Deep, uninterrupted sleep is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. Without it, you become more easily stressed and you get both sick easier and take longer to recover. It allows your body to do essential maintenance work, ensuring that you’re at your best when you’re awake. It also has a very positive impact on your mind, helping to keep your emotional and mental state well-balanced. However, it’s increasingly common for people to either not get enough or not get good enough sleep. Fortunately, massage can help.

Relax into it

One of the disruptions to deep sleep is that the brain refuses to calm down. It’s a common enough story: You’re trying to go to sleep but something you read or heard just before you went to bed keeps running around in your mind. No matter how much you lie there in the dark, your eyes firmly shut, your mind just refuses to let you drift off to sleep.

A study found that those receiving regular massage had reduced levels of stress hormones in their system and even had reduced brain wave activity from the parts of the brain associated with work and stress. Put simply, the massages helped to reduce general stress levels, which helped people get to sleep to help reduce the stress levels even further.

What if I can’t get a massage right now?

There are a few things you can do to help you drift off to sleep easier, if you need a quick fix until you can arrange for a massage. Studies found that even just 15 minutes of quite basic massage treatment helped, though it wasn’t as effective as a full hour with a professional masseuse. They also found that a bit of self-care could do wonders, and even something as simple as a vibrating automatic massage chair would theoretically have at least a slight benefit.

Massaging your hands with nice-smelling lotion or oil can help get you started on the road to a good night’s sleep. After that the next step is to, gently massaging your forehead, temples, nose and chin. Using the backs of your hands to massage your neck will not only help wipe off excess lotion, but is also relaxing. You can complete the process by rubbing your jaw muscles and your ears before stroking the bridge of your nose and the top of your head.