This Is the Best Reason to Ask Bae for a Massage

"It's for your health!"

By Elizabeth Narins, Cosmopolitan

 

While making you feel awesome should be reason enough for your partner to massage you, new research recently presented at the British Psychological Society’s annual conference in Brighton, England, suggests giving a massage delivers the same physical and emotional benefits as receiving one — the perfect fact to bolster your case the next time you request a rub-down.

[post_ads]In the study, 19 couples attended three weeks' worth of massage training, filling out questionnaires about their physical and mental well-being, stress, coping, and relationship satisfaction, before and after each session. Across the board, these measures improved for all participants — regardless of whether they'd spent their class time kneading or getting the royal treatment. Even better: Both partners, when they were reassessed three weeks later, seemed to ride out the massage high they'd picked up — even though about one-quarter of the couples had stopped practicing their moves.

Sayuri Naruse, a graduate student in health psychology at Northumbria University in the U.K., told Health.com that's because massage involves affection and ultimately fosters relationships stability. So it's no wonder why both partners reap the benefits. Although the study wasn't large, didn't involve any clinical work to assess exactly how the massage work affected participants' insides, and doesn't clarify whether the couples studied were same-sex or heterosexual, its take-home message is harmless: Couples' massages are fun, and it won't kill you to be the one who gives the massage — a good thing, because my back hurts.

 

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