Northern Beaches Reflexology

04/12/2025

Give the gift of relaxation and rejuvenation this Christmas… check out the comments for a link to my gift voucher 🙏

04/12/2025

02/12/2025

Welcome, December! 🌟

I’m in the UK so embracing all of the northern hemisphere Christmas spirit!

The final month of the year arrives with a sense of reflection, gratitude, and anticipation for what’s to come. It’s a time to slow down, celebrate achievements, and cherish moments with loved ones.

May this month bring warmth, joy, and peace as we close one chapter and prepare for the new beginnings ahead.

19/11/2025

Thought this was interesting… 🧐

18/11/2025

Reflexology is much more than some people think it is. It’s calmer shoulders, deeper breaths, and your nervous system going, “Ahhhhhh, finally.” 💆🙌💜

18/11/2025

It’s not unusual to feel sleepy, heavy, or even emotionally drained after a reflexology session, and it’s actually a good sign that your body is responding.

Reflexology activates the parasympathetic nervous system - the “rest and digest” branch responsible for slowing the heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and triggering recovery processes. When the body shifts out of a chronic stress state (sympathetic dominance), it finally has permission to relax, repair, and rebalance.

That deep relaxation can sometimes feel like fatigue, especially if your system has been running on adrenaline or stress hormones for a long time. The tiredness isn’t a side effect. It’s a signal that your body is resetting its internal balance.

📚 Research supports this response:

Studies, including McVicar et al. (Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 2007), show measurable reductions in heart rate, blood pressure, and anxiety levels following reflexology - clear indicators of parasympathetic activation.

A 2011 pilot study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that reflexology sessions produced significant decreases in salivary cortisol (the body’s main stress hormone), reinforcing the link between reflexology and stress reduction.

Improvements in sleep quality and relaxation have been documented across multiple clinical settings, from cancer care to maternity wards, all pointing to the same physiological mechanism of rest and regulation.

💧 How to support your body afterward:

Drink water to help the body process metabolic by-products released during deep relaxation.

Avoid caffeine or alcohol immediately after your session to prolong the calm.

Rest if you can, even a short nap or quiet time helps integrate the benefits.

Feeling tired after reflexology is simply your body exhaling and catching up on the rest it’s been asking for. 😴

12/11/2025

Our hormones influence everything. Our mood, energy, and sleep, metabolism, fertility, and emotional resilience. When they’re out of balance, we can feel it in every part of our lives.

Reflexology offers a gentle, holistic approach to supporting the endocrine system - the network of glands that produce and regulate our hormones (including the thyroid, adrenals, pituitary, and ovaries/testes).

When we’re under chronic stress, our bodies release high levels of cortisol, the primary stress hormone. Over time, this can throw other hormones off balance - affecting menstrual cycles, thyroid activity, weight regulation, and even immune function.

By calming the nervous system and promoting deep relaxation, reflexology helps lower stress hormones and encourages the body to return to homeostasis - its natural state of balance.

🧠 How it works:

Reflex points corresponding to endocrine glands are stimulated, helping to improve communication between these systems via neural and circulatory pathways.

Activating the parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) response reduces cortisol and adrenaline levels.

With less stress load, the body can better regulate hormones like oestrogen, progesterone, insulin, and melatonin.

📚 What the research shows:

A 2019 study published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research found that women who received reflexology during their menstrual cycle experienced reduced PMS symptoms, less pain, and improved mood.

In Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice (2017), researchers reported that reflexology helped reduce anxiety and fatigue in menopausal women, suggesting a beneficial effect on stress-related hormonal imbalance.

Other studies note reflexology’s potential to lower blood pressure, improve sleep, and enhance overall wellbeing - all indicators of a more regulated endocrine system.

✨ The bigger picture:
While reflexology doesn’t replace medical care or claim to “fix” hormonal disorders, it can be a valuable complementary approach to help the body find its rhythm again.
For many, it offers a sense of calm, better sleep, and renewed emotional balance - the foundation for healthier hormone function.

09/08/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/1G17b4LEBs/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The same diet that’s anti-cancer is also anti-heart disease and anti-lung disease. Following cancer prevention guidelines for lifestyle and diet may increase longevity.
Adherence to cancer prevention recommendations isn’t just associated with higher survival in cancer patients and lower risk of dying from cancer, but lower risk of dying overall. That’s the beauty of eating a more plant-based diet.

Thirty to 50 percent of common cancers are preventable with diet and lifestyle. We have the power to change our health destiny.

A healthy lifestyle that includes a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes may help reduce the number of breast cancer incidences, for example.

The American Institute for Cancer Research recommendations include maintaining a healthy weight, exercising, and eating a diet rich in whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans, while limiting fast food, processed junk, meats, soda, and alcohol.

Specific to breast cancer, those who met most of those recommendations only had half the risk, compared to individuals who only met a couple. If you could only do one of those recommendations, limiting animal foods seems most protective. Adherence to the recommendations is also associated with higher survival in people who already have cancer.

Higher dietary fiber consumption was associated with a 37 percent lower risk of dying from all causes put together and a 28 percent lower risk of dying specifically from breast cancer among breast cancer survivors––and it didn’t take much. There was about a 10 percent drop in death risk for every increment of 5 daily grams of dietary fiber. That’s like a cup of oatmeal or broccoli, or just a third of a cup of beans.

Watch the video “Diet and Lifestyle for Cancer Prevention and Survival” at see.nf/3O4GyAa
PMID: 23553166, 32067678, 32922233, 26804371, 32795218