There are now a number of research papers demonstrating the beneficial effects of massage therapy in relation to the physiological and psycho-logical aspects of stress (see ALTERNATIVES in healthTM Vol 1;2 and Vol 1:5) and the latest controlled study conducted at the Touch Research Institute, University of Miami School of Medicine, Florida, USA shows once again that massage therapy has an important role to play in the alleviation of stress and stress-induced illnesses.
In the study two times every week for five weeks, twenty-six adults were given a chair massage and twenty four adults were asked to relax in the massage chair for 15 minutes to be used as controls.
On the first and last days of the study all of the participants were monitored for EEG, before, during and after the sessions. In addition, before and after the sessions they performed math computations, they completed POMS Depression and State Anxiety Scales and they pro-vided a saliva sample for cortisol.
At the beginning of the sessions they completed Life Events, Job Stress and Chronic POMS Depression Scales. The results revealed the following:
1. Frontal delta power increased for both groups, suggesting relaxation;
2. The massage group showed de-creased frontal alpha and beta power (suggesting enhanced alertness); while the control group showed increased alpha and beta power;
3. The massage group showed in-creased speed and accuracy on math computations while the control group did not change;
4 Anxiety levels were lower following the massage but not the control sessions, although mood state was less depressed following both the massage and control sessions;
5. Salivary cortisol levels were lower following the massage but not the control sessions but only on the first day; and
6. At the end of the 5 week period, depression scores were lower for both groups but job stress score were lower only for the massage group.
This small-scale study suggests that massage therapy offers benefits in not just alleviating the physiological effects of anxiety, but also in improving mental alertness.
Field T; lronson G; Scafjdi F; Nawrocki T; Goncalves A; Burman I; Pickens J; Fox N; Schanberg 5; Kuhn C.Massage therapy reduces anxiety and enhances EEG pattern of alertness and math computations. mi Neurosci (ENGLAND) Sep 1996,86 (3-4) p197-205.
Further reading: Massage Therapy by Adam Jackson (published by Vermilion)

Massage Therapy and Relaxation
Critically ill patients are deprived of sleep and its potential healing qualities, although many receive medications to promote sleep. However, no one has adequately evaluated holistic non-pharmacological techniques designed to promote sleep in critical care practice.
Researchers determined the effects of (1) a back massage and (2) combined muscle relaxation, mental imagery, and a music audiotape on the sleep of older men with a cardiovascular illness who were hospitalized in a critical care unit.
Sixty-nine subjects were randomly assigned to a 6-minute back massage (n=24); a teaching session on relaxation and a 7.5-minute audiotape at bedtime consisting of muscle relaxation, mental imagery, and relaxing background music (n=28); or the usual nursing care (controls, n=17). Polysomnography was used to measure 1 night of sleep for each patients. Sleep efficiency index was the primary variable of interest. One-way analysis of variance was used to test for difference in the index among the 3 groups.
Descriptive statistics showed improved quality of sleep among the back-massage group. Initial analysis showed a significant difference among the 3 groups in sleep efficiency index. Post hoc testing with the Duncan procedure indicated a significant difference between the back-massage group and the control group; patients in the back-massage group slept more than 1 hour long than patients in the control group. However, the variance was significantly different among the 3 groups, and reanalysis of data with only 17 subjects in each group revealed no difference among groups.
The report concluded that back massage is useful for promoting sleep in critically ill older men.
Am J Crit Care 1998 Jul;7(4):288-99 Richards KC. University of Arkansas College of Nursing, Little Rock, USA.

BACKGROUND: Attempts at smoking cessation have been correlated with severe withdrawal symptoms, including intense cigarette cravings, anxiety, and depressed mood. Massage therapy has been shown to reduce anxiety and stress hormones and improve mood.
METHOD: Twenty adult smokers (M age = 32.6) were randomly assigned to a self-massage treatment or a control group. The treatment group was taught to conduct a hand or ear self-massage during three cravings a day for 1 month.
RESULTS: Self-reports revealed lower anxiety scores, improved mood, and fewer withdrawal symptoms. In addition, the self-massage group smoked fewer cigarettes per day by the last week of the study.
CONCLUSIONS: The present findings suggest that self-massage may be an effective adjunct treatment for adults attempting smoking cessation to alleviate smoking-related anxiety, reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms, improve mood, and reduce the number of cigarettes smoked.
Hernandez-Reif M, Field T, Hart S Touch Research Institute, University of Miami, School of Medicine, Florida 33101, USA. Keywords: smoking - addiction - massage therapy

The mind, which before massage is in a perturbed, restless, vacillating and -even despondent state, becomes after massage, calm, quiet, peaceful and subdued; in fact, the wearied and worried mind has been converted into a mind restful, placid, and refreshed.
Dr Stretch Dowse, Eminent Victorian Physician, 1887.
Stress is a subject about which the general public is becoming increasingly aware. It seems that every day a new study is reported in the press or medical journals relating stress to one disease or another. Some physicians suggest that stress may be responsible for 75 per cent of all diseases in the Western world including skin diseases (e.g., psoriasis and eczema), headaches and migraine, digestive disorders, high blood pressure and heart-related diseases, as well as back-ache and muscle pain, poor eyesight and depression.
As the world in which we live becomes increasingly stressful both physically and emotionally we are left with two choices; either we avoid stress, or we learn how to deal with it effectively. It is, of course, impossible to avoid stress, and therefore the only real solution is to find ways to manage the stresses and strains we encounter each day. One way is the use of massage therapy.