The power of touch provides the benefits of relaxation and relief from stress and body tension.

Massage can reduce the need for medications that help you to sleep and can improve your attention span.

A massage is believed to cause stimulation of the vagus nerve. This tenth cranial nerve, which helps regulate hormone production, can lower heart rate, help build up the immune system, decrease anxiety and will aid in the absorption rate of foods.

Depression and anxiety are two of the most common mental health issues, and both can negatively impact lives.

Studies have shown massage therapy can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety while also altering moods thereby relieving the effects of depression in those suffering this chronic condition.

Researchers at Taiwan's E-Da Hospital and College of Medicine reviewed 17 scientific studies involving 786 people.

The findings showed massage had many positive benefits for people experiencing depression and led to a reduction in symptoms.

At Japan's Kyushu University, a team of experts found facial massage soothed participants' physiological distress.

They concluded that massage activated participants' sympathetic nervous system, which activates what is often termed the fight or flight response, reduces a person's anxiety and helps to improve their mood.

Studies, such as the one at the University of Miami School of Medicine, US, found that massage therapy helps many conditions such as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), Alzheimer's, eating disorders, chronic fatigue, MS, Parkinson's and fibromyalgia.

ADHD Massage therapy will help in reducing hyperactivity in these individuals.

This should aid a person with their behavioural patterns by helping increase their ability to concentrate longer as stress and anxiety levels decrease. Massage therapy will also help to boost mental alertness.

Eating Disorders Massage therapy increases awareness levels of a person's body thus helping counter the poor image they have of themselves.

Chronic Fatigue Massage therapy will reduce depression, anxiety, and the effects of muscular aches and pains almost immediately. Sleep will improve and overall fatigue should also decrease.

If massage therapy is applied twice a week for a one-month period, there will be about a 30 per cent increase in serotonin and dopamine levels as well as a reduction in the stress hormone cortisol. These findings suggest massage is responsible for an increase in feel-good neurotransmitters and a decrease in stress.

The aforementioned conditions have traditionally been treated with medications and the unfortunate side effects that accompany them. However, the benefits of ongoing massage therapy can be an alternative for some of these conditions.

In 2012, researchers Collinge, Kahn and Soltysik, published a paper in the journal, Military Medicine, describing the reintegration process for US National Guard members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The researchers followed service members for eight weeks as part of a pilot program to develop treatments for returning veterans. They found massage therapy helped veterans relieve pain, irritability, tension, worry, anxiety and depression.

At the Fort Bliss Restoration and Resilience Center, in Texas, US, Dr. John Fortunato, a Benedictine monk, Vietnam veteran and clinical psychologist, puts people experiencing post-traumatic stress through a rigorous and comprehensive regimen of therapies; acupuncture, Tai Chi, yoga, Reiki and different types of massage.

These therapies helped veterans turn off their hyper-aroused survival mechanisms, learn to relax again and get the healthy sleep their bodies needed.

Massage therapists have the ability to enhance a person's life in most conditions.

They can give their clients the opportunity to help themselves by providing their bodies with healing treatments of touch allowing them to react in a positive fashion, so if you think massage therapy is right for you, check with your doctor to be sure.

Find a licensed massage practitioner with specialised training for working with any pre-existing conditions so the therapist can meet your particular needs and maximise the benefits massage therapy can provide.

Share details of your medical history, tests, treatments, and any other relevant information so your sessions can be adjusted accordingly, then relax, your mental health will appreciate the respite and your wellbeing will be restored.

Dr Anthony Perrone is college counsellor at Trinity Anglican College. The views expressed in this column are Dr Perrone's and not necessarily those of Trinity Anglican College.