20 Whole Body Wellness Health Benefits of Fasting
1. Improves Body Composition and Fitness
2. Promotes Greater Satiety
3. Boosts Your Metabolism
4. Supports Fat Loss and Ketosis
5. Encourages Better Insulin Sensitivity
6. Improves Cardiovascular Health
7. Lowers Blood Pressure
8. Decreases Blood Sugar
9. Improves Blood Triglycerides
10. Promotes Heart Health
11. May Slow Aging and Enhance Longevity
12. Decreases Inflammation
13. Increases Resistance to Oxidative Stress
14. Improves Cell Recycling
15. Increases Growth Regulation
16. Protects Your Brain
17. Reduces Harmful Protein Production
18. Promotes a Healthy Stress Response
19. Enhances Recovery From Injury
20. Supports Healthier Collagen in Skin
Massage Away Depression and Anxiety
A friendly touch can do wonders for boosting your mental health
What it is: Massage therapists use arm, hand, fingertip, and elbow pressure to treat physical and emotional problems. The word massage comes from the Arabic word mass’h, which means “press gently.”
What traditional medicine says: Therapeutic massage was first described in China about 2,500 years ago. Around 400 bc, the Greek healer Hippocrates used massage to treat sprains. Most of the world’s medical systems, including Chinese medicine and India’s Ayurveda, developed their own versions.
What we know: Researchers at the University of Miami followed 37 breast cancer patients who received massage therapy or practiced progressive muscle relaxation for five weeks. Women in the massage group reported feeling less depressed and angry, and they had more energy. In a University of South Florida study of high blood pressure patients, those who got 10-minute massages three times a week for three weeks lowered their higher number by 11 points.
What new research shows: A review of more than a dozen massage studies conducted by the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine concludes that massage therapy relieves depression and anxiety by affecting the body’s biochemistry. In a series of studies including about 500 men, women, and children with depression or stress problems, researchers measured the stress hormone cortisol in participants before and immediately after massage and found that the therapy lowered levels by up to 53%. (Cortisol can drive up blood pressure and blood sugar levels and suppress the immune system.) Massage also increased serotonin and dopamine, neurotransmitters that help reduce depression.