How reflexology can help you get a good night's sleep

Sleep really is a gamechanger for your health. It’s an essential function for everyone and lack of it can wreak havoc with all kinds of functions in the body leading to weight gain, lowered immunity and an increased risk for metabolic conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. It’s also crucial for your emotional wellbeing, you’ll know everything looks better when you’re well rested! Your mood, creativity and tolerance are lower when you sleep badly and your motivation to eat well and exercise often goes out of the window.

When you sleep, a series of physiological changes take place that allow your body to repair and prepare for the next day. Research shows that sleep fulfils a vital function that keeps you healthy, but many of us don’t sleep well for reasons including stress, anxiety, ageing, poor diet and sleep apnoea.

One of the benefits of reflexology which we can advertise, is that it results in better quality sleep, which is backed up through research. Among the many research studies conducted, the findings of a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials by Huang et al (2021) suggested that foot reflexology produced significant improvements in sleep disturbances. Foot reflexology was concluded to be a non-invasive and convenient intervention and that regularly receiving foot reflexology can be considered a complementary therapy to improve the sleep quality of adults with sleep disturbances (1).

A general reflexology session will help to calm the nervous system and have a relaxing effect. My clients often report sleeping  well the night after a reflexology treatment. As insomnia can be caused by a number of different reasons, treatments will focus on many reflexes to support sleep, including:

Diaphragm/Lung/Shoulder/Chest – to support respiration and circulatory function, which can be negatively impacted by sleep deprivation.

The Hypothalamus and the Pineal gland – to help regulate the body’s master clock and circadian rhythm and support the release of melatonin, the sleep hormone needed for good quality sleep.

Other endocrine glands – to help balance hormones which can support or hinder sleep, such as cortisol and growth hormone.

Immune system - it is well known that poor sleep suppresses the body’s immune system function. The immune system produces particular cytokines (proteins) to help promote sleep, while others are released during sleep to help fight infection and inflammation.

Brain and spine - to help support the central nervous system, calm the mind and allow the brain to have some much-needed ‘downtime’.

The ‘Insomnia Point’ – a specific insomnia point can be worked on the foot to support sleep quality.

1. Huang HC, Chen KH, Kuo SF, Chen IH. Can foot reflexology be a complementary therapy for sleep disturbances? Evidence appraisal through a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Adv Nurs. 2021 Apr;77(4):1683-1697.