THE FOUNDATIONS - Understanding Rest
If you can restore the foundation of rest then you will find that everything else starts to fall into place. From health to mental clarity to realising your true goals.
Real transformative rest, the type of rest that allows your creative spirit to flourish and the body to truly thrive, this type of rest starts by learning to strengthen the vagus nerve.
This winter was a horrible winter for us as a family. We caught virus after virus and we were sick more than we were well for the majority of it. There were a few reasons for this, part of this was down to Covid and my littlest baby having a weak immune system. Part of it was having two toddlers under 5. Another part was my own body recovering from having children. A lot of it was stress, lack of sleep and bad habits creeping in! Does any of this sound a little bit familiar?
As it started to drive us all a bit crazy, lockdown kicked in. This was a blessing in disguise as I was able to focus on the basics. It got me thinking about the last area that we were studying at SOMM (School of Modern Meditation) which was the mind /body connection. I love this topic as it was an area in Health Coaching that fascinated me. We are made up of incredibly complex systems that over millions of years have become more and more refined. With our modern world and modern conveniences we can sometimes forget to listen to these systems and to spend the time translating the messages that they give us.
THE SCIENCE
Let’s talk about the science.
As I said we are an incredible super computer and our nervous system is a beautifully complex network of nerves and cells that carry messages throughout our body. They start right up in the brain and then disperse down through the spinal cord all the way down to your toes.
There are two parts: Central Nervous System (think of this as everything above your shoulders) and the Peripheral Nervous System (think of this as everything below the shoulders). Sitting within the PNS (Peripheral Nervous System), there is the Autonomic Nervous System, and then within this system resides one long sinewy nerve called the vagus nerve (named as it wanders from the brain through to the organs in the neck, chest and abdomen). It is the two-way superhighway between the gut and the brain, it’s the key structural component of the gut-brain axis. With these systems in constant communication via the vagus nerve (think of them as to friends that feed on each others energy!). What makes this incredibly fascinating (at least to me!) is that we are now starting to understand just how intimately they are linked - we once believed that things like mood, subconscious thoughts, our decision making - even our creativity was purely the business of the brain, we are realising now that is not necessarily the case.
How you can support your nervous system
When your system is a little wobbly, then it becomes hypersensitive to over consumption of caffeine and alcohol (and any other stimulants), ultra processed foods and even a busy mind that is full of negative chatter. It also engages our fight, flight, freeze response. This is important because that leaves us with high cortisol levels (this is the stress hormone).
Our nervous system has developed over millions of years, it is a prehistoric legacy that has been refined to protect us from danger - if you place your hand on a hot stove, for example, it will send a warning by flooding your body with cortisol to get you to act fast which is a very good thing. However, when we are living with too much cortisol (i.e, everything is an emergency) it can create a metabolic breakdown. This is when premature aging takes over, which can bring with it inflammation, thinning skin, and weight gain centralized around your organs and abdominals. As you can imagine, this is very bad! Living with this kind of stress can also mess with your circadian rhythm, your ability to get truly deep, restorative sleep.
One way to overcome these issues is by strengthening the vagus nerve, which activates the parasympathetic nervous system. The PNS is the antithesis of this fight or flight response.
Now, I use daily meditation to help regulate my stress response as well as journaling and breathwork. Improving sleep quality sometimes needs a bit more support (I’m a huge believer in getting personalised support from Clinical Nutritionists here). Looking after your gut health becomes essential.
DIET | Try to eat a variety of plant based foods, not just the fruit and vegetables that we often think are the most important. Current research suggests that we need around 30 different types of fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, pulses, legumes, nuts and seeds. This may sound like a crazy amount but things like smoothies, nut butters, soups and herbs and spices are a great way to incorporate more.
HYDRATION | We all know that hydration is important but we don’t often think about it being important for the gut but it is massively important. More water equals a better environment for our gut microbes. Drinking water is also a stimulus for the vagus nerve.
PREBIOTICS AND PROBIOTICS | If you want to look after your mood, energy, weight and mental clarity then the first place to look is your gut. Inside this 30 foot tube of your GI tract, you’ll find the trillions of microbes that play an essential role in your digestion, and are intimately connected to your endocrine system, immunity, and cognitive health.
Did you know that there are a heap of mood-related hormones living within your gut—up to 95% of your serotonin resides there, in fact— your bacterial ecology is “off,” this directly impacts your mindset and can wreak havoc on your sleep quality. One of the best things that you can do is invest in a high quality pre and probiotic with a diverse number of strains will help nurture and balance things out. Increase plants in your diet and add in nuts, seeds and spices too.
MAGNESIUM | Magnesium is a wonder mineral. It helps convert the macronutrients (fat, carbohydrates and proteins) into bioavailable energy. Magnesium has also been shown to naturally lower cortisol levels, helping relieve toxic stress symptoms and promotes transformative sleep. Minerals like magnesium and zinc have also been closely linked to healthy vagal function.
GET A HOBBY | Research has shown that repetitive actions such as walking, knitting, colouring can induce a state of deep relaxation, soothing our nervous system and nerves!
EXERCISE | Exercise makes your whole self happy. Not only is it good for the body and mind but for your gut microbiome too! Your gut bugs like you moving and studies have shown that working out increases the populations of beneficial bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract by up to 40% .