What is Reflexology and How Does It Work?
Reflexology is a technique borrowed from ancient Chinese beliefs in vital energy or qi. According to this theory, qi flows through every person and when you are stressed, your body blocks qi. This causes body imbalance, which leads to illness.
Other theories show that nerves connect internal organs and the skin. The whole nervous system also adjusts to outside factors such as touch. Therefore, when touch is applied, it can help calm the nervous system, leading to relaxation and other health benefits.
What is Reflexology Used For?
- Relaxation
Reflexology is widely known to open up neural pathways, improving the neuron activity in the nervous system, which helps your body relax. By delivering relaxation to your body, reflexology is able to induce some form of calm in your body and mind. Due to this, reflexology has been said to help with sleep disorders like insomnia.
- Increases Energy Levels
When muscle systems and various organs are properly aligned through reflexology, this helps increase body metabolism and the production of energy in the body. Therefore, if you happen to feel sluggish or need an energy boost, reflexology can help you out.
- Improves Nerve Function
With age, nerves become less sensitive in some parts of the body. Opening up neural pathways improves the functionality of nerves and cells in different parts of the body. Neural pathways are as important as muscles and it is important to keep them active at all times.
- Improves Blood Circulation
One very common benefit of reflexology is that it improves blood circulation throughout your body. This means that oxygen and blood are properly cycled in the body, which increases metabolism and ensures all parts of the body are functioning optimally. This leads to faster regrowth of damaged body cells and healing.
- Eliminates Toxins
Reflexology has been seen to increase bladder function and minimize any urinary tract problems. This means that reflexology can be used as an effective way of getting rid of toxins and foreign substances in the body, protecting you from different health conditions that emanate from having a compromised urinary system.
- Reduces Headaches
A common application of reflexology is reducing headaches and migraines. It does this by relieving tension in the muscles, which often lead to these conditions. Since psychological factors such as stress can manifest in form of physical symptoms like headaches and migraines, these can be eliminated through reflexology, enabling you to live a pain-free life. Therefore, if you are looking for a fix to headaches and migraines, you might want to consider reflexology instead of rushing for over-the-counter pain relievers.
- Stimulates the Nervous System
Reflexology opens up pathways in the body, which benefits the nervous system in a variety of ways. Reflexology not only works to boost the brain’s ability to take inputs better but also boosts cognitive ability and memory.
- Relieves Discomfort from Pregnancy and Menstruation
Reflexology can also be quite advantageous to pregnant women, especially when it comes to labor lengths. Women mostly use analgesics during labor and after giving birth, during postpartum recovery. Reflexology can be used hand in hand with these drugs to relieve the discomfort. It can also help reduce the chances of post-partum depression, allowing the body to heal by itself and get back to normality a lot easier. That is not all, reflexology can also help during menstruation because it also minimizes pain and discomfort during that time.
Reflexology is a treatment technique that relies on the idea that points on the hands, feet, and ears are connected via the central nervous system to different parts of the body. If the pressure is applied to such points, energy movement is stimulated along with the nervous system, helping the body restore homeostasis balance. Due to this, reflexology has numerous health benefits such as relaxation, improved nervous functions, increased blood circulation, and many other advantages.