Massage therapy is one of the best treatments for stress. It is important to manage stress, as it can lead to exhaustion, burnout and even to disease in the body. 

The sympathetic nervous system triggers the stress response and it forms part of the autonomic nervous system. The other part of the autonomic nervous system is the parasympathetic nervous system which controls the "relaxation response" otherwise known as "rest and digest". Activating the parasympathetic nervous systems turns off those harmful biochemical reactions so that our heart rate returns to normal, our body can digest properly, our immune system can work well again and our body can relax. So essentially we need to encourage the parasympathetic nervous system to take over as often as possible, and massage therapy is a great way to do this.