Massage offers several benefits to a kid, notes Karen Richardson Gill, MD, FAAP, speciality in paediatrics.
Massaging your kid daily comes with endless benefits as it keeps them as fit as a fiddle.
"When you give your baby a massage, you're actually stimulating her central nervous system," notes Tiffany Field, PhD, director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine
Here are some of the many benefits of massaging your child
1. Massage can help your child sleep better.
Has your child been tossing and turning on the bed all overnight? Cases of children who rarely have enough sleep have been reported. Different factors including not massaging your baby have contributed to this problem. Stroking your child before hitting the sack causes relaxation and enables them to sleep better
Massage cause relaxation and provide more energy and heightens concentration.
2. It increases dopamine and lowers cortisol
Massage can help reduce stress caused by cortisol in children and increase their feel-good hormones(dopamine).
This is generally beneficial in that it helps the child to develop physically and regulate the anxiety and stresses in children.
3. Massage can decrease muscle tension.
It is believed that massage can strengthen the muscle and ease muscle tension in a child. In addition, it may increase the range of motion which plays an integral role in preventing some of the injuries.
Massage may prevent osteoporosis, a condition in which the bones become extremely porous and are subject to fracture.
4. Prevent constipation
According to the International Association of Infant Massage, massaging may stimulate the digestive and circulatory systems which in turn helps in preventing constipation. Most children suffering from constipation is usually as a result of not massaging them.