The University of Miami School of Medicine has studied the effects of massage on mental health and found that massage alleviates anxiety and depression by influencing the body’s biochemistry.
Among other things, researchers examined levels of the stress hormone cortisol in 500 people with stress-related problems, and the results showed that massage lowered cortisol levels by up to 53 percent. At the same time, levels of the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine—both of which can reduce stress—increased.