact of anesthesia on dreaming.

When we dream, our brains are filled with noisy electrical activity that looks nearly identical to that of the awake brain.

But University of California, Berkeley, researchers have pulled a signal out of the noise that uniquely defines dreaming, or REM sleep, potentially making it easier to monitor people with sleep disorders, as well as unconscious coma patients or those under anesthesia.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people undergo overnight studies to diagnose problems with their sleep, most of them hooked up to an electroencephalogram (EEG) to monitor brain activity as they progress from wakefulness to deep, slow-wave sleep and on into REM sleep. But EEGs alone can not tell whether a patient is awake or dreaming: Doctors can only distinguish REM sleep by recording rapid eye movement -- hence, the name -- and muscle tone, since our bodies relax in a general paralysis to prevent us from acting out our dreams.

"We really now have a metric that precisely tells you when you are in REM sleep. It is a universal metric of being unconscious," said Robert Knight, UC Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience and senior author of a paper describing the research that was published July 28 in the online journal eLife.

"These new findings show that, buried in the electrical static of the human brain, there is something utterly unique -- a simple signature," said co-author and sleep researcher Matthew Walker, UC Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience. "And if we measure that simple electrical signature, for the first time, we can precisely determine exactly what state of consciousness someone is experiencing -- dreaming, wide awake, anesthetized or in deep sleep."

The ability to distinguish REM sleep by means of an EEG will allow doctors to monitor people under anesthesia during surgery to explore how narcotic-induced unconsciousness differs from normal sleep -- a still-unsettled question. That's the main reason first author Janna Lendner, a medical resident in anesthesiology, initiated the study.

"We often tell our patients that, 'You will go to sleep now,' and I was curious how much these two states actually overlap," said Lendner, a UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow in her fourth year of residency in anesthesiology at the University Medical Center in Tübingen, Germany. "Anesthesia can have some side effects. If we learn a little bit about how they overlap -- maybe anesthesia hijacks some sleep pathways -- we might be able to improve anesthesia in the long run."

Sleep soothes the brain

Sleep, as Walker wrote in his 2017 book, "Why we Sleep," "enriches a diversity of functions, including our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions and choices. Benevolently servicing our psychological health, sleep recalibrates our emotional brain circuits, allowing us to navigate next-day social and psychological challenges with cool-headed composure."

Disrupted sleep interferes with all of this, increasing the risk of medical, psychiatric and neurological diseases.

Most sleep research focuses on the synchronized, rhythmic waves that flow through the neural network of the brain, from the slow waves that signal deep sleep, typically in the first few hours of the night, to the higher frequency waves typical of dream sleep. These waves pop out above a lot of general activity, also called the 1/f, that has typically been dismissed as noise and ignored.

But Knight and his lab have been looking at this "noise" for a decade and found that it contains useful information about the state of the brain. In 2015, for example, he and Bradley Voytek, a former doctoral student now on the faculty at UC San Diego, discovered that the amount of high frequency activity increases with age. Lendner has now found that a faster drop-off of high-frequency activity, relative to low-frequency activity, is a unique signature of REM sleep.

"There is this background activity, which is not rhythmic, and we have overlooked that for quite a long time," Lendner said. "Sometimes, it has been called noise, but it is not noise; it carries a lot of information, also about the underlying arousal level. This measure makes it possible to distinguish REM sleep from wakefulness by looking only at the EEG."

Since slow waves are associated with inhibition of activity in the brain, while high frequency activity -- like that found during wakefulness -- is associated with excitatory behavior, the sharper drop-off may be an indication that many activities in the brain, including those related to muscle movement, are being tamped down during REM sleep.

The new measure quantifies the relationship of brain activity at different frequencies -- how much activity there is at frequencies from about 1 cycle per second to 50 cycles per second -- and determines the slope, that is, how fast the spectrum drops. This 1/f "drop-off" is sharper in REM sleep than in wakefulness or when under anesthesia.

Lendner found this characteristic measure in the nighttime brain activity of 20 people recorded via EEG scalp electrodes in Walker's UC Berkeley sleep lab and in 10 people who had electrodes placed in their brains to search for the causes of epilepsy as a necessary prologue to brain surgery to alleviate seizures.

She also recorded brain activity in 12 epilepsy patients and 9 other patients undergoing spinal surgery with the common general anesthetic Propofol.

Lendner is now reviewing brain recordings from coma patients to see how their brain activity varies over the course of a day and whether the 1/f drop-off can be used to indicate the likelihood of emergence from coma.

"More importantly, I think it is another metric for evaluating states of coma," Knight said. "1/f is very sensitive. It could resolve, for instance, if someone was in a minimally conscious state, and they are not moving, and whether they are more alert than you think they are."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200806164652.htm

Green light therapy shown to reduce migraine frequency, intensity

September 10, 2020

Science Daily/University of Arizona Health Sciences

New research from the University of Arizona Health Sciences found that people who suffer from migraine may benefit from green light therapy, which was shown to reduce the frequency and intensity of headaches and improve patient quality of life.

According to the Migraine Research Foundation, migraine is the third most prevalent illness in the world, affecting 39 million people in the United States and 1 billion worldwide.

"This is the first clinical study to evaluate green light exposure as a potential preventive therapy for patients with migraine, " said Mohab Ibrahim, MD, PhD, lead author of the study, an associate professor in the UArizona College of Medicine -- Tucson's Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, and Neurosurgery and director of the Chronic Pain Management Clinic. "As a physician, this is really exciting. Now I have another tool in my toolbox to treat one of the most difficult neurological conditions -- migraine."

Overall, green light exposure reduced the number of headache days per month by an average of about 60%. A majority of study participants -- 86% of episodic migraine patients and 63% of chronic migraine patients -- reported a more than 50% reduction in headache days per month. Episodic migraine is characterized by up to 14 headache days per month, while chronic migraine is 15 or more headache days per month.

"The overall average benefit was statistically significant. Most of the people were extremely happy," Dr. Ibrahim said of the participants, who were given light strips and instructions to follow while completing the study at home. "One of the ways we measured participant satisfaction was, when we enrolled people, we told them they would have to return the light at the end of the study. But when it came to the end of the study, we offered them the option to keep the light, and 28 out of the 29 decided to keep the light."

Dr. Ibrahim and co-author Amol Patwardhan, MD, PhD, who are affiliated with the UArizona Health Sciences Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center, have been studying the effects of green light exposure for several years. This initial clinical study included 29 people, all of whom experience episodic or chronic migraine and failed multiple traditional therapies, such as oral medications and Botox injections.

"Despite recent advances, the treatment of migraine headaches is still a challenge," said Dr. Patwardhan, an associate professor and the vice chair of research in the Department of Anesthesiology. "The use of a nonpharmacological therapy such as green light can be of tremendous help to a variety of patients that either do not want to be on medications or do not respond to them. The beauty of this approach is the lack of associated side effects. If at all, it appears to improve sleep and other quality of life measures."

During the study, patients were exposed to white light for one to two hours a day for 10 weeks. After a two-week break, they were exposed to green light for 10 weeks. They completed regular surveys and questionnaires to track the number of headaches they experienced and the intensity of those headaches, as well as quality of life measurements such as the ability to fall and stay asleep or to perform work.

Using a numeric pain scale of 0 to 10, participants noted that green light exposure resulted in a 60% reduction in pain, from 8 to 3.2. Green light therapy also shortened the duration of headaches, and it improved participants' ability to fall and stay asleep, perform chores, exercise, and work.

None of the study participants reported any side effects of green light exposure.

"In this trial, we treated green light as a drug," Dr. Ibrahim said. "It's not any green light. It has to be the right intensity, the right frequency, the right exposure time and the right exposure methods. Just like with medications, there is a sweet spot with light."

Dr. Ibrahim has been contacted by physicians from as far away as Europe, Africa and Asia, all asking for the green light parameters and schematic design for their own patients.

"As you can imagine, LED light is cheap," he said. "Especially in places where resources are not that available and people have to think twice before they spend their money, when you offer something affordable, it's a good option to try."

The paper, "Evaluation of green light exposure on headache frequency and quality of life in migraine patients: A preliminary one-way cross-over clinical trial," was published online by Cephalalgia, the journal of the International Headache Society.

"These are great findings, but this is where the story begins," Dr. Ibrahim said. "As a scientist, I am really interested in how this works because if I understand the mechanism, then I can utilize it for other conditions. I can use it as a tool to manipulate the biological systems to achieve as much as we can."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200910090016.htm

Gut microbiome plays important role in sleep regulation

Transplanted bacteria from sleep-apnea mice caused sleep changes in recipient mice

September 23, 2020

Science Daily/University of Missouri-Columbia

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a chronic sleep condition affecting more than one billion people worldwide. Evidence suggests OSA can alter the gut microbiome (GM) and may promote OSA-associated co-morbidities, including diabetes, hypertension and cognitive problems. Researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and MU Health Care have discovered how OSA-related sleep disturbances affect the gut microbiome in mice and how transplanting those gut bacteria into other mice can cause changes to sleep patterns in the recipient mice.

David Gozal, MD, the Marie M. and Harry L. Smith Endowed Chair of Child Health at the MU School of Medicine, said the study shows the gut microbiome plays a major role in sleep regulation. This ultimately could translate into treatments that target the gut microbiome in humans with OSA.

"By manipulating the gut microbiome, or the byproducts of the gut microbiota, we would be in a position to prevent or at least palliate some of the consequences of sleep apnea," said Gozal, the lead author of the study. "For example, if we combine continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) with customized probiotics that change the patient's gut microbiome, we might be able to eliminate some of the tiredness and fatigue and reduce the likelihood of the comorbidities associated with OSA that affect cognition, memory, cardiovascular disease or metabolic dysfunction. If we can do any one of those things, then this is a major movement forward in the way we treat OSA."

The study exposed male mice to either room air or intermittent hypoxia -- a condition in which the body doesn't get enough oxygen -- designed to mimic OSA. After six weeks, researchers collected fecal material from all of the rodents. A third group of mice was divided up and given either a fecal transplant from the mice breathing room air or those exposed to intermittent hypoxia. The transplanted mice underwent sleep recordings for three consecutive days. Researchers found the mice who received transplants from the intermittent hypoxia group slept longer and slept more often during their normal period of wakefulness, suggesting increased sleepiness.

"This is the first study that evaluated sleep in naïve mice subjected to a fecal microbiome transplant from mice exposed to intermittent hypoxia," Gozal said. "The fecal microbiome analysis showed profile differences between the mice transplanted from intermittent hypoxia donor mice versus those exposed to room air, indicating that the transplant altered the GM of the recipient mice."

Emerging evidence suggests the GM can influence health and sleep quality through the brain-gut microbiome axis (BGMA). The next step is to study the mechanism involved in the relationship between the brain and the gut to determine how changes in the gut microbiome can affect sleep structure and, in turn, how OSA can contribute to co-morbidities.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200923124804.htm

Ten minutes of massage or rest will help your body fight stress

September 18, 2020

Science Daily/University of Konstanz

Allowing yourself a few minutes of downtime significantly boosts mental and physical relaxation. Research by psychologists at the University of Konstanz observed higher levels of psychological and physiological relaxation in people after only ten minutes of receiving a massage. Even ten minutes of simple rest increased relaxation, albeit to a lesser degree than massage. The findings, reported on 8 September 2020 in the journal Scientific Reports, provide the first indication that short-term treatments can robustly reduce stress on a psychological and physiological level by boosting the body's principal engine for relaxation -- the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).

Stress is known to have negative consequences for health and disease. However, our bodies have an inbuilt regenerative system, the PNS, to ward off stress during times of threat. Launching a relaxation response is thus key to protecting our health and restoring balance in our body. Massage has been used to improve relaxation, yet no systematic approach exists to robustly confirm its effect on the PNS and whether or not this could be used as rehabilitation for patients suffering from stress-related disease.

Boosting the body's engine for relaxation 

This study indicates that massage is an easy-to-apply intervention that can boost the body's principal engine for relaxation -- the PNS -- and also lead to a reduction in perceived mental stress. The discovery that massage is effective on the level of both psychology and physiology via the PNS will pave the way for future studies on understanding the role of relaxation on stress.

"To get a better handle on the negative effects of stress, we need to understand its opposite -- relaxation," says Jens Pruessner, head of the Neuropsychology lab and Professor at the Cluster of Excellence "Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour" at the University of Konstanz. "Relaxation therapies show great promise as a holistic way to treat stress, but more systematic scientific appraisal of these methods is needed."

Standardised testing approach 

Researchers from the Department of Psychology in Konstanz developed a standardised approach for testing if tactile stimulation could improve mental and physical relaxation. They applied two different ten-minute massages on human subjects in the laboratory to test: A head-and-neck massage was designed to actively stimulate the PNS by applying moderate pressure on the vagal nerve, which is the largest nerve running to the PNS. Then a neck-and-shoulder massage with soft stroking movements was designed to examine whether just touch can also be relaxing. Finally, a control group of participants sitting quietly at a table was tested for the effect of rest without tactile stimulation. Physiological relaxation was gauged by monitoring the heart rate of participants and measuring heart rate variability (HRV), which indicates how flexibly the PNS can respond to changes in the environment. The higher the HRV, the more relaxed is the body. Psychological relaxation was gauged by asking participants to describe how relaxed or stressed they feel.

Ten minutes of resting or receiving either massage resulted in psychological and physiological reduction in stress. All participants reported that they felt more relaxed, and less stressed, compared with before the treatments. Further, all participants showed significant increases in heart rate variability, which demonstrates that the PNS was activated and the body physiologically relaxed just by resting alone. The physiological effect was more pronounced when participants received a massage. It was, however, not important whether the massage was soft or moderate -- tactile contact in general seemed to improve the relaxation of the body.

Small moments with big impact 

"We are very encouraged by the findings that short periods of dis-engagement are enough to relax not just the mind but also the body," says Maria Meier, a doctoral student in the lab of Neuropsychology and first author on the study. "You don't need a professional treatment in order to relax. Having somebody gently stroke your shoulders, or even just resting your head on the table for ten minutes, is an effective way to boost your body's physiological engine of relaxation."

By developing a standardised method for robustly testing and validating relaxation therapies, the study allows further experiments to test the effects of additional relaxation interventions that could be used in prevention or rehabilitation programmes for people suffering from stress-related diseases such as depression.

"Massage, being such a commonly used relaxation therapy, was our first study," says Meier. "Our next step is to test if other short interventions, like breathing exercises and meditation, show similar psychological and physiological relaxation results."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200918104305.htm

The key to happiness: Friends or family?

The answer may surprise you

September 17, 2020

Science Daily/Southern Methodist University

Think spending time with your kids and spouse is the key to your happiness? You may actually be happier getting together with your friends, said SMU psychology professor Nathan Hudson.

Hudson's research finds that people report higher levels of well-being while hanging with their friends than they do with their romantic partner or children. In fact, being around romantic partners predicted the least amount of happiness among these three groups, reveals a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Hudson stressed, however, that the finding has more to do with the activity than the person it is shared with. That's because people tend to spend more of their time doing enjoyable activities with friends than they do with family members, who occasionally find themselves together doing unpleasant tasks like chores or caretaking duties.

"Our study suggests that this doesn't have to do with the fundamental nature of kith versus kin relationships," he said. "When we statistically controlled for activities, the 'mere presence' of children, romantic partners, and friends predicted similar levels of happiness. Thus, this paper provides an optimistic view of family and suggests that people genuinely enjoy their romantic partners and children."

More than 400 study participants were asked to think back on times with their friends or family -- identify the activity they shared -- and rate whether those experiences left them feeling various emotions, such as happy, satisfied, and with a sense of meaning. Each emotion was rated from 0 (almost never) to 6 (almost always).

This information and other responses about how study participants felt at different times allowed Hudson and his co-authors, Richard E. Lucas and M. Brent Donnellan, to estimate rates of happiness with their friends and family. Lucas and Donnellan are both from Michigan State University.

The activities people most frequently perform while they're with their romantic partners include socializing, relaxing, and eating. People tend to do similar activities when they are with their friends, too. They just do a lot more of these enjoyable tasks while hanging with their friends and a lot less housework, the study found. For instance, 65 percent of experiences with friends involved socializing, but only 28 percent of the time shared with partners.

Spending time with their children also meant more time doing things that had a negative association, such as housework and commuting.

However, the activity that people reported most often with their offspring -- childcare -- was viewed positively. And overall, people report feeling similar levels of well-being while in the presence of friends, partners, and children once the activity was taken out of the equation.

There's a lesson here, Hudson said. "It's important to create opportunities for positive experiences with romantic partners and children -- and to really mentally savor those positive times. In contrast, family relationships that involve nothing but chores, housework, and childcare likely won't predict a lot of happiness."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200917084049.htm

People react better to both negative and positive events with more sleep

September 15, 2020

Science Daily/University of British Columbia

New research from UBC finds that after a night of shorter sleep, people react more emotionally to stressful events the next day -- and they don't find as much joy in the good things. The study, led by health psychologist Nancy Sin, looks at how sleep affects our reaction to both stressful and positive events in daily life.

"When people experience something positive, such as getting a hug or spending time in nature, they typically feel happier that day," says Nancy Sin, assistant professor in UBC's department of psychology. "But we found that when a person sleeps less than their usual amount, they don't have as much of a boost in positive emotions from their positive events."

People also reported a number of stressful events in their daily lives, including arguments, social tensions, work and family stress, and being discriminated against. When people slept less than usual, they responded to these stressful events with a greater loss of positive emotions. This has important health implications: previous research by Sin and others shows that being unable to maintain positive emotions in the face of stress puts people at risk of inflammation and even an earlier death.

Using daily diary data from a national U.S. sample of almost 2,000 people, Sin analyzed sleep duration and how people responded to negative and positive situations the next day. The participants reported on their experiences and the amount of sleep they had the previous night in daily telephone interviews over eight days.

"The recommended guideline for a good night's sleep is at least seven hours, yet one in three adults don't meet this standard," says Sin. "A large body of research has shown that inadequate sleep increases the risk for mental disorders, chronic health conditions, and premature death. My study adds to this evidence by showing that even minor night-to-night fluctuations in sleep duration can have consequences in how people respond to events in their daily lives."

Chronic health conditions -- such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer -- are prevalent among adults, especially as we grow older. Past research suggests that people with health conditions are more reactive when faced with stressful situations, possibly due to wear-and-tear of the physiological stress systems.

"We were also interested in whether adults with chronic health conditions might gain an even larger benefit from sleep than healthy adults," says Sin. "For those with chronic health conditions, we found that longer sleep -- compared to one's usual sleep duration -- led to better responses to positive experiences on the following day."

Sin hopes that by making sleep a priority, people can have a better quality of life and protect their long-term health.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200915121310.htm

When doing good boosts health, well-being

Acts of kindness benefit givers, study finds

September 3, 2020

Science Daily/American Psychological Association

Performing acts of kindness and helping other people can be good for people's health and well-being, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. But not all good-hearted behavior is equally beneficial to the giver. The strength of the link depends on many factors, including the type of kindness, the definition of well-being, and the giver's age, gender and other demographic factors.

The study was published in the journal Psychological Bulletin.

"Prosocial behavior -- altruism, cooperation, trust and compassion -- are all necessary ingredients of a harmonious and well-functioning society," said lead author Bryant P.H. Hui, PhD, a research assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong. "It is part of the shared culture of humankind, and our analysis shows that it also contributes to mental and physical health."

Previous studies have suggested that people who engage in more prosocial behavior are happier and have better mental and physical health than those who don't spend as much time helping others. However, not all studies have found evidence for that link, and the strength of the connection varies widely in the research literature.

To better understand what drives that variation, Hui and his colleagues performed a meta-analysis of 201 independent studies, comprising 198,213 total participants, that looked at the connection between prosocial behavior and well-being. Overall, they found that there was a modest link between the two. Although the effect size was small, it is still meaningful, according to Hui, given how many people perform acts of kindness every day.

"More than a quarter of Americans volunteer, for example," he said. "A modest effect size can still have a significant impact at a societal level when many people are participating in the behavior."

Digging deeper into the research, Hui and his colleagues found that random acts of kindness, such as helping an older neighbor carry groceries, were more strongly associated with overall well-being than formal prosocial behavior, such as scheduled volunteering for a charity. That may be because informal helping is more casual and spontaneous and may more easily lead to forming social connections, according to Hui. Informal giving is also more varied and less likely to become stale or monotonous, he said.

The researchers also found a stronger link between kindness and what is known as eudaimonic well-being (which focuses on self-actualization, realizing one's potential and finding meaning in life), than between kindness and hedonic well-being (which refers to happiness and positive feelings).

The effects varied by age, according to Hui, who began this research at the University of Cambridge. Younger givers reported higher levels of overall well-being, eudaimonic well-being, and psychological functioning, while older givers reported higher levels of physical health. Also, women showed stronger relationships between prosociality and several measures of well-being compared with men -- perhaps because women are stereotypically expected to be more caring and giving, and thus derive a stronger sense of good feelings for acting in accordance with those social norms, according to the study.

Finally, the researchers found that studies that were specifically designed to measure the connection between prosociality and well-being showed a stronger link between the two than studies that analyzed data from other large surveys not specifically designed to study the topic.

Future research should examine several other potentially important moderators that the research literature has largely ignored so far, the researchers suggest -- for example, the potential effects of givers' ethnicity and social class. Researchers might also examine whether more prosociality is always a good thing, or whether there is an "ideal level" of prosociality beyond which too much kindness and giving become detrimental to the giver, according to Hui.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200903095622.htm

How to do a Mind Spa at Home

Independent submission by Liz Thomson, Health & Content Specialist

Have you wondered at some time of your day, that “I should get some relaxing time”? Get everything off the mind. De-stress and forget about all the pesky issues. Right now, you might think that going to a spa is a great way to do it.

But in this age of coronavirus looming at every nook and corner outside, it is better to avoid such services. You can get yourself a beautiful mind spa at your home too. Here are a few simple steps on how to do a mind spa at your home.

l Put On Some Music and Lights

The first thing you can do is to re-create a spa-like atmosphere. Get a playlist made of spa music, or your favorite music can do the work too. Whatever makes you feel comfortable and helps you to relax is your playlist. 

Switch on the ambient lights and switch off the bright lights. If you have fancy candles, you can use them too. Lovely smelling candles will do the job perfectly of creating a spa-like mood.

l Get Some Essence To Amp Up Your Mood

The most recognizable aspect of any spa is “the heavenly smell.” The beautiful essences take-over your mind and help to unwind. Get yourself a diffuser; it is beneficial in day to day life.

Lavender, sandalwood, cedarwood, or lemongrass essential oils are the perfect choice to lower your anxieties and stress.

l Clear Mind

Clearing the mind is easier said than done. Anxieties, stress, and overwhelming thoughts leading to depression are the most significant contributors to mental disorders.

You can also get yourself a medical marijuana card and buy some good medical weed from the marijuana dispensary. It is medically proven that medical marijuana can lower stress, anxiety, and depression.

l Give A Good Scrub To Your Body

Scrubbing your body will remove all the dirt, grime, and dead skin over the body. It will also help to stimulate healthy and glowing skin. You can use DIY body scrubs from your kitchen.

If you are lazy enough, body scrub of your favorite brand will do the job too. Apply scrub and gently not harshly massage your skin. Feel the blood rushing to your skin, making it supple and watch all the dirt that washes away.

l Perform Light Head Massage

Head massages are euphoric. Even a single head massage will eliminate your thoughts and will make you sleepy. Pour the right amount of coconut or almond oil over your head. Rub the scalp gently until you forget your worries.

l Mask Your Hair

Oils are an excellent mask for your hair. If you have already done a head massage and want more pampering – get yourself a lavish hair mask or a deep conditioner. Let your mane soak all the goodness.

l Master Simple Facial for Your Face

A home facial doesn’t need to be complicated or hard as you get one in your spa. For your face, you can follow a simple everyday routine. The best is a three-step face routine to cleanse, scrub, and mask your face with any desired product or DIY ingredient.

l Take A Satisfying Soak In Bathtub

Nothing beats like one satisfying dip in warm bathwater. You can add bath salts, bath bombs, flowers, and even milk like Cleopatra in your bathtub. Soak your body and feel all the pain, worries, and mind wrecking thoughts wash away.

 You can plug-in Mind Spa therapy to help your mind to undergo a deeply relaxed state. Let the mind and your body feel the comfort of your at-home spa treatment.

l Moisturize

The last but essential step is to moisturize your face and body. After a good spa day, you are always left with deeply moisturized skin. So don’t forget the moisturizing routine for healthy skin. Always drink water or calming chamomile tea to keep in all the hydration.

l Get Some Shut-Eye Time

After a luxurious time spent in self-care and pampering, if possible, take a good nap or sleep. Give your body and mind a well-deserved break. 

Takeaway

Self-care is one of the great ways to promote happiness. It is one of the sayings that you are essential and a well-deserved human being. Having a pure spa at home can work wonders on your mind and body.