How does Serotonin help with my massage?

 

Does a lack of serotonin, the ‘happy hormone’ or ‘feel-good hormone’ contribute to the development of depression? Current research is trying to find out. 

5HT for short, and 5-hydroxytryptamine in full, is the chemical name for serotonin. 5-HTT is the serotonin transporter, with the extra T standing for Transporter. This is not related to HST, which are High Speed Trains!

Though it may be related somehow to HRT, which is Hormone Replacement Therapy, but just how this is so, I have not looked further into it.

There are Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) which are used as Anti-Depressant Medications (ADMs). Serotonin is a chemical released from neurons (nerve cells) and travels via synapses. The ‘before’ nerve cells which release serotonin are known as pre-synaptic, and the ‘after’ nerve cells which receive serotonin are known as post-synaptic. 

The SSRI’s, as in their name, inhibit some of the serotonin from being re-uptaken back into the pre-synaptic nerve cells, so that more of the serotonin crosses the synapses and reaches the post-synaptic nerve cells 

 

With all this, serotonin, and other ‘good’ hormones that there may be, will be released in you when you have a massage or other treatment.  As in the previous blog, we thankfully do not need to understand all that may go on inside of us when we have treatments. Hopefully, this blog explains, if partly so, of the ‘why’ and ‘how’ we feel good, and find it ‘all good stuff’.

Come and have massage or other treatment, whether you are a scientist, biologist, chemist, or whatever your occupation!

Is a Massage Stressful?

 

What might go on within, inside of you, when you have a massage? How might stress be part of this, for good?

There appears to be ‘good’ stress, as in eustress – also see the ‘Eu’ blog of 18 May 2021. This is from the Greek eu=good, as in, e.g. euphoria. There is also ‘bad’ stress, as in distress, from the Latin dis=bad. 

We need not be Greek or Latin scholars with this, thankfully. An endocrinologist, Hans Selye (1907-1982) researched stress. See the blog of 18 August 2021 for ‘endo’ and ‘exo’ prefix explanations.

It seems that stress of whatever sort has some effect, or affect, or both, on us from within ourselves. This is somehow expressed outwardly in some way or ways, whether consciously or unconsciously. The stress may also sometimes be depressed in us, causing us to feel, as its description, depressed. Not that stress is the only cause of depression. Or stress may be suppressed, or repressed (repression is deeper than suppression).

 Also, in cells making up our human bodies, there are electrical charges. Some are positive and some are negative. See also blog of 24 February 2021 of some electrical matters in this context.

 For a massage or other treatment, we do not need to understand all that may go on inside of us when we have treatments. 

We may know of some of the more well-known bodily chemicals such as serotonin, called the ‘happy hormone’ or ‘feel-good hormone’ which is released in us. 

This will be so when, for example, you have a massage. You will hopefully feel good, though not needing to know all about the why or how or whatever of it, the ‘whatever’ maybe being the literal ins-and-outs of it.