All health maintenance processes including digestion, detoxification, immune activities and tissue regeneration are controlled by the autonomic nervous system.
Within this nervous system are two branches: the sympathetic or “fight-or-flight” and the parasympathetic “rest and digest.” The health maintenance processes are only turned on when your body is in a parasympathetic state.
Working, texting, driving, fighting with your spouse, family, intense exercise, etc can all shift us out of rest and digest into fight-or-flight mode.
When we are in a consistent state of fight-or-flight, this can lead to:
• Tired but wired feeling, not sleeping through the night, often awake between 1-4am and exhausted upon waking.
• Digestive issues such as constipation and bloating, despite a healthy balanced diet.
• Premature grey hair as this suggests an increase in oxidative stress and free-radical production within our body.
• Increased blood pressure and elevated blood sugar levels.
• Weight-gain especially around the middle.
• Feelings of not being able to calm down or slow down mentally and physically.
All healing occurs in a parasympathetic state; this includes healthy digestion, detoxification, and cellular regeneration — so how do we help our bodies get into this state and finally be able to heal? A few suggestions to start:
Remove caffeine from the diet
Use adaptogen herbs like ashwagandha which help your body handle and manage stress
Use sea salt or rock salt in your evening meal to regulate melatonin and serotonin
Support your sleep cycle by getting sufficient rest, use blue light blocking glasses and get natural sunlight shortly after waking
Use hot and cold therapy by ending your shower with a blast of cold, to stimulate the vagus nerve, activate the immune system and reduce our stress response
Practise yoga, meditation and breathwork
Helping the body get into a healing state is another aspect that’s carefully considered when creating the wellness programme. We help you achieve a holistic approach to improving your health. For help healing, check out our programmes available.
To health and happiness,
Jade, X