Hello, everyone and Happy New Year! I hope that 2024 brings you much peace, joy and vibrant health.
It’s January 2024 and I know a lot of folks are thinking about their health this time of year. As a holistic healthcare provider, I see many patients who are struggling with various types of pain, auto-immune diseases and other chronic health problems. There’s a lot of information out there on what measures can be taken to help with those issues, be it through diet, exercise, meditation and so on. But I want to take the time in this article to talk about the real “key”- if you will- to achieving your health goals this year.
Now, I’m an acupuncturist and herbalist, so those are my primary tools, along with nutrition, that I use to help my patients have better health. And my education as well as clinical experience has proven to me over and over again that these methods do work and I love nothing more than when my patients reach their health goals through what I do. So, I definitely recommend these modalities- herbs and acupuncture- to help people get well. But, what a lot of contemporary medical research is showing, which is also observably true in my clinic, is that the real key to vibrant health is to work with your Central Nervous System. I like to call this work Creating Your Calm. Let me explain a little bit first about your nervous system and physiology.
You can think about the central nervous system like an on-off light switch. The “on switch” is the Sympathetic Nervous System. This is the “fight-flight-freeze-fawn mode”. And when the sympathetic nervous system is turned on- usually due to a stressful life event- then a lot of bodily processes activate which are meant to prepare the body to deal with that stress. When we as humans were living as prey animals, these responses developed in order to help prepare us to get away or escape from danger. When the sympathetic response is activated, we release adrenaline, also called norepinephrine, and our blood pressure elevates while our lung capacity increases so that we can run faster. Meanwhile, our digestive system shuts off so that blood flow can go to our limbs to make us stronger. And, now we know that when we release adrenaline due to acute stress, it causes a cascade response where immune cells are rapidly created and released- as well as an inflammatory response- so that the body is ready to go to fight off any infection that might happen through an injury that our body anticipates is about to occur.
However, when this sympathetic response- this hyper-adrenaline state- goes on for a long time and becomes chronic stress, then the body actually still maintains this inflammatory state, but stops producing the immune cells. This means that there’s a lot of inflammation happening but the immune cells aren’t able to do much to protect us from pathogens. What the research is showing is that this is one of the problems we see with auto-immune conditions: the inflammation is still present and when your immune cells respond to the inflammation they attack healthy tissue.
On the other hand, we have the Parasympathetic Nervous System, the “off-switch”. This is also called the “rest and digest state”. When the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, our vagus nerve releases a chemical called acetylcholine and we feel calm. We start digesting our food well and eliminating food and water regularly. We can sleep. Our blood pressure lowers, our heart rhythm regulates, our breathing regulates, and inflammation throughout the body subsides. Immune cells are then able to scavenge the body and basically do a cleanup job of any cells that aren’t functioning well or that have mutated. Immune cells also are able to take care of pathogens like viruses and bacteria. When in parasympathetic mode, the immune system is able to get rid of anything that needs to go without being confused by systemic unhealthy inflammation. Essentially, you cannot heal unless you are in this relaxed state.
To make things a little more complicated, our gut bacteria also plays a major role in the regulation of both the immune system and the central nervous system. Gut bacteria produce neurotransmitters that regulate our mood and response to stress. This is called the gut-brain-immune axis and is one of the reasons why a healthy gut microbiome is so important. However, research conducted in the last few years seems to show that it’s not just the gut bacteria producing neurotransmitters. Actually, the way we feel will have an effect on how much of certain species of gut bacteria are present and thriving. So, it’s both ways- our gut bacteria help us to feel happy; and, when we feel happy, we produce and are inhabited by more bacteria that keep that up. When we feel anxious, the opposite happens and we lose some of those bacteria species that help us to stay calm. It’s a feedback loop where both our internal and external environments regulate our mood and immunity.
It seems pretty simple: if we just reduce stress, then the body will heal itself. And that really is the big key here. Chronic stress leading to chronic inflammation and affecting the gut microbiome is a major factor of why chronic diseases are so prevalent in our society and our collective mental health is in crisis. Remember, it’s important for our health to have acute stress as well because our immune systems actually function their very best when the sympathetic nervous system has a chance to activate for a short period of time and produce immune cells. It’s just that we need to be able to go back into a parasympathetic state immediately so that we don’t have chronic inflammation, immune cells attacking healthy tissue, or a complete shut-down of the immune system. In my opinion- and this is totally just from my life and clinical experience- we already face plenty of stressors and the real issue is not being able to go back into that parasympathetic, rest and digest state. You add a proliferation of over-prescribed antibiotics, the underconsumption of fermented foods and over-exposure to household antiseptics and you get a recipe for total gut-brain-immune dysfunction and disharmony.
The cool thing to me is this piece of the puzzle where the way that we feel when we are exposed to things that relax us changes everything that happens in the body down to what kinds of bacteria we have in our gut. So, just like how listening to the news in the morning while facing traffic and trying to get the kids to school on time can be a trigger of chronic inflammation that leads to poor health outcomes, listening to music that makes you feel relaxed and working to design your life and routines in a way that’s less stressful for you will save you in so many ways and give you the vibrant health that you're looking for through supplements, food, whatever. When you actively work to consistently expose yourself to things that relax you- not just avoiding stress but actually seeking out calming things- this has major implications for your health and your ability to have the energy and vitality to be effective and energized in your life. Then you can be there for your family and friends and kids and career and all the rest.
Where it gets even cooler for me as an acupuncturist and herbalist: the main side effect of acupuncture, regardless of what we are treating, is that most acupuncture points stimulate the vagus nerve, release acetylcholine, and actually make us feel more calm. In the acupuncture world, we call it being “acu-stoned” or “acu-drunk” because treatments are incredibly relaxing. In fact, vagus nerve stimulation is a big part of why acupuncture works so well for chronic conditions, especially when my patients get acupuncture regularly. What seems to happen is that we reprogram the Central Nervous System to go from a chronic sympathetic fight-or-flight state, into a state of homeostasis where the parasympathetic rest-and-digest state is more prominent. This leads to healthier metabolism and weight control, better heart health, less inflammation, a more balanced gut microbiome that’s then producing the right neurotransmitters to maintain that relaxed state. There are also so many herbs that are deeply relaxing. Just like coffee in the morning is an herb that helps you to start pumping adrenaline, there are many herbs that I use in practice that are calming and actively help my patients to relax.
So that’s what I’ve got for you for the upcoming year. The key to vibrant health in 2024 is really to actively seek out the things that are going to help you feel more relaxed. Create Your Calm. It’s not just about avoiding stress, in my opinion. You’ve got to make an effort to do the things that make you feel good and create a relaxed environment. It gives us a little dopamine rush when we get stressed out, which is why it’s fun and addictive to get stressed, but we need to try to shift that behavior over towards seeking a calmer state. Acupuncture and herbs can definitely be one of those behaviors that you seek out this year to get healthier. And you will reap the rewards of great health through your lifetime if you actively seek out other things that relax you too.
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