Synopsis of the Nervous System

Central Nervous System (CNS)
Function: Integrates information from PNS and sends instructions to various parts of the body.

Brain
Includes processes of reflex action, thinking,learning, memory, and intelligence.

Spinal Cord
31 pairs of nerves which branch to all organs and glands of the body

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
Function: Links CNS with the body's receptors (sensory cells and sense organs), and all parts of the body such as muscles and glands that respond to nerve impulse instruction from CNS. Consists of nerves and ganglion outside the CNS spreading out from the brain and spinal cord to all parts of the body.

Automatic Nervous System (ANS)
Function: Controls Body's involuntary activities (heart beat, digestion, breathing, gland activity

Sympathetic System
Function: Controls activities for sudden activity - increases metabolic rate (blood pressure, heart rate, glucose production by liver, dilation of the pupils).

Parasympathetic System
Function: Calms body down, often acts opposite of sympathetic system (reduces blood pressure, slows heart rate, contraction of pupils, increased activity in the stomach.) Includes nerve fibers found in some cranial nerves of the brain and the sacral nerves of the lower end of the spinal cord.

Reflexology helps the body to normalize by working through both the Central Nervous System and the Peripheral Nervous System. When pressure is applied through the skin of the feet both the spinal nerves and the sympathetic nerves of the blood vessels are affected. If an organ or gland is hyperactive then Reflexology also works through the parasympathetic system during the relaxation process.

All of the information above is reprinted from the book REFLEXOLOGY: ART, SCIENCE & HISTORY page 127. Permission was granted by the Author, Christine Issel.