Reiki practice may help with a variety of physical and emotional problems, including insomnia, stress, depression, anxiety, and pain.
For example, research suggests that Reiki may lower anxiety, stress, and pain in people undergoing surgery. In a study published in the March-April 2017 issue of Holistic Nursing Practice of patients undergoing knee replacement surgery, researchers separated 46 patients into three groups: One group received three or four 30-minute Reiki treatments throughout their hospital stay; a second group received the same number of placebo (sham) Reiki sessions; and a third group received neither Reiki nor sham Reiki. Every group also received standard medical care. Researchers found that those who received Reiki saw significant reductions in pain, blood pressure, breathing rate, and anxiety pre- and post-surgery and greater reductions than the other groups.
Reiki may also improve mood and sleep: A past study found that college students who received six 30-minute Reiki sessions reported greater improvements in stress, mood, and sleep (especially those with higher anxiety and depression) than the control group.
Other research suggests that Reiki and other forms of energy therapy may help patients with cancer improve pain control and anxiety levels.
A main benefit of Reiki (which leads to a lot of other benefits) is stress reduction, Miles explains. “Our bodies cannot heal when they’re in a stressed state all the time.”
Reiki gives your body a break from the stresses of daily life, potentially helping relieve tension and return you to a state of relaxation. Once in this state, your body may be better able to heal any damage brought on by stress, injury, or disease. “By helping a person experience deep relaxation, Reiki [may] enhance and accelerate our own natural healing process, because the body can stop being stressed and focus on healing itself,” Maute says.
For example, past research shows that a single Reiki session may help your autonomic nervous system, the primitive part of your nervous system that you don’t fully, consciously control (it's responsible for things like heartbeat and breathing), move from a sympathetic-dominant, or “fight-or-flight” state, to a parasympathetic-dominant, or “rest-and-digest” state, Miles explains.
Your brain is constantly processing information in a region called the hypothalamus, which then sends signals through your autonomic nervous system to the rest of your body to either stimulate or relax different functions, such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and digestion, according to Harvard Health.
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