Foot massages have been an indispensable part of a wholesome healthy fitness regime since ancient times. Ayurveda gives immense importance to foot massages. Massaging the right way stimulates nerves, soothes your mind and body, by ensuring improved circulation, relaxed muscles, reduced tension, and most importantly eases pain. For a quick pick-me-up, you can also get those foot rollers and relieve your feet off the stress.

Massage at right pressure points to get body-part specific results. There is heart point, lung, neck point which when massaged provides much-needed relief from pain, exhaustion.

See how a little pampering of your foot takes you a long way:

Stress-buster, sleep-inducer: Foot massages reduce anxiety, depression. Massaging boosts up blood circulation in the body, activates the nerve endings. Especially the tip of the top foot when massaged induces great relief. Your body feels rejuvenated. Foot massaging also helps to battle insomnia.

Beneficial for PMS, menopause: The mood swings, the discomfort experienced during menopause can be easily kept at bay with foot massager. Press the arch of the inside of the foot, a thumb-width from the ball of the foot while massaging to get desired results.

Helps during pregnancy: Swollen feet, pain, postpartum stress are common after and before labour. Hence, reflexology-based foot massages aid the woman’s body to heal faster and achieve normal metabolic activity sooner. Massage helps to reduce the effects of edema.

Beneficial for multiple sclerosis: Patients often experience double vision, blindness in one eye, muscle weakness, dimmed sensation, trouble with coordination and crippling fatigue due to multiple sclerosis. But foot massages, especially the ones that are reflexology-based massages are great in such cases. It gets you rid of the exhaustion.

Relief from headache: At times headache is sinus generated, or due to tension build up in the neck and shoulders or it’s in your temple or the front or back of your head- but if you put pressure on the outside base of your big toe on both your feet and then the front and back of each toe using the squeeze and release technique, you will instantly see the difference.

Nervous system strengthens: Our feet has innumerable nerve endings that go way back to the spine. The insides of both our feet can be mapped to the spine, with the first vertebra being right below the big toe. So, if you put pressure on the foot and massage for about 30-45 seconds by rubbing in a circular motion, your spine will be rejuvenated.