Pregnancy Massage: More than low back relief: Non-Physical Issues

Our society tends to love focusing on the physical while ignoring the mental and emotional. Unfortunately a body is just a shell, while it takes thoughts and emotions to turn that shell into a person. Pregnancy can not only do a number on a body's physical state, it can also have a huge effect on the mental and emotional part of the body as well, but that part is often ignored or considered too "taboo" to discuss.

Pregnancy doesn't just cause visual, structural changes to the body. Extra hormones change not only how the body feels, but can also mess with emotions and mental states. Add into this the normal mental stress of worrying about the pregnancy itself, health, changes in lifestyle, delivery and the future, other family considerations - stress and mental overload is there even though it may not be visible. All of these are also affecting the ability to think, make decisions, and sleep, even if mom can find a comfortable position to lay in!

How massage helps:

Massage can help calm the mind and give mom some much needed quiet time to herself. It forces her to stop moving, stop thinking, and just relax and allow herself to rest. Massage can also help balance the hormones by releasing more "good" hormones such as serotonin and dopamine to combat the stress hormones like cortisol and help mom feel more "normal" and less tired and brain-foggy.

What you can do on your own:

• Allow yourself to be ok with feeling overwhelmed: Women especially are expected to "suck it up and keep going" and showing any cracks is considered a sign of weakness, which means they surpress how they really feel to keep up a brave front. Even if keeping up a brave strong front is required, try to accept that it is ok to not feel the greatest, and take time on your own in private to care for your mental state as needed.

• Meditation or "Me Time": Set aside a small time to be alone with thoughts and do whatever is needed - meditation, sitting in silence, or even taking some time to cry, journal, or whatever is needed to take time for yourself. Nobody else can experience what is going on in your head and body, so take a little time for yourself to to what you need. Even if it is simply a few minutes alone before going to bed, or waking up to sit in the early sunshine before the rest of the house wakes up. A few minutes of peace can do wonders.

• Give yourself permission to ask for help: Sometimes women want to stay strong and handle it all themselves, but growing a new person is a huge task - physically and mentally. It is not weak or a sign of failure to ask for help - with tasks, with someone to talk to, with anything. Sometimes a little help in the right area can make you stronger than going it alone.

Don't wait until the end of the pregnancy to start getting massage!

Self-care is often thought of as a luxury or a treat, or at worst case, a necessity once things get really bad. Taking care of ones self mentally and emotionally is just as important, and can have even more powerful results as taking care of the physical issues. Massage is just one small way to care for the whole body - physical and emotional, helping the whole person during this exciting, albeit challenging time.

This article is part of the series, "Pregnancy Massage: More than low back relief". Read more articles about pregnancy and the benefits of prenatal massage here.