10 Science-Backed Benefits of Massage Therapy (From Two Retired Massage Therapists)

Did you know massage therapy isn't just relaxation—it's legitimate health care?

In this episode, we (both retired massage therapists with 40+ combined years of experience) break down the 10 science-backed benefits of massage therapy and why you should be getting bodywork at least once a month—not just when you're on vacation.

10 Benefits of Massage Therapy:

1. Reduces muscle tension & stiffness – From poor posture, repetitive stress (desk work, phone scrolling), and compensation patterns. Massage re-educates muscles to relax and function properly.

2. Improves circulation – Delivers oxygen and nutrients to tissues more efficiently. That post-massage redness? Increased blood flow doing its job.

3. Decreases stress & cortisol – Healthy touch increases oxytocin (the feel-good hormone) and lowers cortisol. One hour of massage = one hour of reduced stress hormones.

4. Supports pain management – Whether chronic (arthritis, fibromyalgia, back pain) or acute (car accidents, sports injuries), massage reduces pain and speeds recovery.

5. Enhances flexibility & range of motion – Releases tension in connective tissue so you move better. Athletes perform better. Post-surgery patients heal faster.

6. Boosts mood – Increases serotonin and dopamine (neurotransmitters for happiness). You don't need a phone scroll for a dopamine hit—get a massage instead.

7. Promotes better sleep – Especially for people with insomnia or high stress. The serotonin release helps you sleep deeper and recover better.

8. Speeds injury recovery – Reduces inflammation, increases blood flow, and helps tissues heal faster. We share real stories: high school wrestlers between matches, a knee replacement patient walking pain-free in 3 weeks, a twisted ankle on Pike's Peak.

9. Supports immune function – Massage improves lymphatic flow, which helps your body eliminate waste and reduce swelling. Sick with swollen lymph nodes? Gentle neck drainage helps immediately.

10. Encourages body awareness – Helps you notice tension patterns and habits so you can correct them before they become chronic issues.

How often should you get massage? At minimum, once a month. Ideally, every other week. For active recovery or chronic conditions, weekly is best.

Pro tips:

• If it "hurts so bad," tell your therapist—tissue tolerance matters
• Post-massage bath (Epsom salt + baking soda + lavender) = next-level sleep
• Try cupping (dynamic, not static) for connective tissue release
• Gentle lymphatic drainage works on yourself (jaw to collarbone)

Massage therapy isn't a luxury. It's preventative health care. Your body will thank you.

Transcript

Welcome And Balance Framework

Debra 0:04

Welcome to the D Times 2 podcast, hosted by Sisters Denise and Deborah. We are all about finding balance in the various parts of life. Using the Wheel of Life as our guide, we explore how to keep each spoke rolling smoothly. We discuss health and wellness, education and spirituality, as well as mental and emotional growth. Join us for real conversations, practical tips, and a few laughs as we share stories, insights, and strategies to help you create a life that feels balanced, purposeful, and designed by you.

A Week Of Barely Functioning

Debra 0:36

Good morning, Deborah. Good morning, Denise. How are you today? How am I? Do you want the real answer to that? I always want the real answer. I am doing better than I was. What happened? I'm gonna get a little real and raw with you, okay? Real and raw is good. And people who are listening in, feel free to listen. I'm gonna say for the last week, maybe week and a half, I was barely functional. Oh no. I felt terrible. My brain wasn't working right. My body felt wrong. I was super nauseated, like I hurt, I was exhausted beyond anything that I should have been. No kidding. You just went on vacation. You're not supposed to feel that way after. I know. It was it was bizarre. And I was like trying to listen to my body, but I still had had had to function. But I put myself on what I call minimum duty. Only the big rocks. Nice. So the most important things, and I had to let everything else go because I flat out didn't have it. I didn't feel like doing anything, but I also didn't have it to give if I had could do it. Okay. So I'm gonna say on last week, late last week, I got some testing done to figure out if there was because sometimes I'm like, is it just me? Am I being a baby? But I got some testing done and there truly were some significant things wrong. And I was immediately so discouraged because I try so hard to do all the good things to take care of myself. You really, really do. And it's partly because I have to. If I don't, I feel it, and other people don't have as big of signals that they get. So I was discouraged. I talked to Tom and he was like, Well, what do you need to do to fix it? And I said, I'm not there yet. I just wasn't ready. I needed to feel the feelings before I was ready to move forward. But by Friday morning, I I had put myself on a specific protocol, predominantly using some of the optimal health products to fix the problems because I knew they would work. We're three days later, and I already feel night and day different. My brain is working, I have a little bit more energy, not 100% there yet, but you see me this morning like I'm kind of normal. Normal, normal for Deborah. Normal for me. I can walk down the hall straight. I'm not like I was bare truly barely functional. And I'm pulling out of it. I know it's gonna take a little bit of time, but I just thought it would be so easy for me to ignore and just keep going on a downward spiral physically, but I don't want to. I don't I want to feel better. I want to do what I need to do, but it takes effort and I'm willing. And the payoff is already being seen. It takes effort to do things and it takes a lot of effort to stop doing things. Yes. So when I said I'm just focusing on the big rocks, the most important things, that honestly almost took the most effort because I have so much I want to do, I need to do. Like there's things on my plate that need to get done. Yeah. But I just cannot. Our dad talks about a bucket. And how our bucket is like our life, and if there are holes in our bucket, we can't keep trying to put water in if the holes keep leaking it out. So you can only do what your bucket will allow you to do. And if you have holes in your bucket, fill the holes. You have to stop doing things that make the holes and fix them.

unknown 4:59

Yeah.

Debra 5:00

So that's kind of what you did. Yeah. Do you want to hear what I'm doing for at least part of my protocol? I really do. Okay. And I wanted to mention it anyway, so whether or not you said, because I think it can be helpful for people.

Chemical Exposure And What Testing Found

Debra 5:14

Okay. Because some of the things that were wrong, I'm gonna say had to do with some environmental poisoning. Oh, yeah. And I just this morning figured that out because I was like, why this and this and this and this and that? Like it doesn't make sense. And I finally realized about a week and a half ago, we had our the pest control people come and spray. They come once a quarter, they spray inside and outside and all around our yard. But normally I open the windows and I leave the house. And I did neither of those. And I am very chemically sensitive. I always have been. I'm like a little delicate flower. So I believe that's what started the whole chain reaction. But with the testing that I found, like my kidneys were stressed, my liver, which is our filter, was stressed. So I immediately started taking liver kidney and glutathione from optimal health to help those. But also, I like my blood is actually damaged. The cells are actually damaged. That's bad. It's bad. It's bad at scene. And there were like I my white blood cell count was zero. So no white blood cells there to clean up damaged red blood cells means stuff dies off and stays in there, and that's bad too. Yeah. Right. So I started doing, like I said, the liver kidney and then the glutathione to help my liver and kidneys to process and detoxify and eliminate. And then I immediately started taking Defense. Powerhouse. Which is a powerhouse to help the immune system. It will boost the white blood cells and help me get that kicked into gear. But I also put it together with Magnostem, which helps at a foundational formulative functional level to make new healthy cells of all the kinds. So that will help replace the damaged red blood cells. And then I started taking opti-enviro detox drops. Regardless of what you're exposed to, that opti-inviro detox will help pull it from your system. So I'm pulling poisons, I'm replenishing with new good, healthy cells of all kinds, including the white ones, and I'm supporting a couple of the organs of elimination and immediately feel better. I feel like I can think straight. My words are coming to me. I don't like my head was like I can't explain all the ways I felt bad, but I was not functioning. Three days in, it's a six-week protocol. And you're already feeling better. Three days in, I'm already feeling better, but I know I still need to I'm rebuilding, replenishing. I'll do some additional testing about halfway through the protocol to make sure things are working how I feel like they're working. But see if you need to make any tweaks. That's how I'm doing. I'm doing better than I was. I'm really glad to hear you're doing better. I heard you were having a rough week and I did not realize it was that rough. It was rough, and I I couldn't even really tell anyone because I just I didn't even feel like talking to anyone. Yeah. Like I went to work, except when I was at work. And even at work, I almost fell off my stool a couple of times. I was anyway, I'm doing better. I'm so glad you're doing better. Yeah. So hopefully that's helpful for people. And tune in to how you're doing, and it's no not always in your head. Sometimes it's in your head, but sometimes there's actual stuff. And you can do something about it. Yep. Yep. Well, thank you for sharing. Yep. I'm sad that you were so bad off, but I'm so glad that you're already feeling better. Already feeling better. And I think I've found the source of the problem. Yeah. That just was this morning. And then I was like, I think it was that, and I'm pretty sure it was that. That you had poison sprayed in your house and around your yard, and that poison affects you. It affects everybody, right? It does, but to different levels. Because when my when everything tested so crazy for me, I immediately wanted to get Tom checked because we were together, same food, same house, like same places. And he didn't show You did test him. Uh-huh. Got him tested and had none of the same problems. But he is a hearty, resilient, almost nothing penetrates. And Deborah is a delicate flower. So it's just one of the testaments to me that truly every body is different. There's no judgment assigned to it. It's just we're different. Different people need different things and different levels of support. Well, thank you. That's the end of my story. All right. We'll get an update from her in a few weeks and see how she's doing. Yeah. What do you have? Well, I also think that's a testament to the power of optimal health products. We talk about them a lot, and they really are top-of-the-line products that don't cost you an arm and a leg. It's real food, real nutrition to help your body. Yeah. That's why we push them so much. Well, we talk about them because they work. And my thing is, like, even if I'm over-treating, it's not gonna hurt. Nothing's gonna hurt. It will only help.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Yeah.

Debra 11:19

So even if some of it's a little bit of a guess on my part, or it might not be a hundred percent necessary, it's only gonna help. Yeah. So that's that is really one reason why we talk about them all the time, is because they do work. And we are living examples and testaments to the fact that they work. Yeah. So if you need to check them out, optimal systems.com and we have a discount code. Yep, D times2 podcast. DX2. Yeah. It's just DX2. Yeah. Is the discount code. But I say always start there, look there first. Don't look on Amazon first. Don't look at like don't look at Costco first. Like if you need help, go there first because it will actually work and the money will actually be well spent.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Yeah.

Debra 12:07

Let's talk about the immune system. One of the best defenders we know comes from Optimal Health Systems, and it's called Defense. So it supplies your body

Building A Six-Week Recovery Protocol

Debra 12:17

with researched back ingredients to shown to support your immune system and fight off illness. It also boosts the immune system, providing a potent dose of antibodies for a quick recovery and reduces the risk of viral infection. One of the things I love is that it increases the white blood cell count in your body almost immediately while filling your gut with healthy bacteria. This is one of those things I recommend to my clients to always have on hand. You can take it continuously through, quote, cold and flu season or when you're under a lot of stress, or just pop it in here and there if you feel like you're starting to come down with something. Take it for a day or two, maybe three, and then put it on pause. But it ultimately restores

Immune Support Spotlight Defense

Debra 13:05

health to areas of your body that are affected by potentially unhealthy eating habits, like during the holidays, and also from overstressing. And it does it by using whole real food ingredients. You can go to optimalhealthsystems.com and use the code D times2, that's DX2, to get a great discount off your order. Okay, moving on. Perfect. Well, today we get to talk about something both of us are extremely familiar with. Yes. And something that I think is overlooked in self-care protocols. We're going to talk about the benefits of massage therapy. So Deborah and I are both retired massage therapists. We both worked for many years and on a lot of different types of bodies and a lot of different types of issues. And we want to talk to you today about how massage therapy can help you. Yes. So number one, benefit. Well, this isn't the number one, but it's a benefit. Okay. Massage therapy can help reduce tension in your muscles and stiffness, especially if you have like repetitive stress or poor posture. So poor posture is slumping. Poor

Why Massage Therapy Belongs In Self-Care

Debra 14:30

posture is holding your phone in your hand and looking down at it and using your thumbs all the time. Poor posture is walking in a non-natural way. So instead of shoulders relaxed and head up and arms swinging forward and backward, not across your body, not behind your body, your feet and legs hitting evenly, not klunk, klunk, k clunk. So there's no accommodation or compensation in your body. You're just walking. And you're neutral. Normal, neutral. I I see people running for exercise and they're doing so much damage to their bodies. I know. I see people and I think, oh, they're gonna need an ear replacement before too long. Yep, their their feet are not moving forward. They're pigeon-toed or they're swinging their arms across their body when they run. They have their phone in their hand, which puts weight on on a on a lever, on an extended lever, instead of having it on their hip or in their back pocket. So it literally throws them out of balance. Yeah. Yeah. So massage can help alleviate some of that pain. Uh repetitive stress issues like carpal tunnel was huge. Well, I want to say sitting at a desk is one of the biggest repetitive stress injuries because you're sitting at a desk, a lot of times you're on the computer, the computer might be the wrong height or the wrong distance, your chair might not be good, your desk height might not be good. So there's all sorts of compensations that happen that you're not aware of because you're just sitting there working. You're leaned forward over your computer, you're sitting sideways, or your hand was out with your mouse, and so you're not. So there's a torque that has happened. Yeah, yeah. Twisting. So there's a lot that goes on in our day that we don't really think about. Everybody's felt tension in their neck at least, or their low back. I think low back injuries are one of the most common injuries to anybody at any age. If you can alleviate some of that tension and stiffness through massage, through re-educating your muscles how they should be, and to letting them know it's okay to relax, it will help your body. Do you have any stories about people that you've worked on with chronic tension? So many. And uh that's why I mentioned the desk thing, is that because most of the time the ones with chronic conditions like that were doing a job that put them in a poor position for hours per day. Another common way to see it that's I'm gonna say not a job, but it's kind of a job, is a lot of breastfeeding moms or moms of small children that carry them around a lot. That's a lot of weight. It's a lot of like generally on one side, not carried in the middle of the body where it would be centered. Like those people build up a lot, especially in their neck and shoulders. And low back. So have you ever worked on people like that? Yes. I have I have three daughters, they've all had babies, and I've watched them carry them around and breastfeed, and and they are really grateful when I walk up behind them and start massaging their shoulders and between their shoulder blades, and it just helps alleviate the burn. Yep. The breastfeed burn. So I used to get teased because every baby I shower I would go to, my gift was a boppy pillow. So you put it around you, the baby can rest on that while they're nursing.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

Yeah.

Debra 18:13

So it helps a lot of that physiological stress. And it'd be like, oh, there's the massage therapist. We're just looking out for you. Yeah, you're welcome.

unknown 18:24

Yeah.

Debra 18:24

So massage can help alleviate some of that tension and stress and just overuse. It can. So one of the other things that really can help with, though, that is pretty high at the top of my list is that it improves your circulation, which helps deliver oxygen and nutrients to reach all of the tissues in the body more efficiently. For sure. So move the blood, move the nutrients, move the oxygen. Everything will feel better and function better. So when we massage people, the skin that we're working on typically turns red. And it's because we're increasing the blood flow to the area. To the area. Some people some people can leave a massage with maybe some bruises, and that's kind of a there can be several reasons for that, but it's increasing blood flow and those tissues need some help. Yeah, if they if they get a bruise or leave leave with a bruise, that's usually a sign of some compromised internal tissue. Or the therapist was working too aggressively. Past tissue tolerance. Yes. Past what the muscles could and skin and connective tissues could handle. I used to always tell my clients it's okay if it hurts so good. We don't want it to hurt so bad. Right. There's a difference. There's a difference, yeah. I want to talk to you about my ice cream I have almost every night for dessert. I started making it about six months ago with some of my very favorite protein powder. It's from Equip Foods Prime Protein, and it's one of the safest, cleanest, doctor-formulated protein powders that helps to build muscle and shred fat that won't leave you gassy or bloated. That's one of the problems I have with other kinds of proteins. Anyway, it's 100% grass-fed and finished. I make my protein out of their chocolate and their peanut butter. So it's my amazing peanut butter chocolate protein ice cream. It helps me meet my protein goals and taste amazing. To get a nice discount, go to equipfoods.com slash DX2 to get 30% off of a subscription order or a nice 15% discount off of a one-time order. You'll love it. Another benefit.

Protein Ice Cream And Clean Protein

Debra 20:53

Yep. This one like it just it can decrease your stress level. Did you know that? Healthy touch from a massage can decrease your stress level, which also lowers your cortisol level. Yep, it increases your oxytocin that feel good and lowers the cortisol. Yeah. So uh most people get like an hour massage. So you get an hour solid of the good hormones being raised and cortisol and stress hormones being lowered. Yeah, it's truly a healing touch. Just because of the touch, regardless of the quality of the massage. That's true. Yeah, that's scary. So I've had many, one of my favorite looks in the world was having a client come out of a massage. They're getting dressed and coming out to leave, and just the look on their face is

Stress Hormones And Healing Touch

Debra 21:51

like they are jello. And they just feel so much better. That is one of the best looks as a massage therapist that you could get. From somebody that to know that you help them relax. Because it's actually visible. Yeah. You know they feel it, but it's visible. Yeah. It's awesome. So one of the other things, and I worked in this aspect quite a bit when I was a massage therapist, was that it can support pain management for chronic conditions like arthritis or fibromyalgia or back pain, but it can also help with managing pain for acute conditions. If someone's had a car accident or a sports injury or something like that, I did a lot of work in those aspects. And it can, whether it's an acute condition or a chronic condition, can really increase healing and recovery and get you past it so that it is no longer chronic or it will lighten the chronic intensity of it. It's a big deal for pain. I had a client who had fibromyalgia. She was in such bad shape. And it's been, oh my gosh, 28 years ago. But I remember her just coming in and she would be slow moving, just in pain. And I'd work on her, and it was a light massage because fibromyalgia is painful. She's super sensitive. It was a light massage. And she but she would come out and she'd have that massage base. And she would be moving better, and she would just be so grateful because she felt so much better. And it was one of the only things that alleviated her pain. Yeah. I had a lady too, it was probably at least that long ago. In her words, she had the fibromyalgia. That's how she said it every time. And it was so funny to me. But she would come in to get help with the fibromyalgia, and she was a housekeeper. And so for her to be able to move with comfort or without aggressive pain was a big deal. And same thing, like it actually kept her so that she could keep working and wouldn't just be in agonizing pain all the time. Because there were times when she was stuck at home in bed because everything hurt way too much. Massage does help for sure. With those chronic things. Yeah. Self-care, health care. I like this one because I worked in a gym for a while. You did, I remember. I never did that. Yeah, it was fun. It was a completely different type of clientele that I was used to working on. But this this benefit is that it can enhance your flexibility. So make you more flexible, and it can increase your range of motion. So you can move better, freer. It helped to release tension in connective tissue. So everything's connected inside your body under your skin. Yep. If it wasn't that way, it'd all be loose and flopping around, right? So it's all connected. It's all connected. So working at the gym was fun because people were there to at the gym because they wanted to get stronger or lose weight, or we have there's a huge yoga presence at that gym. It's all based on movement. Yeah. So they would come in and see me and I would work on them. They'd go to yoga and I'd come, they'd come see me, and so

Flexibility Range Of Motion Cupping

Debra 25:41

they were like all gumby-like, right? When they would leave. And to see people come in who were like these bulky, big old, strong muscle guys, and they'd get a massage and they'd be able to lift heavier the next time because their muscles were more flexible and their connective tissue wasn't as stuck after working out. Yeah. So I didn't ever work in a gym, but I did work most not most, a lot of my massage career. I was in Colorado Springs, which is where the Olympic Training Center is. And I worked on some of the athletes who were at the Olympic Training Center. So it was the same kind of thing where we really worked on movement and flow and function. It wasn't about reducing, you know, stress or pain or that kind of thing. But they were literally better athletes because of the balance and relaxation and the function that comes with getting a good massage. Yeah. So one thing I I like to do to help with connective tissue is cupping. Michael Phelps, he's the swimmer guy, you know? He's the swimmer guy. He's the swimmer guy. Do you remember like his first Olympics? He came and showed up and he had like circle marks all over his back, looked like an octopus attacked him. Yeah. He had had some cupping done. Now I don't like cupping like that personally. I that's called static, where the cup just sits. I like dynamic cupping where you move the cup and you can release connective tissue tension while you're moving the cup. It's amazing a before and after how well people move with that kind of treatment to move to for the connective tissue. So some people came in with they had surgery. So we worked around the surgical area with the doctor's permission. And like after the massage, they could it was a shoulder surgery and they could move their arm way above their head more than they could when they came in. Like it was fast, fast work. Yeah, it was really fun. There was a time when you were massaging me pretty regularly and incorporated some of that cupping with the massage. And it was amazing. I've also had some of the static cupping done, and not gonna lie, at home I have a cupping machine, and sometimes I just do static cupping on myself. I think there's benefits to both, but for the motion and range of motion, and the connective tissue here is what we're talking about. The non-static is better. Yeah. Yeah, they both have a good place.

unknown 28:25

Yeah.

Debra 28:26

So one of the things too that massage helps with is to increase your mood. It boosts your mood because it increases some of those neurotransmitters. The serotonin, the dopamine. Like you don't need to get on your phone to get a dopamine hit. Get a massage. It's way better. It's good for your mental health. It's good for everything. But it really does boost those neurotransmitters so that they are flowing better and work better. So by increasing serotonin, like, have you ever fallen some people fall asleep in a massage? Have you? I have, but I'm terrible because I'm gonna say because of my training, a lot of the time I'm tick paying attention to what's being done and I'm actively like breathing, like I'm trying to work with the therapist, but there have been a couple of times where I just zonked out. Yeah, yeah. So there I was gonna actually talk about that.

Mood Boost And Better Sleep

Debra 29:24

When you have somebody like you, I do the same thing. I try not to judge the massage, I just try to work with the massage. Yes. So to follow the massage therapist's hands and what they're doing and concentrate on those muscles does help. It helps the muscle, but it I think it also increases your good hormone releases, like your serotonin and dopamine, because you're focused on that. So everything else hushes with the serotonin release, it also helps you sleep better. Yeah. You sleep, I don't know about you, but the day after I or the night after I have a massage. I sleep pretty well. I I always I do, I sleep pretty well, and I'm gonna say I used to have clients. Oh goodness, this was when I was working way too much. They all wanted to come in at night so that they could go home and sleep afterwards. I was working one Friday night to like 10 o'clock. Oh my gosh. I didn't do that for very long. But it was at the end of the week, off work before sleep. That was like prime time for people to go get a massage. It really will work any time of day. You will still sleep better that night. It doesn't need to be right before you go to sleep. Nope. But you will sleep deeper and recover better. Yeah. Never beat a dead horse. That saying has been around for a long time for a reason. People that are drinking energy drinks all day long just to stay functional, that's what they're doing. They are beating themselves up like they were a dead horse. We gotta stop doing that. The only energy drink that I recommend to my clients is update. It's clean energy without caffeine, so you don't have jitters and chaos and like the problems that caffeine causes in the body. And it also helps to give you focus and a clear mind. It's really the one I use and the one I recommend. To get a discount off of your order, go to drinkupdate.com and use the code DX2. That's D times two. That's us. So drinkupdate.com and then the code for your discount is DX2. Something else that that massage can help. It helps your like if you've been injured, it helps your recovery from an injury by reducing inflammation, and it helps your tissues heal better and faster. So I'm gonna share a story. Okay. I have two boys that wrestled when they

Clean Energy Without Caffeine

Debra 31:59

were in high school. They were very good wrestlers. They were, they were so fun to watch. They did they wrestled and they played football, so pretty brutal sports. And they would come to me between matches and have me work on their forearms. Their forearms after a match would be so swollen because they used their gripping muscles so much. So they would come and I would work on them, and I'd get the blood flow out, and I'd calm them down, and they'd feel so much better, and then they'd go out and wrestle again, and they'd come back and I'd work on their forearms. Oh lucky not the boys. And if they had something tweaked

Injury Recovery Stories From Real Life

Debra 32:37

in a match, they'd come up to me and the stands and I'd work on it and they'd feel better, and then then they could go out and wrestle. So, like it can work right away. Yes. And so that was always fun for me. I had a cheerleader daughter, and she would always get hurt in practice because cheerleading is brutal. And I had a daughter that that ran, and like I could help all of them. Yeah, any of their injuries, they could come home and I could work on them and help them. So if you have little athletes in your house massage, you could go get a 30, 15-minute, 30-minute massage and help them recover from a practice or an event and and help them heal better and faster. And ultimately perform better. Yeah. I I mentioned this a little bit when we were talking about the chronic pain and all of that. I did a lot of work with people who had been in accidents. Their recovery was significantly better with the massage than without. They knew it and I knew it. Like there's no denying it. But it doesn't matter the type of injury. Like I'll never forget one time. I was running down Pike's Peak. The trail down Pike's Peak. It's a mountain. Yes. And I landed wrong and I twisted my ankle and heard a pop. Like it was, and I still had about two and a half miles down the trail to go. And I saw stars, I blacked out, I found my way to a rock to sit on. And I was like, all I can do for this is massage it, but it need it needed more than that. Luckily, right behind me, who I had just run past was an ER doctor. And he had a wrap, he had all the stuff, and then he helped me the rest of the way down. But the first thing I did was I went and soaked it and then got the had massage done on it. And then I had kinesio tape put on it, which is a whole nother thing. But I improved so much more quickly with that care right away than without. Yeah. I had a client who she was probably in her early 70s, and she was having a knee replacement done. And she was she was actively trying to make the knee replacement surgery better. So before she had it done, she was going to physical therapy to make sure the muscles were nice and strong. Good girl. Which I know, I was so impressed. And she was coming to me beforehand to get some of the swelling down and to help the just the tissues. After she had her surgery done, she kept coming to me and we would work on it, and the swelling, oh my gosh, the swelling on it decreased so fast, and her pain was minimal. I don't know if you know anybody who's had knee surgery. I mean, my husband. Yep. Oh my goodness. Knee surgeries are one of the most painful ones. Yes. And hard to recover from. And this woman was back walking around with very little pain in like three weeks. She was exceptionally proactive. She was. Good for her. Yeah. But I know that the massage therapy for sure helped reduce the swelling in her foot, ankle, lower leg, and knee area to help it heal better. Yeah. You reduce that swelling, you increase the blood flow, you also reduce the pain. Yeah. It was pretty cool. That's awesome. It was really, really interesting to watch. So number eight, we talked about a little bit. It massage really promotes better sleep, especially for people with high stress or insomnia. Because of that oxytocin release, because of that serotonin release, it really improves sleep. And how many podcast episodes have we talked about sleep in? I think all of them. I think pretty much all of them. Possibly all of them. Maybe not the protein one. At least 75% of them, the sleep matters. That's when we heal, repair, recover. So anything you can do to help improve your sleep, the better. But the people who have insomnia, any bit of sleep and the quality of sleep they can get is huge. So if massage helps with insomnia, do that. Find a massage therapist that works at nine o'clock at night. No, it doesn't need to be then. It will work anytime. Well, massage, it increases the serotonin and dopamine, like we've talked about, right? It also starts shutting off alarms that are going off in your body. So there's a lot of talk about nervous system regulation. We've talked about it a little bit, but that's what it's doing. It's helping to settle down and regulate the nervous system. So your body starts shutting things off. Yeah. It's almost like an overwhelm that's good for you. Ooh, that's a good way to say it. Like it just kind of gives in to it. So if you have trouble sleeping, get a massage. Massage. Yeah, massage for sure. You know what's actually really good when you get a massage? What? Is get your massage and then before you go to bed that night, have a nice warm bath. Yes. With some Ebom salts or some baking soda and some lavender. I usually will do all three. All three of them. Me too. But if you'll sit in there for like 20 minutes and then go to bed, ooh, it's really, really powerful. Lights out. Yeah. So give that a shot. Oh, I like this one. I like them all apparently. This one is about the immune system. Now we've talked about the immune system a lot and some nutritional ways that you can support it. Well, massage therapy also helps the immune system. I should do that with my whole protocol I'm doing right now. Yes, I should get more massage. It's too bad I'm not working. I'd work on you. Anyways, it helps your lymphatic flow. So your lymphatic system is how your body gets rid of garbage in your body. Sludge, swampiness. So there are specific protocols actually for lymphatic massage. It's soft and slow and just kind of works with the flow of the lymph because it's slow. But if you have ever been sick and you felt the lumps up in your neck by your jaw, if you just gently pull down from those, from your jaw down to your collarbone, that will help your lymphatic

Lymphatic Flow And Immune Support

Debra 39:39

system. That'll help those lymph nodes drink. I'm doing it on myself, you can't see. I can see. And I'm thinking, I actually do lymphatic facial massage every day when I wash my face. Just as part of my routine. It decreases the puffiness in your face. So you don't have to be sick to help your lymphatic system. Actually, you can Google lymphatic massage and you'll see some. There are a lot of videos on YouTube about it. But like if you seriously, if you are sick and your lymphatic, your lymph nodes and your neck are swollen, just you can get in a nice hot bath, let the hot water soak, or a shower, and let let it just hit your neck, and then just drag your hands from your jaw down to your collarbone. That will help drain lymphatic system, and your head will feel less stuffy, your throat will get better faster. Sinuses will clear out. Yep. Deb's right, you can do a facial lymphatic massage on yourself. It's fantastic. But massage is is very good for that. That's one reason that that gal uh healed quicker from her ms her from her surgery is because we're moving the lymphatic system. We're moving that's where all the swelling is. So just move it through and it really does help. So you're any type of massage will help move the lymph. Yeah, yeah. You can also do a specific lymphatic massage. Yeah, but technically every massage is is lymphatic. Yes, it is, it's just not as deliberate. I had a friend who did she had some training in post-surgical lymphatic massage. And she worked with a plastic surgeon, and people would come and see her after they'd had liposuction done. Liposuction, I don't know if you know, is fairly brutal. It's brutal. And people are left swollen and bruised, yeah, bad. So they would come in and see her, and it would improve their recovery dramatically because she would do specific lymphatic massage on them. I don't doubt it, one single bit. I'm not selling you. No. It's gonna help. It's gonna help. We've seen we have seen between the two of us, we have 40 plus years of massage therapy between the two of us, and we've seen so many people helped in so many different ways. That's why we're sharing this with you today. Well, it's like what I talked about with the supplementation I'm doing right now to help with what I'm dealing with. It's only gonna help. It's not gonna hurt. The massage is only gonna help. The only time it would hurt is if your therapist is too aggressive. Yeah. And then like we you have to respect your tissue tolerance, but you can feel it, and usually you will say something. If you if it's beyond your tissue tolerance. Yes, if your massage is too deep, you tell your therapist and they will not get offended. They want to know. Yeah. So, Tom, when he goes for a massage, I always say his sensory nerves are mostly dead. No, I've massage Tom, and he's the one I can go as deep as possible, and he just loves it. Yeah, it's like go as hard as you can, and then it might be deep enough for him. Yeah. But that's his tissue tolerance. He is not a delicate flower like me. No, but you do like a deeper massage. I do like a deeper massage, but that's partly because I can take it. I've had a lot of body work done. Our dad does not like deep tissue work done. No. He likes it nice and gentle. So does my husband. My husband's a big guy. He does not like deep work. That is bad for him. He likes it like medium to light touch, and that is therapeutic to him. So everybody is different. Do what works for you. Let's talk about colostrum. It is a hot topic in the world these days. We're gonna talk about Equip Foods Core Colostrum. Each scoop contains three grams of grass-fed, pasture-raised, antibiotic-free colostrum, where most on the market only contain one gram. Colostrum is a nutritional powerhouse that has been shown and proven to enhance immune function, gut health, and recovery with vital nutrients. So, what exactly is it? Colostrum, also known as first milk, is produced immediately following. A newborn birth. It is vital nutrition, providing all the nutrients and fluid a newborn needs in their early days. It also applies to all people. We all need that nutrition. Equip foods core colostrum is a type A1 and A2 milk, which is the highest tier milk you can get. Also, while chloricolostrum is a dairy product, it does not contain milk or

Colostrum For Gut And Immunity

Debra 44:22

lactose. So most people with lactose intolerance usually find colostrum very digestible and beneficial to gut health. Now I know you're wondering how you use it. It's so easy. You just need one scoop per day, and you can add it into tea or coffee. You can add it to a protein shake or to yogurt, or you can even add it into your favorite baked goods. It's also cost effective. So it's core colostrum is about 51 cents per serving compared to 91 cents per serving or more on for competitors. So if you go to equipfoods.com and use the promo code D times2 or DX2, you'll get a great discount. So the last one is that it encourages your body awareness. It can really help you notice your tension patterns and your habits. Because we get stuck in habits that put our body in bad positions. And we, if we're not aware of them, that will only compound over time. Mm-hmm. Definitely. How many clients have you worked on where you start working on them and they're like, oh, I didn't know that was sore? Oh, I didn't know that was sore. Most of them. Most of them. So it does bring really does bring a heightened sense of of what's going on with your body. Yeah. And the more you can be tuned in, the better. The better pay attention. Yeah. And then you can do things to correct it or alleviate it. Or I had a client that like us,

Body Awareness And How Often To Go

Debra 46:03

she wouldn't ever fall asleep in her massage. She would follow my hands wherever they went. And she loved to do that because she's like, oh, that's new. Where's she going next? Would she say that out loud? No, she would tell me that. Yeah. Okay. She never would say anything during the massage, but afterwards, she's like, I noticed you were working in this area. And I didn't know where you were going next because it was new. And I just wanted to see how you followed that muscle and what it was going to do. And like doing that brings awareness to your body, brings awareness to those muscles. And then you can your subconscious is gonna start going to work to correct that and help you feel better. Yeah. And so then you're aware of it more on a like throughout your day. Yeah. How often, Deb, do you think people in general should get a massage? Should I say absolutely at least once a month? Yeah, same. I really think people do better if they can do like every other week, twice a month kind of a thing. Some people I have seen once a week. They do the best. They do. It's not in everyone's time budget or money budget, but at least once a month. Yeah. Once a quarter doesn't really do it for you. I don't think. But I agree, once a month is about right. When you're on vacation only, doesn't do it for you. Like it's it can be part of your health regimen. On a regular basis, not just a splurge or a luxury. Could that was fun.

unknown 47:42

Yeah.

Debra 47:44

I really like talking about massage. And so I'm glad that we decided to do this. It can help a lot of people in a lot of different ways that we don't think about. So if you learned anything from this episode and think someone could use it, because they probably could share it with them. Please share it with them. And then if you would be so kind as to leave a rating for us, telling us what you learned or what you liked, that would help us so much to be able to reach more people. You can also email us, like just email us and let us know what you liked. Or if you have any questions, we'd love to hear from you. There's links for that in the show notes. We've also got in the show notes and on our website, d times2podcast.com, resources for you, where it's things that we've mentioned or we recommend, and we've tried to get discount codes for you, so you can use those. We also have freebies on our website. Freebies. Free downloads,

Share Rate Email And Closing

Debra 48:42

free resources that will only be helpful. They'll keep your wheel rolling smoothly. So until next time, keep your wheel rolling smoothly. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to the D Times 2 podcast with Denise and Deborah. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Be sure to subscribe and share it with someone who's ready to roll toward a more balanced life. Your support means the world to us. And just a quick note we're sharing our own experiences and ideas, not professional advice. Always do your own research and talk to a qualified expert before making big decisions. Until next time, keep your wheel rolling strong.