Let's be honest- most of us have found ourselves pinching pennies these days. We are seeing the cost of necessities rise while our incomes stay the same. This means most of us don't have the disposable income we once did (if we ever had it at all!). 
  So how can we make space in our tight budgets for wellness? Things like massage therapy, chiropractic treatment, or fitness classes?
  We all know wellness and preventative therapies are important- none of us disagree on that. But during tough economic times, when we have to prioritize, it is sometimes difficult to justify spending money on these types of treatments "just in case" when we need to be spending or saving it on the "here and now".
  I'd like to share with you some advice on budgeting for wellness as well as some insight on how I keep the cost of treatment for my clients as low as possible. 

1) Consider your Health an Investment: Think of your body like it's a car. What happens if we don't take care of it? It wears down, doesn't perform well, and can even be dangerous. If we don't take care of it routinely, eventually we will be forced to when it breaks down- and a break down means not only inconvenience and stress, but likely much more unexpected expense that it would have cost us if we'd just taken care of it in the first place. 
  This is a perfect example of how your body functions. Ignore the issues, and it will cost you in the end, not just in money through treatments and lost wages, but in pain, recovery time, and the ability to enjoy life. 
  Investing smaller amounts in your health and wellness now, in something like a monthly massage, gym membership, or nutritional counseling, will save you greater expenses down the road.  

2) Establish a Routine: This is the MOST important and beneficial way to keep wellness costs as low as possible. Not only does a routine help with creating a budget, establishing a regular wellness regimen will keep you healthier in between services so you don't need them as often. 
  This is especially true when it comes to massage therapy. Whether you come in once a week, once a month, or a few times a year, consistent and routine sessions are key. Your body will begin to adjust to the treatment, and will learn how to maintain better health in that time. Healthy muscles will be able to heal and eliminate pain and inflammation without the constant crutch of massage. 
  Sometimes establishing the routine can take an initial investment. If I notice a new patient has several pressing issues I will often recommend they come see me more frequently at first. But this is so I can quickly address those issues and immediately guide you into a more budget-friendly schedule, where you feel good in between those appointments even if more time has elapsed.  

3) Stop Lamenting Over Insurance: This thought process actually holds a lot of people back from getting a massage, "I wish Insurance would cover massage therapy." When someone says this to me, my answer back is, "You shouldn't." 
  If lack of insurance coverage is what is holding you back from getting a massage you should know that insurance companies are NOT your friend when it comes to wellness and never will be.
  It can be frustrating to pay into a system all your working life and feel like you can't get from it what you actually need. But of course you don't get what you need from an insurance company- they are money driven businesses, not wellness driven businesses! Often the things they cover versus the things they don't make absolutely no sense. And when they do actually cover a service, they tend to tie the hands of the practitioner and dictate how they can practice. This is the number one reason why most massage therapists (including myself) don't accept insurance even if a patient's plan will provide coverage. You don't need a money-hungry corporation telling your LMT what muscles they can and can't massage, and then denying coverage if they don't comply, or even if they word a report incorrectly. 
  Because of the constant denial and hoops LMTs would have to jump through, if massage were regularly covered by insurance it would sky-rocket the cost of a session, which would leave uninsured patients unable to afford even a monthly service. By staying separate from insurance, massage businesses can control cost and keep it as low as possible for you.   

4) Don't Fear Tightening Your Belt: In this country, we are accustomed to excess, and we are used to having whatever we want when we want it. We see this luxury as being normal. Therefore, when we happen upon a time where we have to pick and choose between purchases it can feel scary. A survival response is activated when we feel like we do not have the tools to survive, the same survival response that is activated if we were facing disease or famine. This is because having to choose feels like sacrifice, and if we have to sacrifice it must mean we are not doing well. But the reality is, considering the lifestyles we live, we are probably not having to choose between getting a massage or paying essential bills. Usually what we are having to choose between is getting a massage or an unnecessary expense like going out to dinner. This is not the same thing as facing crisis- our bodies just react as if it is, so we believe it is. 
  It is ok to have to tighten your belt once in a while. We are constantly fed this lie, through media, news, celebrity/influencer lifestyle, glorification of excess, that having to budget means you are a failure, or that you are in danger of losing everything. This is really a marketing tactic to make you open up your pocketbooks and spend, even if it's on unnecessary and unwise purchases. 
  However, if money is extremely tight, threatening your basic needs, and you still want the benefits of regular massage- your LMT can work with you. Perhaps that month you just get a half-hour treatment where the focus is on the main issues instead of a 90 minute full-body session, or maybe it's time to extend your schedule out another week or two.  

  One more note on this- if you are stressed over a budget you should feel comfortable talking to your LMT about it. If your LMT makes your feel badly about this subject, they are probably not the right therapist for you. A good massage therapist who is invested in your wellness should help figure out a routine and treatment plan that works for your body and your budget, as well.  

  Are you interested in adding massage therapy to your wellness routine? If so, check out my scheduling page here to book online, or feel free to email me at sarahjonesnysmassage@gmail.com or call me at 518-250-9533 

  One of the most frequently asked questions I receive from women who are TTC is "Can Fertility Massage help with IVF?"

  I am happy to say that the answer is, "Absolutely!"

  In fact, IVF specialists recommend beginning massage, acupuncture, or fertility supportive wellness at least 90 days before your first transfer. 

This is for a few reasons:

1) Increased Circulation. Fertility wellness treatments such as massage will help increase circulation to your abdomen and pelvis. This will help with proper function of organs in those regions, including your digestive organs and reproductive organs. Proper circulation helps your body heal, grow, change, and repair. 

2) Reducing Inflammation. Inflammation not only causes pain, but can disrupt your menstrual cycle, affect ovulation, and slow digestion. By stimulating lymph nodes and moving lymphatic fluid with massage, you body will be able to filter out inflammation more effectively. 

3) Improving Digestion. By freeing restrictions around the intestines and stomach, massage helps improve digestive flow, helping your body  to properly absorb and utilize important nutrients. 

4) Balancing Hormones (and Relieving Stress!). Proper hormone function is incredibly important when it comes to reproductive health but constant stress can overtax and exhaust your endocrine system. Massage naturally eases your "fight or flight" stress response, allowing your endocrine system to rest and function properly.

  Fertility Massage can be started almost any time during your IVF journey, but if you start treatment long before your first transfer you will ensure that your body is in prime condition for successful implantation. IVF can be time consuming, mentally taxing, and expensive. We want your first transfer to be the only transfer you need!

  Remember, the key to reproductive health is overall health. A body that feels safe, healthy, and is functioning properly will be more likely to support bringing new life in to the world.  

  Are you ready to schedule your initial fertility session? Click the button below to book your appointment online! 

​Do you want to know more about what your first session involves? Check out my blog post here

Questions?
Email me at sarahjonesnysmassage@gmail.com
or call Integrative Massage Associates of Albany at 518-250-9533

  You'd probably think that because I am a massage therapist, I would say the best way to reduce and manage stress is with a massage, right? Actually, you'd be wrong. 
  While massage is an awesome tool to help manage stress, I don't think it's the *best* tool for it. 
  So what is? I'll give you the short answer here before taking a deep dive into why. 
  The best tool to manage stress is..... exercise!

   To understand why exercise can be so beneficial, first we need to truly understand what the stress response is and how it affects every system of our body. This post is a long one, but I promise it is worth the read. You will come away from it with a much better understanding of your physical and mental health and how to improve it effectively.  
​
  All of us experience stress. It’s safe to say that average stress levels are at an all-time high. How could they not be? Between a constant cycle of news articles, social media, aggressive marketing, along with normal daily stressors of life, our stress levels have become dangerously unmanageable. 
  Stress can cause or exacerbate almost every ailment you can think of. Anxiety, depression, disordered eating, acne, high-blood pressure, reproductive issues, you name it and stress has a negative effect on it. 
  But it’s important to remember that “stress” is a normal physiological response and at times is very necessary for our survival. For this reason, we need to stop looking at stress as being “bad” and instead learn to understand it. 

What is the Stress Response?

  Let's begin by learning about our autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system controls things that happen automatically and don’t require conscious thought. This includes functions like breathing, digestion, etc. Our natural stress response involves two different parts of the autonomic nervous system. One is called the sympathetic nervous system, and the other is called the parasympathetic. To start, we are going to focus on the SNS, the sympathetic nervous system. 

  Imagine yourself in this situation: You are driving your car. You stop at a red light. The light turns green, and you begin to go. But just as you enter the intersection, some guy who was trying to beat a yellow light races right in front of you. As soon as you see them coming you begin to react. You hit your brakes, maybe even swerve out of the way. Maybe you lay on your horn to give them a piece of your mind - they could have killed you, after all!
  Now assess how your body would feel after an incident like this. Your heart is likely racing, your extremities might be shaking a bit, and there’s a rush going through you. 
  This is the SNS at work. The “stress response”. It is also called our “fight or flight” response. Our brain senses danger and immediately instructs various systems of the body to have different reactions just in case we need to fight or flee from the danger. Hence the nickname “fight or flight”. 
  Our heart begins to beat faster and our breathing quickens, so that more blood and oxygen can be delivered to the arms and legs, in case you need to run for your life or fight whatever danger you are facing. Meanwhile, blood is diverted from organs that aren’t needed at that moment- organs such as the stomach, liver, or intestines. We don’t really need to be concerned with digesting food while fighting for our lives. The pupils of our eyes dilate, letting in more light so we can see more effectively. Our muscles tense, ready for action. All of these reactions are basic survival instincts. We sense danger, and we react to be able to face it.

  Now, let’s get a little deeper into precisely what causes these reactions. It begins with that outside stimulus, but what exactly does our brain do to cause all these physical changes?
  When we experience a stressful situation, the hypothalamus is activated. This area of the brain controls many of our automatic functions, such as breathing or our blood pressure and heart rate. Sensing you may be in danger, the hypothalamus instructs your adrenal glands on top of your kidneys to start producing epinephrine. 
  Epinephrine is a key stress hormone and the first one to circulate throughout the body after a stress-inducting event. It’s the rush we feel when we get scared. This hormone provides that initial physiological response, such as our breathing increasing, raised blood pressure, and divergence of blood to the muscles. 
 Although this may seem like a lot of steps, it happens so quickly that we can respond to a stimulus in a nanosecond. That’s why, in the scenario earlier, we were immediately able to tense our body, swerve out of the way, and hit the brakes. All in the blink of an eye. We didn’t even really have to think, we just had to react.
  The epinephrine response is very quick. It comes on quickly and fades quickly.  Therefore, there is a secondary response to stress in case we need to stay on high alert for longer than a few seconds. This secondary response involves the adrenals and the pituitary gland. Once that initial epinephrine surge happens, our body begins producing cortisol. This is a very important hormone to remember, as it is the main cause of our daily high stress levels. (More on that in our next section.) Cortisol does mostly the same thing as epinephrine, but lasts longer and helps to keep our bodies in a state of awareness and survival-mode for a longer amount of time than epinephrine. This may be due to an ongoing stress factor. For example, if we are being attacked and need to fight, we need much more than an initial rush of epinephrine, we need to stay in survival mode for a long time.

  As we physically fight or flee from the source of our stress, that activity burns these hormones. And once the stress hormones are used, they begin to fade, and their response ceases to affect us. 

  Remember I said there are two aspects to this, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. The parasympathetic is the exact opposite of the stress response. It is activated when the stress or threat passes, and once those stress hormones are burned up. It is known as our “rest and digest” system. This happens in a similar way to the SNS response, but with different hormones.  
  When “rest and digest” is active, our body releases “feel-good” hormones such as oxytocin, and our heart rate slows, our blood pressure lowers, blood and oxygen are returned to digestive organs so we can continue to break down food and nutrients. During this time is when our body repairs itself, grows, changes, nurtures itself. It can take the time to do this because it is at peace and doesn’t have to worry about fighting anything.

  The SNS and the PNS are usually not active at the same time. It is one or the other. 

Why Are Our Stress Levels So High?

  So now you understand what stress is from a biological point of view, but it still doesn’t answer the question of why our stress levels are so dangerously high. If stress is a normal physiological response why is it malfunctioning? Why are we stressed all the time?
  To answer this we need to go way way back in time, to when humanity was young. Basically when we dwelled in caves, and were learning how to make fire. We were hunter/gatherers. Survival looked different back then. 
  What would initiate a stress response back then? Probably things like hunting, defending yourself from a wild animal attack, or an attack from a rival tribe. All things that require physical strength to defeat. 
  If we were in danger, our body prepared us for a fight, we used that hormone response to either fight or flee from the attacker, the stress hormones were used up, we relaxed, our bodies healed. 
  Simple. As it evolved to be. 

  Consider what causes stress in our lives every day. And, no I don’t mean the freak incidents like the oncoming car, I mean the stress you experience daily. 
  Workplace responsibilities, an overbearing boss, your kids arguing, your ailing mother needing care, the car needing $1000 in repairs, gas costing $5 a gallon, unrelenting news articles about war and death, influencers making you feel inadequate... should I go on? We could add a dozen more things to that list- and those are just the stressors we face in a single day or week! Now throw in situations that may not be daily but are part of life. A sobering medical diagnosis, or job loss, or divorce. All of these things cause a stress response. They are scary, they are threats to us and our safety, at least that’s how our bodies and brain perceive them to be. 
  Now think about this- how many of those situations we just mentioned can you physically fight? How many can you physically flee from? Absolutely none of them. 
  Therefore, not only are we bombarded with dozens of stressful situations in a day, but none of them are things we can properly use our stress response to overcome! 
  Stress hormones are being pumped into our bodies every day with no way of burning them up or stopping production. When one stress-inducing trigger stops, another is already there to take its place. And because we are never burning up those hormones with physical activity, they keep piling on and on. 
  This means our heart rate and blood pressure are constantly high, leading to heart disease. Our digestive system is always slow, leading to IBS, obesity. Our body can’t build, repair or break down nutrients as we need them, leading to acne, ulcers, and infection. Our minds are constantly alert, constantly in survival mode, which can lead to anxiety and depression, and greatly exacerbate existing mental health issues such as bipolar disorder, or eating disorders. 
  By now it should be coming together for you- a messy, chaotic puzzle. Something triggers the stress response, body-altering hormones get produced, because of our numerous daily stressors and lack of ability to use up the hormones that are already pumping through our system more hormones get produced and piled on, our bodies are not functioning at a normal, healthy level, which leads to disease and illness. 


How Do We Turn Off the Stress Response?

  Most of the stressors we face daily we cannot avoid. Or at least, we can’t avoid them without a dramatic change. I guess in theory we could quit a terrible job, or cut a toxic person out of our lives, or even swear off social media. But in reality, these things are difficult to do. How do we manage stress properly and still live our lives?
  I think this can be done a few ways, and the answers are in the physiological response, which is why I devoted all this time to breaking it down for you. 
  Let’s take a look at how those hormones are supposed to be used. They are produced to help us with the physical activity that comes with fighting or fleeing from danger. For example, that’s why blood is sent to the major muscle groups, to help us run. We already talked about how we can’t fight or flee from modern stressors. But we can take time to engage in physical activity that will still help burn off those hormones. 
  Our modern world requires us to live sedentary lifestyles. Many of us have office jobs where we sit at a desk and computer all day. And when we come home, we are so mentally drained (aka stressed) that we just crash. Which absolutely does not help burn off those stress hormones. 
  I recommend introducing some type of good, enjoyable, physical exercise into your life. The enjoyable part is key- if it’s something you hate then you’re just adding on a new stressor. Have fun finding whatever this new activity may be, use it as an excuse to try new things. Try a class like yoga, pilates, or dance. Something that will make you sweat a little, but will make you feel good. Get outside and go for a run, or if running is not your thing even a nice walk through the neighborhood will be extremely beneficial. Go for a swim, which is one of the best forms of exercise in my opinion. Don’t have a pool? Local YMCAs often have open swim or swim classes, many state parks have beaches open to the public. Or grab your partner and go play tennis. 

  Move. Sweat. Fatigue your muscles. This is what will use those stress hormones, burn them, and allow your body to come back down to a relaxed state. Then go home, make yourself a good meal, and then sit down and let “rest and digest” take over.
 
  I have one more piece of advice that I want to throw in here because it is something over the years I’ve had many people mention to me that I realize they have backwards. Often, before we do something strenuous we will eat a big meal first. One reason is because maybe it’s the end of the day and we are starving when we get home so we want to eat before exercise. But it's also because there is this misconception that if we eat before exercise then the exercise will burn off that meal. This isn't really the case. When we exercise we are actually burning nutrients that have already been broken down from previous meals. We don’t use the food that is sitting in our stomachs, that food still needs to be digested. When we eat, it should be followed by rest… remember it’s “rest and digest”! Let your body go into its more relaxed state by staying relatively sedentary for a little while after eating. Don’t work against your body, work with it. 

  Come home from work, eat a small snack if you need to so you feel satisfied, and then go do something physical. Once you are finished with that, make yourself a nice dinner, sit down and enjoy it, and then kick back for the rest of the evening.

  There are plenty of other feel-good activities we can do to help combat stress. Things like getting a massage, taking a bubble bath, lying on a beach with our toes in the sand. Yes, these are great me-time luxury activities that can help. But I want you to think about stress as something to manage in your daily life, without costing a fortune or requiring you to travel far. And now that you understand the physiological causes and effects of stress, you can do this much more effectively.

  Keep in mind that if you have a health disorder that stress exacerbates, please don’t hesitate to visit your doctor. It may be a much more complicated matter than just being stress-induced, so it’s important to get to the root of what is going on and understand your body. 

  Now you have a deeper understanding of what it means when we say, “I’m under a lot of stress” and even better, you have some tools as to how to manage stress better. I hope you can take what you’ve learned and apply it to your life, you can do it as soon as today. So don’t wait. Take steps towards a happier and healthier life right now. You deserve it.

​