THE RESEARCH OF INDIVIDUAL’S LIFE QUALITY LEVELS THAT PREFERS MASSAGE AND EXERCISING IN THERMAL HOTELS

Massage can be defined as systemic stimulation of soft tissues of body manually or mechanically to reduce pain, tiredness and tension by relaxing muscles. Besides, it is also used to reduce stress and ensure permanence of health. The study was carried out simultaneously with the voluntary participation of guests staying in balneological water and demanding massage from spa centers. The study was implemented with 173 people. The Quality of Life Scale, International Physical Activity Questionnaire and socio-demographic questionnaire, which was developed by the researcher, were used as data collection tools. Physical component score (PCS)values of men who had massage were found to be significantly higher than women who had massage. Among the people who had massage, PCS values in one week of light physical activity; pain and general health, mental health and vitality in moderate physical activity; PCS, general health, social function values in vigorous physical activity of participants who had had physical activity for 5 and 7 days were found to be higher than the participants who had exercised for 1 and 2-4 days. Preferring to have massage may stem from health, social and physical reasons. It is identified that general health, pain, physical function, physical role, mental health and vitality values and social function values of individuals who do exercise for 5 and 7 days in a week get more significance. It is observed in our study that, there are significant relations between reasons for preferring to have massage and exercise frequency and some values of quality of life.