Doing reflexology is good for you — for reasons you never expected

A new British study may help answer old questions about reflexology. Does the reflexologist receive as much benefit from reflexology practice as the client? Do reflexologists live longer? It may also raise a new question. Does self reflexology create results beyond those attributable to working the reflex areas of the hands and feet?

The study was about sitting time and fidgeting. It turns out that the positives and negatives of sitting are not as simple as counting time spent doing it. What one does while sitting is important too. And it’s here the questions about reflexology enter the picture.

According to the study, “Fidgeting is typically defined as involving small movements, especially of the hands and feet, often through nervousness, restlessness, or impatience. … The current results suggest that more complex movements of the hands and feet may be important to measure, in addition to level of physical activity (sitting time).”

The study found women who fidgeted more while sitting lived longer. Among the women in the low fidgeting group, sitting more than 7 hours a day was associated with an increased mortality risk of 30%. “Among women in the high fidgeting group, sitting for 5–6 hours/day … was associated with decreased mortality risk. … Fidgeting may reduce the risk of all-cause mortality associated with excessive sitting time.”

Previous research suggests why fidgeting may be beneficial. Fidgeting expends more calories than sitting still—118 calories an hour versus 80. Calorie consumption is linked to metabolism with more calories indicating more demand on metabolism. Research results showing sitting while reading or using a computer is less impactful on metabolism. It could be the benefit of intellectual stimulation while sitting.

So, where does reflexology fit into such concepts? Reflexology work whether applied to another or oneself includes complex hand movements of technique application. There’s mental mastery of techniques application appropriate to the specific part of the foot or hand and health concern. Then there’s assessment of what’s under thumb or fingers as one works as well as linking techniques in a coherent whole session.

The bottom line? Reflexology is good for you. Keep those hands moving.

Sedentary behavior is associated with 35 chronic diseases and health conditions

19 from WSJ

Aging (Accelerated biological)

Anxiety

Breast cancer

Cognitive dysfunction

Colon cancer

Congestive heart failure

Constipation

Coronary heart disease

Depression

Diabetes (Type 2)

Erectile dysfunction

Hypertension

Liver disease (Nonalcoholic fatty)

Metabolic syndrome

Osteoporosis

Peripheral artery diseasse

Rheumatoid arthritis

Stroke

Thrombosis (Deep vein)

Additional16 from our research

Alzheimer’s (risk)

Blood pressure (high)

Dementia (risk)

Endometrial cancer

Heart attack

Infertility

Kidney disease

Lung cancer

Obesity

Ovarian cancer

Pain/Discomfort (musculoskeletal)

Prostate cancer

Pulmonary embolism

Reproductive organ disorders (infertility, cervititis, cervical polyps, pre-menstrual and menstrual period pain, dysmenorrhea; fallopian tube obstruction; endometriosis, prostatitis and vaginitis)

Sperm count (low)

Uterine cancer

Is Preventing Alzheimer’s a Possibility?

Can we build better brains lessening cognitive decline and risks for dementia and Alzheimer’s? 

According to researchers, the answer is, yes. Choices we make every day impact the functioning of our brains. And these choices can lead to a better future, lessening risk not only for Alzheimer’s but also for dementia and cognitive decline.

Choices about how much we sit and move around today and every day are being implicated in how well our brains and cognitive functions will work in the future. 

Physical inactivity, sitting too much, has a specific impact while metabolic factors resulting from sitting too much have an effect as well. Walking abilities and what we do as we sit, television watching in particular, impact risk.

Read more and find out what these indicators are. Then we’ll talk about what you can do to target these risks. Is it an Alzheimer’s preventive? Research shows the possibility.

Indicators for cognitive decline and risks for dementia and Alzheimer’s

Indicators linked to increased risk for Alzheimer’s include:

• heredity (46%)

• physical inactivity (21%)
• depression (15%)
• midlife obesity (7%) (linked to physical inactivity)
• midlife hypertension (8%) (linked to physical inactivity)
• diabetes (3%) (linked to physical inactivity)
• smoking (11%) 
• low education (with limited mental stimulation into adulthood)(7%)

Metabolic indicators

Indicators linked to increased risk for cognitive decline, dementia and Alzheimer’s are also linked to metabolic processes that are impacted by sitting too much and moving too little including:

• elevated levels of blood sugar, 
• elevated levels of fats (cholesterol, triglycerides) 
• elevated levels of lipoprotein lipase (helps fat utilization by muscles as movement takes place)
• high blood pressure 
• “overweight/obese (individuals) could have a greater risk of AD than those with a more active, healthy lifestyle”

Walking abilities and falls

A risk of falling may be an early indicator of Alzheimer’s. The slower the walk among senior citizens, the more the signs of dementia. 

Sitting too long and too much creates musculoskeletal stress and, over time, dysfunction. Impacted in particular is loss of flexibility in the lower back.  “Flexibility, particularly in your lower body, is a key determinant in how well you age, including your risk of falling and your ability to get around.”.

Mental stimulation

Did you know that researchers link television watching and risk for Alzheimer’s? It is thought to be because it is the least mentally stimulating of seated activities.

What’s a person to do? 

First, recognize your chair dwelling lifestyle does not match your cave dwelling metabolism and muscles. 

Next, get up and get moving is the answer. But how much and how often? 

The answer: two hour more a day than you currently move with two minute breaks from sitting every 20 minutes. Also consider practicing exercises that effect the stability of the lower back. See below.

Why the program to un-sit your life? This is what the body, designed to live a much more active lifestyle than our chair dwelling culture, needs to maintain its metabolism and muscles. Moving 2 hours more a day with breaks from sitting resets both metabolism and muscles.

The result is improved indicators for metabolism as well as flexibility for  competent movement and mobility. The bottom line is improved indicators for risk of cognitive decline, dementia and Alzheimer’s.

What’s the link to reflexology?

It’s all about pressure to the feet. The reflexologist provides quality pressure to the feet. Un-sitting provides quantity pressure to the feet.

We became interested in sitting too much as we realized sitting too much translates into feet not receiving enough pressure to maintain the body as intended. Over four years of exploring the research, it became apparent that 2 hours a day with breaks from sitting every 20 minutes that created needed change in biomarkers and other indicators of the body’s operating system. The result is improved health and lessened risk for a long list of lifestyle conditions including those impacting cognitive function.

For more information, see Un-sit Your Life, the Reflex Diet Solution, Change your sitting habits, Empower your life by Barbara and Kevin Kunz

For information about exercises that help stability of the lower back.

Is There An Alzheimer"s Sign?

In response to a posting on Facebook we received the following responses. The posting was about a blog we did several years ago. Is There an Alzheimer Sign?

Diane Donegan

I don't have a photo. But the second photo is definitely the exact same as my husband. He pass away over a year ago. I never took that into consideration at the time but his feet were like that before he was diagnosed with Alzheimer. I took care of his foot health.  

What an eye opener. Thanks for the info.

Ola Demers

My husband has Alzheimer's for over 10 years and his feet look like your pictures. Thank you for what you are doing.

Scientists Use Functional MRI to Validate Reflexology Tenets

This is a bit dated but it is good info. -Editor

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies are about to change reflexology, providing illustration of some of reflexology's basic tenets. In three separate studies, Hong Kong researchers explored with fMRI what happens in the brain when pressure or technique is applied to specifc reflex areas of the left foot. Their finding: the specific parts of the brain activated by such work correlates with reflexology's theory and intended use.

Albuquerque, NM (PRWEB) February 11, 2008 -- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies are about to change reflexology, providing illustration of some of reflexology's basic tenets. In three separate studies, Hong Kong researchers explored with fMRI what happens in the brain when pressure or technique is applied to specifc reflex areas of the left foot. 

Their finding: the specific parts of the brain activated by such work correlates with reflexology's theory and intended use.

In one study, reflexology applied to a specific part of the foot activated the reflected area. Specifically technique stimulation applied to the inner lateral corner of the left great toe activated the right temporal lobe, the part of the brain related to the reflex area. of the brain inner lateral corner of the left great toe to see if this would activate the part of the brain reflected by this reflex area, the right temporal lobe.

In another study, reflexology technique stimulation of the eye reflex area activated a region of the brain matching acupupoint stimulation of stroke patients with vision defects but not the visual part of the brain.

In a third study, reflexology pressure work was compared to electro-acupuncture work. This study is discussed in detail in below. The above-mentioned studies will be detailed in the future.

The studies were presented at the NeuroImage Meeting, the Annual Meeting of the Organization of Human Brain Mapping, 2005 and 2006. The researchers found that the"fMRI is a useful to investigate the central neural pathway of reflexology" The researchers, Annie M. Tang, Geng Li, Chan C.C., Edward Yang, K.K.K. Wong and R. Li are with the University of Hong Kong.
During the study "Comparison of Foot Reflexology and Electro-Acupuncture: An fMRI study," the researchers used fMRI to compare what happens in the brain when pressure is applied to foot reflexology's adrenal gland reflex area and what happens when electrical stimulation is applied to acupuncture's K1 point, both located in approximately the same area of the foot. 

What they found was that the areas of the brain activated by both "were mostly localized at insula region. The stimulated reflex zone and acupoint is the treatment point for psychological anxiety, inflammation and asthma according to Reflexology and Chinese medicine. The activation in insula demonstrated that massage (reflexology) or acupuncture stimuli at the point may probably regulate emotional and pain effects. Our results are consistent with the results in psychological asthma. Also, our results indicate that massage (reflexology) has the same function as acupuncture." Annie M. Tang, Geng Li, Edward S. Yang, "Comparison of Foot Reflexology and Electro-Acupuncture: An fMRI study," The Jockey Club MRI Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong 474 TH-PM; Presented at Twelfth Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping; NeuroImage 31 (2006) 237

The insula is associated with emotions, pain and visceral functions as well as integration of homeostatic information. According to Dr. Martin Paulus, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Diego, the mind and body are integrated in the insula. "The insula itself is a sort of receiving zone that reads the physiological state of the entire body and then generates subjective feelings that can bring about actions like eating, that keep the body in a state of internal balance." (Blakeslee, Sandra, "A Small Part of the Brain, and its Profound Effects," New York Times.com February 6, 2007)

The fMRI study showed that reflexology stimuli activates other areas of the brain, one of which receives information about sensory information such as pressure to the feet. This area is the somatosensory cortex, the homunculus or the "little man," a representation of the body projected onto the brain. Reflexologists view the reflexology chart as a representation of the body projected onto the foot. The fMRI study thus shows that stimuli applied to the representation of the body on the foot communicates with the representation of the body in the brain. (Kunz and Kunz have long contended that the foot reflexology chart is one of several "homunculi" of the body. At least five parts of the brain are organized as a homunulus.)

The implications of the fMRI study are many. Among them is an understanding of other recent studies. For one, reflexology work was found to improve pain tolerance and pain threshold. (Carol Samuel "The effects on reflexology on pain threshold and tolerance in an ice-pain experiment on healthy human subject," May 13, 2007, International Congress on Complementary Medical Research (Conference)) The fMRI study has found a direct correlation between pressure to a single reflex area of the foot and one of the brain's processing areas for pain, the insula. 

This same area of the brain helps integrate homeostatic responses and may help explain results obtained in other research studies that link reflexology to changes in the body's viscera. Austrian researchers, For example, found improved blood flow to the kidneys after reflexology technique was applied to the kidney reflex area. In another study, Austrian researchers found the same results with an intestine reflex areas and blood flow to the intestines. Further research has demonstrated a change in blood sugar level (pancreas function) as well as functions of the heart.

Such results support a contention by Kunz and Kunz that reflexology's stimulation of pressure to the feet, by definition, communicates with and creates change in the body's homeostasis. The rationale is that in order to walk the body must see itself and fuel itself. The fMRI study demonstrates an actual mechanism with the body to explain such a theory.

Tang Annie M., Li Geng., Chan C.C., Wong K.K.K., Li R. and Edward Yang Brain Activation at Temporal Lobe Induced by Foot Reflexology: an fMRI Study, 11th Annual NeuroImage Meeting. 2005, 1445. (Publication No. :102229) www.humanbrainmapping.org
Tang M.Y., Li G., Chan C.C., Wong K.K.K., Li R. and Yang E.S., Vision Related Reflex Zone at the Feet: An fMRI Study, 11th Annual NeuroImage Meeting. 2005, 1431. (Publication No. : 102226)
Annie M. Tang, Geng Li, Edward S. Yang, "Comparison of Foot Reflexology and Electro-Acupuncture: An fMRI study," The Jockey Club MRI Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong 474 TH-PM; Presented at Twelfth Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping www.humanbrainmapping.org; NeuroImage 31 (2006) 237

Author: Barbara Kunz- Reflexology Research Project http://www.reflexology-research.com (Reflexology Research Project)

Un-sit with FitBit

Un-sit with FitBit

If the idea of un-sitting your life and moving about more through your day seems uninviting, consider motivating yourself by counting your footsteps. An easy way to do this is using a FitBit or VivoFit. Suddenly a chore can become a challenge.

I didn’t realize I was addicted until I lost my VivoFit at LAX. Suddenly I wasn’t getting credit for each footstep I took as counted by the band on my wrist. I wandered through the day without that rush of satisfaction knowing how much I was contributing to my own health. Lacking that  dopamine release I immediately ordered another one.

FitBit and VivoFit are wearable fitness trackers, basically an accelerometer on a wrist band that measures and reports foot steps. The band on your wrist can display instant feedback or your Smartphone can receive reports. They can do more but I’ll focus on the simple here.

Count your steps/build your health. Here’s what taking steps can do for you.

• Every 1,000 steps = 16% smaller waistline, 12% better HDL (good cholesterol), 15% better triglycerides

• Every 1,000 steps = 65 calories expended  if you weigh 120-pounds/100 calories for a 180-pound person

• Add 2,000 steps/day and you’ll maintain your weight. Add more, you’ll lose weight
• Taking 6,000 total steps per day significantly reduces risk of death
• 7,500 steps/day = better self esteem, confidence, productivity; experience improvement in quality of life; lose weight, feel better / more satisfied about their physical appearance
• 10,000 steps a day for 8 months = decrease in waistline circumference by 2 inches, weight loss of 10 pounds, reduction in high blood pressure by 34%, decrease by 69% the odds for men of having cardiovascular disease

For a hilarious take on wearing a FitBit see David Sedaris’s article in New Yorker magazine (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/30/stepping-out-3)

Un-Sit Your Life

Can a Facebook message change a life?

Sylvia Pyrda wrote me on Facebook from Poland. 

She is a reflexologist and asked for help with a client who had a stroke. So I wrote her back with my suggestions. Here is her response. 

Hi Kevin!    

I would like to thank you so much! Your advice about reflexology points after head stroke are priceless! I did it on this man and after 50 minutes he moved his left hand and leg ( before he couldn't) !! I was so happy and so was his family.. Thank you once again 😊 😊 If I ever could help you somehow just let me know. 

Greetings, Sylvia.

****************************************************************************************************************
Dear Reader,

So there you have it. The paralysis that accompanies stroke may be easier to address than thought. If simple instructions sent via Facebook can get results in 50 minutes with reflexology what else can be done.

I am not saying this will work with every stroke victim. It doesn't. But if results from the US, UK and now Poland are any indications there needs to be a whole lot of research done. 

Stroke is devastating both mentally, physically, spiritually and financially. The costs to families and whole societies  are staggering.

And there is no need to forego conventional treatments. In fact it works right along with such medical therapies like physical and occupational therapies. 

If you want to read more on this search this blog with the term, "paralysis" and "crossover effect". If you want some visual instructions to follow try Complete Reflexology for Life. Look up "paralysis".

Warm regards,

Kevin Kunz 

These are YouTube videos we did of two stroke clients plus an example the crossover effect that lead to this stroke discovery.

Charlene https://youtu.be/9y8CobX85EY

Nadine https://youtu.be/c_oHbFTji8E

Steve (crossover effect) https://youtu.be/QwmZrx0h8F4