Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/465652
60 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k m a r c h / a p r i l 2 0 1 5 Got Glucose? Could your blood sugar affect the quality of your work? Some say it does. According to journalist John Tierney in The New York Times Magazine, when researchers analyzed more than 1,100 parole decisions at an Israeli prison, they found prisoners were granted parole a third of the time. Curiously, the parole approval rate fluctuated wildly during the course of the day. 1 Early in the morning, parole was granted 70 percent of the time. By lunchtime, parole approval dropped to 10 percent. And after lunch, it was back up to 60 percent. This meant prisoners who committed identical crimes and had identical sentences had different parole outcomes based on the time of day the parole case was heard. Studies since have elucidated the reason: low blood sugar. "Your brain does not stop working when glucose is low," Tierney writes. "It stops doing some things and starts doing others. It responds more strongly to immediate rewards and pays less attention to long-term prospects." Let's apply this to the 2:30 p.m. massage. Here are the things I experience a couple hours after lunch: apathy, fatigue, and irritability. In an unconscious attempt to conserve energy (immediate reward), my feet stop moving and I start reaching and leaning farther than I normally do, putting my shoulders in compromising positions. I make poor decisions for my body in the massage room. The good news is there is an easy solution to the afternoon low: eat an apple. For six months, I ran my own little glucose experiment in the massage room. By counting calories, and adding low-fat, complex carbohydrate foods at the time of day I would normally be low in glucose, I was able to circumvent the low. I had steady energy with no real dips, even when I had less sleep than normal. The next time you feel off during a massage, check the time of the day and your food intake. When you're fueled up, you'll provide a better massage and avoid a potential injury because of a low-glucose-induced lapse in judgment. Become Ambidextrous Pitching in baseball is a one- sided activity. For many massage therapists, so is doing massage. Unfortunately, one-sidedness can lead to repetitive stress injuries. Early in my massage career, I aggravated an old injury in my right shoulder—my dominant arm. Though severely one-sided at the time, I was forced to use my left arm. It was an awkward start, but after getting some reps in with my left arm, I was able to rest my right arm during the massage. Eventually, I became comfortable using my left arm almost as much as my right. So, whenever my right shoulder would act up, I'd transfer more of the workload to my left arm for a week or so until my right shoulder recovered. In retrospect, forced adaptation, though effective, may not be the ideal way to become ambidextrous. A sudden and steady workload increase to a joint is risky business. A safe way to become ambidextrous is to start slowly and be strategic. By strategic I mean don't test your first, second, or third attempt of nondominant-arm massage strokes on a paying customer. You need to work through the beginner phase on massage volunteers—colleagues, family, friends, etc. When you feel your nondominant arm can deliver close to the same