Workplace stress

HOW CAN REFLEXOLOGY HELP IN THE WORKPLACE?

According to figures put forward by the Health and Safety Executive, an estimated 36.8 million working days were lost due to work related illness and non-fatal workplace injuries in the year 2021 to 2022. Of those, the main factors were stress, depression or anxiety and musculoskeletal disorders, accounting for 17 million and 7.3 million respectively. Additionally, the Office of National Statistics also report that 17.5 million working days were lost due to mental health related sickness absence.  

It is worth noting that in today's busy world, people find very little time to fully relax and rest and most have no idea how to. Feeding the constant pressure of both our working and personal lives, our body responds by stimulating our sympathetic nervous system into what's commonly referred to as our ‘fight or flight response’. This goes largely unnoticed and works in the background as a constant, albeit mild state of tension.

The stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system floods our bodies with stress hormones, increasing the heart rate, blood and sugar levels to provide us with what should be a temporary boost. All bodily functions are not required for our immediate saviour slowed down. This includes our digestive and urinary systems. 

Reflexology can be a major contributor to rebalancing our body stress response by inducing a state of deep relaxation, which in turn helps promote our parasympathetic nervous system into action. The parasympathetic nervous system is the body's antidote to stress, as it regulates hormones that calm the fight flight response by inducing what is known as the ‘rest and digestate state’. This is our body's natural antidote. 

Reflexology sessions, which can be anything from 30 to 90 minutes long, allows the client to bring their attention to the present moment, promoting the state of mindfulness to prevail over the constant mental chatter. This in essence, is equivalent to a meditative state. 

Although reflexology has its roots in ancient healing methods, I have tailored my procedures around a more allopathic approach, making it more suitable for our busy modern world. I feel that regular Reflexology sessions will be beneficial, not only to employers and employees, but to our personal well-being.