Rest and Digest With Your Parasympathetic Nervous System
Written by Barb Beavis, Functional Nutritionist | Dec 11, 2023
The shorter days and colder weather of winter can disrupt our moods and increase stress levels. That’s why we’re taking this month to talk about rest and the different kinds of rest we need. One of them is to rest + digest!
Stress is everywhere. According to Statistics Canada's first annual Health of Canadians report, 3.4+ million Canadians over the age of 12 reported having been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, while 3.1+ million reported having been diagnosed with a mood disorder.
Which begs the question, naturally: What can we do about it? At Holistic Physiotherapy & Wellness, we help our clients manage stress and other chronic health conditions through a number of modalities. It turns out a lot of it - root causes and treatments - are related to the nervous system - or, more accurately, systems, plural.
While the sympathetic nervous system controls your body’s fight or flight response, it is the parasympathetic nervous system that controls your body’s ability to relax. This is often called the "rest and digest" state and it plays many important roles. These include helping maintain your resting heart rate, your metabolism, and your breathing rate (or resting bronchial constriction). Essentially, this all contributes to a relaxed state.
When under acute stress, the flight-or-fight response of your sympathetic nervous system makes your body react as if in immediate danger even when it’s not. Those high stress levels elevate your heart rate, raise your blood pressure, and dilate your pupils. Until your parasympathetic nervous system rides to the rescue.
Have you heard the term downregulating? It’s when the vagus nerve, a very long, very complex nerve in the parasympathetic nervous system, uses a line of communication between your brain and your gut. It sends impulses up and down, from brain to body and also back from body to brain. Simply put, your parasympathetic nervous system reclaims the narrative by telling your brain what’s really going on, instead of your brain telling your body to panic.
When we talk about the gut-brain connection, this is what we mean. That vagus nerve extends from your brain to your bowels, transmitting information back and forth about pain, pressure, and temperature, helping your brain regulate various bodily functions.
When the parasympathetic nervous system is functioning properly, it reduces a person’s risk of stroke and heart disease and stroke, improves metabolism and gut health, positively impacts mental and emotional health, and so much more. Teaching your body to enter the rest and digest phase more often and for longer periods of time can be a game-changer when it comes to your whole health.
How, you ask? You have a lot of options to choose from! And they’re all part of the traditional holistic health playbook. Exercise, yoga, meditation and mindfulness, deep breathing, spending time outside and with loved ones. All those things that make us feel good are good for the parasympathetic nervous system - isn’t that wonderful?!
Other things that help you relax will also help you extend your rest and digest stage. Reading a book if you love to read. Taking a bath with your favourite scented bubbles, if that’s your thing. Playing a musical instrument. Painting. You get the idea. If you’re feeling like you’re under constant stress, try to build some time into your day for the things that help you relax - it does more good for your health than you can imagine.
If the stress is too much right now, please call us for a consultation. All of our work is designed to help your unique body and meet your needs. From functional nutrition and chiropractic care to therapeutic massage, yoga, clinical counselling, and lifestyle medicine, we can address stress in a variety of ways that let you get back to enjoying your life.
Here’s a pro tip: singing and humming both incorporate deep breathing that activates the vagus nerve. So go ahead and sing in the shower or in the car. It might just help you rest + digest!
Barb Beavis
Functional Nutritionist