The University of Tasmania has  recently published research findings that link depression to obesity, not altogether surprising considering the much publicised growth of both diseases in recent times. Some people lose their appetite altogether when they are stressed out but others comfort eat, the foods comfort eaters choose usually are not fresh carrots and vitamin tablets but rather high calorie treats rich in fat and sugar.

Exercise can help with both problems but how do you get started? The best exercises in the world won’t help you if you can’t do them due to reasons like you cannot easily get down on the floor to do yoga or it has just been so long since you did last exercise that your body has really stiffened up and aches when you try to power walk or lift weights. It may be necessary to get a course of massage or osteopathy or chiropractic treatments before you take the next step to get fit.

Herein lies a big problem, over the last 20 years of doing body work in several  clinics obese people seem to be very under-represented considering how many of them there are now. It is possible that feeling embarrassed about their girth (particular if you are shy or lacking in confidence) might make an obese person hesitate about taking their shirt off infront of a total stranger. This is a great shame because there is a lot a good that a musculo-skeletal therapist can do to help you get started on the path to a healthier and fitter new-you. If this sounds like you or someone you know there are ways around this. Getting massaged with your clothes still on like you do when you get Chinese or Thai massage may make you feel more comfortable and less self-conscious than stripping down to your underwear for an oil-on-skin Swedish style massage.

There are some very worn-out fallacies about about being too fat to get a massage, EVERYBODY can benefit from being massaged not just slim athletic looking people. Sometimes when a person’s skin has become stretched tight because their girth has never been greater it can take more strength on the part of the massage therapist to get down to the muscle but anybody (and there are many) who does deep tissue massage should be able cope with this and if you are unsure just ring up and ask.

There are an increasing number of female only gyms and female only areas in regular gyms that can help girth-conscious women to feel more comfortable with exercising. If there are some exercises that you cannot do don’t let it stop you from doing the exercises that you can do, be careful not to go looking for excuses not to exercise because you don’t feel like exercising, 5 minutes exercise is better than no minutes exercise.

It is not just comfort eating (and drinking) and lack of physical activity that causes and worsens obesity, some medications such as anti depressants can increase your body weight and size too which may be part of the problem, don’t be shy about discussing the options with your doctor and explore how Self Massage may help you.

Massage and exercise can alleviate the symptoms of obesity by soothing muscles that have to work so hard carrying your body around and the feel good hormones released during massage and exercise can help both.