Areas › Your body › Touch and bodywork
People who are sure they could never lie still for an hour tend to be asleep within ten minutes of getting on the table. Being unable to fidget seems to do it.
Worth saying in advance to anyone who is putting off booking. It is the same effect as a car journey knocking out a child who has not stopped moving all day: movement is off the table, steady pressure arrives, and the whole system gives up and rests. If you do fall asleep, nothing is wasted. That was probably the point.
Qur’an and Sunnah
'He gave you sleep as a reassurance from Him' (Quran 8:11). Sleep arriving is described as a mercy rather than a lapse, which is a good thing to know if you feel you should have stayed awake and made the most of it.
إِذۡ يُغَشِّيكُمُ ٱلنُّعَاسَ أَمَنَةࣰ مِّنۡهُ وَيُنَزِّلُ عَلَيۡكُم مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءࣰ لِّيُطَهِّرَكُم بِهِۦ وَيُذۡهِبَ عَنكُمۡ رِجۡزَ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنِ وَلِيَرۡبِطَ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِكُمۡ وَيُثَبِّتَ بِهِ ٱلۡأَقۡدَامَ
Remember when He gave you sleep as a reassurance from Him, and sent down water from the sky to cleanse you, to remove Satan’s pollution from you, to make your hearts strong and your feet firm
Qur’an 8:11read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
A meta analysis of non drug ways of improving sleep after cardiac surgery, which included massage and aromatherapy, found sleep quality improved, though the trials varied a great deal between them. Hands on work and rest do seem to belong together. Those were hospital patients after major surgery, so the setting is nothing like a routine massage.
Soh PQP, Wong WHT, Roy T, Tam WWS. (2024). Effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions in improving sleep quality after cardiac surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis.. Journal of clinical nursing doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
With nowhere to move and steady pressure coming in, the body takes the first chance it has had all day to stop.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
If tapping feels too jumpy, use the same face points differently. Feel for a tender spot inside the eyebrow, under the eye, or just below the cheekbone towards the nose, then make slow small circles there.
Body based approaches have been linked with better physical and mental health, easier relationships, and in some settings lower use of painkillers and psychiatric medication.
If pain is the thing you live with, start the session with the stroking sequence rather than the conversation. Arms, forehead, crown, cheeks, slowly.