1. Reflexology Improves Circulation
Even one treatment from a certified, professional Reflexologist can help improve the body's circulation. Good circulation is vital to health. The circulatory system carries oxygen, nutrients, and hormones to cells, and removes waste products, like carbon dioxide. Good circulation helps maintain healthy blood and oxygen flow throughout the body, allows your lungs, heart, and other organs to function properly and efficiently, helps fight off and avoid potential diseases and sicknesses by allowing white blood cells to be transported around the body as needed, and improves the capacity of blood vessels to dilate, which helps them work more efficiently, allowing the muscles to receive oxygen more easily - this helps make daily activities less tiring. The benefits of an efficiently functioning circulatory system are innumerable! Imagine the benefits of regular reflexology as part of your healthy lifestyle!
2. Reflexology Improves Nerve Function
Did you know there are more than 7000 never endings in each foot!
The nervous system is the most important part of the body. If your body is out of balance, your nervous system will let you know. Many of us learn to "ignore" these signals and keep plodding through the pain and discomfort as we hurry about our busy lives. As we age our nerve endings become less sensitive. Reflexology can help rebalance the neural pathways and improve functionality of your nervous system.
For these reasons (and more) a regular treatment by a certified, professional Reflexologist is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle.
3. Reflexology Improves Energy Levels
Feeling tired, sluggish, and lethargic? These are signs of an imbalance in the body. A certified, professional Reflexologist will work with you to pinpoint possible imbalances. For example, one of the things our thyroid gland does is help to control our metabolic rate. Our adrenal glands help regulate our response to stress and play a key part in our sleep cycle. These are just two reflex points that a certified, professional Reflexologist can work during a treatment to help rebalance your body, correcting imbalances and bringing your natural energy levels back to normal.
4. Reflexology Promotes Relaxation
Why is relaxation important? When we relax, the flow of blood increases around our body giving us more energy. It helps us to have a calmer and clearer mind which aids positive thinking, concentration, memory and even decision making. Relaxation slows our heart rate, reduces our blood pressure, and relieves tension. It helps digestion, aids in maintaining normal blood sugar levels, reduces muscles tension and chronic pain, and takes our bodies out of the "fight or flight" state, and puts it into the "rest and repair" state.
A one hour reflexology session with a certified, professional Reflexologist helps the body and mind to relax (not to mention it feels sublime!).
5. Reflexology Helps Your Body Eliminate Toxins
Reflexology can help your body improve elimination by boosting function of your excretory system - the network of organs that works to removes excess, unnecessary materials, maintain internal chemical balance, and prevent damage to the body. After getting a reflexology treatment from a certified, professional Reflexologist some people may experience post-treatment effects such as increased urination, sweating or egestion right after treatment. This is a good sign that your body is responding to the treatment and coming back into balance.
6. Reflexology Helps Reduce Depression and Anxiety
It's no secret that touch from another human being is an important component of health. Many of us lead high stress go-go-go lives. This perpetual state of "fight-or-flight" response can often lead to elevated levels of "stress hormones" like adrenaline and cortisol, which may contribute to depression and anxiety. When we touch, our bodies release “feel good” hormones like oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin. These hormones, once released into our bodies, boost feelings of happiness, improve our mood, and make us feel more relaxed. Simply through the act of touch (like receiving a treatment from a certified, professional Reflexologist) our brains can produce soothing chemicals that help us feel safe and less threatened throughout the day. Our bodies go into a "rest and repair" response, and the hormones released into our systems help balance the stress response and allow the body to find homeostatic equilibrium, or balance.
7. Reflexology Helps Reduce Headaches
One of the most popular applications of reflexology includes the treatment and prevention of headaches and/or migraines. A 2018 study reported the results of a triple blind clinical trial assessing the effect of reflexology massage on 75 coronary care unit patients suffering from migraine. The study revealed a significant difference in mean pain scale in those receiving reflexology on the areas associated with migraine/headache relief vs. those receiving reflexology for other areas, and those receiving no reflexology at all. The trial patients that received reflexology for the reflex points associated specifically with migraine/headache on the foot reported a reduction in the intensity of headache when reflexology treatment was applied.
8. Reflexology Helps Reduce Healing Time after Injury
Making treatment with a certified, professional Reflexologist part of your regular healthcare routine will help your body to maintain a state of homeostasis – or, balance and optimal function. You will notice that cuts, scrapes, bumps, and bruises will begin to heal faster. With your body systems functioning optimally and in harmony your body is able to regrow cells faster and place more attention on healing.
9. Reflexology is low risk
Reflexology is generally regarded as very safe, even for those with underlying health conditions. It is a noninvasive therapy and is quite comfortable to receive. During a treatment from a certified, professional Reflexologist your therapist will apply firm but calming pressure. The results from reflexology are often subtle, and they are also cumulative - meaning the more you receive it, the better the result (improved health and homeostatic equilibrium).
Unlike massage and other hands-on modalities, reflexology is done with the clothes on (other than shoes and socks for foot reflexology), which can make it more comfortable for those who prefer minimal touch, or those looking to fit in a treatment on their lunchbreak for example.
And of course, traditional foot reflexology allows for a physical distance between client and therapist to be maintained throughout treatment. If you're thinking of a massage, or other hands-on therapy, but are wary of the proximity of your therapist, now is a great time to try reflexology.
10. Reflexology feels goooooooooood!
Reflexologists operate on the principle that the areas they are working, the "reflexes", correspond to various parts of the body. For example, in foot reflexology the toes relate to the head, the ball of the foot to the lungs and heart, the arch to the abdomen, and the heel to the pelvis, legs, and feet. Since reflexology is essentially working the entire body, it causes the entire body to relax. And that feels good.
In Chinese medicine, several meridians begin in the feet and flow up and through the body, while others flow from the center of the body and end in the hands. Reflexology stimulates and balances these meridians and helps the whole body feel good.
Our feet and hands do so much for us. They certainly work hard! Paying them a little attention can certainly feel good.
But alas, dear reader, don't just take my word for it. If you've never had reflexology, you really must try it. With all the many health benefits, not to mention the amazing feeling of bliss, you may just fall in love.
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