The science of touch: why massage lowers stress

There is a moment, usually somewhere in the first ten minutes of a good massage, where something changes. The guest's breathing drops down into the belly, the shoulders finally let go of the table, and often there is one long involuntary sigh. Therapists learn to watch for it, because everything after that point works better.

Here is what is going on, without the mysticism.

Skin is a sensory organ, not a wrapper

Your skin is densely supplied with nerve endings, and among them are fibres — researchers call them C-tactile fibres — that respond best to slow, gentle, stroking touch at roughly the speed a person naturally strokes another person. They do not seem to be there to report pressure or temperature; they appear to be involved in the emotional quality of touch rather than the informational side.

In other words, part of your nervous system seems to exist to register being touched kindly. That is the raw material a massage works with.

The gear change

Your autonomic nervous system runs between two states: sympathetic activation — alert, tense, ready — and parasympathetic, the "rest and digest" state. Cleveland Clinic's overview of the parasympathetic nervous system describes it slowing the heart and helping digestion while the body is at rest.

Slow, rhythmic, predictable touch in a warm quiet room with nothing required of you is about as clear a safety signal as the body gets, and it is widely associated with a shift towards that calmer state. Breathing slows and deepens. Many guests feel their heart settle. Muscle tone softens. Digestion often audibly restarts — the stomach gurgle that embarrasses guests is a common sign you have settled, not something to apologise for.

"Nobody has to be persuaded to relax. You just have to remove every reason not to, for long enough."

Siri therapist team

The three ingredients that make it work

1. Predictability. Long, repeated, rhythmic strokes are calming precisely because they are boring. Your brain stops tracking them. Sharp or unpredictable pressure keeps the alert system engaged, which is one reason a painfully hard massage is often less relaxing than people assume.
2. Warmth. Heat softens tissue and signals safety at the same time — the reason hot stone massage and the Thai herbal compress are so sedating.
3. Duration. The shift takes time, and the first part of any session is largely spent arriving. That is the strongest argument for a longer booking — our guide to choosing a 60 or 90 minute massage weighs it up.

Why the muscles matter less than you think

A lot of muscular tension is not a property of the muscle at all — it is your nervous system holding it in a state of readiness. A therapist can work mechanically on a knot for twenty minutes with modest results, and the same knot will often soften considerably once the guest has properly downshifted.

Which is why an unhurried hour of moderate pressure frequently outperforms a brutal thirty minutes, and why the question of how much pressure to ask for matters so much.

Which massage is best for stress?

If stress rather than one sore spot is the reason you are booking, choose for predictability and warmth rather than intensity. Here is how the menu lines up:

• Aromatherapy massage — gentle, rhythmic and oil-based, and the treatment our menu associates with stress, anxiety and poor sleep. The most reliable choice if you simply want to switch off.
• Hot stone or Thai herbal compress — warmth plus slow pressure. Both come in 90 or 120 minutes only, which suits this kind of booking anyway.
• Traditional Thai massage — done clothed, with stretches and acupressure. More active than an oil massage, and many guests leave feeling lighter and more awake rather than sleepy. Our guide to what Thai massage is good for explains the difference.
• Back and shoulder massage — 30, 45 or 60 minutes, for when the stress lives in your neck and you only have a lunch hour.

The one we would steer you away from in a frazzled week is very firm deep tissue. Strong pressure asks your body to stay on guard, which is the opposite of what you came for. Save it for a week when you have more in the tank, and tell your therapist if you would rather they kept things gentle — it is a perfectly good request.

How to get more out of the same appointment

• Arrive ten minutes early. You cannot downshift while still walking fast.
• Say you would rather be quiet, if you would. Conversation keeps part of you working.
• Breathe out longer than you breathe in. Four in, six or eight out. Slow breathing with a longer out-breath is one of the simplest ways to nudge yourself towards that calmer state.
• Book the evening rather than a gap between meetings. Both spas run until 8.00pm.
• Let the tears happen if they happen. Occasionally people get emotional on the table. Nothing has gone wrong, and it is more common than anyone admits.

Being honest about the evidence

Many people find massage leaves them calmer, sleeping better and less sore in the short term. It is not established as a treatment for any disease, and we are not going to quote you a statistic about cortisol — the research in this area is mixed, and anyone giving you a precise percentage is selling something.

What we can say is what we see every day: people arrive braced and leave unbraced, and many tell us they sleep well that night. If you are dealing with anxiety, depression, chronic pain or a medical condition, massage sits alongside proper care rather than instead of it. Talk to your GP — and in New Zealand you can call or text 1737 free, any time, to speak with a trained counsellor.

If you simply want the hour, aromatherapy massage at 90 minutes is the most reliable version of this experience on our menu — $165 at the Viaduct and $145 at St Heliers.

Common questions