Precisely what Whole Body Vibration Is

A type of therapy many people may not be aware of is what is known as whole body vibration, that involves sitting or standing on a platform where vibrations are passed on throughout the body. It might seem to be too easy or far too simple to do much for the many systems in your body, but using this method of vibration therapy can actually improve your health and enhance your life. Platforms that provide oscillating vibrations can be found in many health and fitness centers, including those providing rehabilitative or therapeutic services, and they can also be purchased for home use. Originally developed as a means to improve muscle mass and bone density, this technology has lots of additional benefits which have been noted and scientifically demonstrated to work. Balance is one of the very first things that will greatly improve when you begin using whole body vibration. Your body must always compensate for the movement of the oscillating platform, and your brain has to send acceptable messages to your muscles in a swift fashion to keep you from falling over. At a rate of up to 50 times a minute, the platform causes the brain and body to react quickly. Using an oscillating platform will help individuals with balance issues that may have occurred as a result of disease or injury. With the oscillating vibrations, as you stand or sit on the base the entire body receives penetrating vibrations from head to feet. So that you can maintain the balance, the muscles would have to contract and relax automatically. Oscillating movements encourage your muscles to contract on one side of your body at a time, the same as the way that walking utilizes muscles on one side at a time. With the alternate vibrations, each side of the body could increase in muscle mass through productive usage of these muscles. When you use a vibration platform, there are a wide variety of postures that can be tried, enabling you to work numerous muscles groups in the body. When muscles contract, the bones are drawn as the tendons joining the muscles to bone are moved. Bone density is increased after some time resulting in sturdier bones which would be less prone to break. For people with conditions that lower mobility, it may be difficult to participate in weight-bearing exercises that improve bone strength. Standing on an oscillating platform at home is significantly easier than engaging in other, more strenuous forms of exercise. For the aging population, this is especially important since bone density factors will be typical with more aged individuals where their independence is not what it once was due to brittle bones or health issues. Beyond the physical benefits, there are other positive aspects to using an oscillating system. As with all exercising, endorphins that make you feel happy or exhilarated are released, in addition to the pleasure chemical dopamine. These levels are increased as is the serotonin levels when using an oscillating platform on a regular basis which can lead to much better sleep, appetite, energy, happiness and better thinking. The levels of the stress hormone cortisol are decreased with regular exercise which for those who regularly have a problem sleeping could benefit greatly from this form of vibration exercise. Due to the low impact exercising, this does not have the same type of strain or risk for injury high impact exercises would. Because of this, it may be an ideal form of exercise for those with joint problems or issues with chronic pain. The whole body vibration can certainly help you get healthy and stay healthy as long as you are sticking to a well balanced diet along with other good lifestyle choices.