Imbalance Nervous system as a root cause behind chronic disease

Welcome to Active Human’s 14th newsletter.

As you know we are learning about the root causes behind our lifestyle diseases.

5 major root causes behind the most common chronic and lifestyle diseases are:

1. Bad Gut Health (Leaky Gut and Dysbiosis)

2. Insulin Resistance

3. Inflammation

4. Oxidative Stress

5. Imbalance Nervous System (Stress and Anxiety)

Most of the time they coexist or get interlinked or by the time you come to know about them, one builds another. But the good thing is they are the measurable root causes that can be corrected. Advanced blood tests help a lot these days. We at Active Human can work towards these root causes with the right intervention.

We have already covered Gut health, Insulin resistance, Inflammation, and Oxidative stress in our previous newsletters.

Today, it is time to deep dive into the 5th one, the Imbalance Nervous system as a root cause.

When we keep our nervous system hyperactive or hypervigilant due to whatever reason (for some it is psychological stress, for some it is anxiety, for some it is external triggers, and for some internal) and does not allow it to rest, in long term it manifest lifestyle and chronic diseases.

Please understand, that modern science is yet to quantify and measure hyperactive nervous system contribution towards chronic lifestyle diseases.

But few things are getting clear that for people with continuous Hyperactive nervous system, their nutrient requirement, heart rate, digestion, and metabolic health changes. When the body does not secrete enzymes properly, it does not matter how much and what you eat. Your cells don't care if you use a calorie measuring app or not, they care if the correct nutrient can reach inside them and keep them alive and nourished.

First, What is the Nervous system: Our nervous system is the communication and control system of our body, It connects the entire body with the brain through the spine. Neurons are single basic units that connect and build an entire nexus of communication. Please see the image below to get some understanding.

Nervous system divisions and diagram, Image credit: Google

And now we need to understand the Sympathetic Nervous System and Parasympathetic Nervous System.

When we live in continuous triggers or emotional stress that keep us in fight or flight mode, Our sympathetic division of the Nervous system remains active without our control. When this division is active, you can not go into deep sleep, your digestion becomes sluggish and your body remains in survival mode. Your immune cells come forefront and remain on high alert and things that are not harmful also get them triggered and you get a reaction like hives or sneezing without being even exposed to viruses.

Now please don’t misunderstand, we do need good conditioned Sympathetic division. The sympathetic nervous system is part of the Autonomic Nervous system, because of it we can drive, we can play, can climb stairs and we can do so many tasks which we do naturally. We don’t look for a break pedal while driving a car just because our Autonomic Nervous system is activated in our body at that time.

But when we live and keep our Sympathetic nervous system hypervigilant/ hyperactive continuously for a long duration, even when it should not be active. Our body rest/repair functions do not work properly. Your body is not designed to keep both systems activated at the same time. When in fight-and-flight mode, it wants you to survive first and not rest or repair.

Now, the major problem is when our Sympathetic nervous system is active, it triggers the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) which is the main stress response system. It triggers the production and release of dual hormones called Cortisol and Adrenaline in your blood system. In the short term these hormones increase heart rate, increase blood pressure, and dilate the bronchi and windpipe of your lungs to inhale more air. But in the long term, it tires the cardiovascular systems, Immune systems, and thyroid gland. It affects our brain cells and their size, our mood, our social behaviors, our learning capabilities, and organs involved in digestion and metabolism. And from there onwards the chronic diseases start building up. Which organ/ which system will get tired first, nobody knows.

So, How do you bring balance between your Sympathetic Nervous System and parasympathetic Nervous system?

Simple, you learn to activate the parasympathetic nervous system when you don’t need your fight or flight mode. You should activate it before studying, eating, sleeping, resting, and thinking, and also build it as a habit and part of your routine.

How do you do it?

For some people, meditation works well. In my case, box breathing works well.

What is box breathing?

It’s simple, You take 5 seconds to inhale from your nose, then 5 seconds to hold your breath with lungs full of air, take the next 5 seconds to exhale from nose, and then 5 seconds no breath. Basically, you are making an imaginary square box of 5 seconds each. Do it for 5-10 minutes or do 10-20 boxes breathing before having each meal, and before sleeping. Just 5 mins allocated 4 times in a day, a total of 20 mins a day (three times before meal and one time before sleep) helps you bring deep rest and repair in your body.

Why it works?

Because when you are mindfully breathing, holding your breath, and then releasing it. Your brain senses that you are not in a threat zone. Have you ever seen anyone running and holding their breath? No, right? infact they breathe faster. Slow breathing, holding your breath and releasing are the best ways to tell your brain that you are in the safe zone and now it can activate the parasympathetic nervous system.

Please watch this explainer video from Ted-Ed for a quick revision of what we understood today.

Hope today’s newsletter helps and you start taking care of your parasympathetic nervous system.

Important Note: At Active Human, We work on 150+ kinds of Chronic disorders including Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Obesity, Thyroid Issues, PCOS, IBS, IBD, Migraines, High Cholesterol, Autoimmune Diseases, Depression, Anxiety, Joint Pains, Muscle Pains, Heart health issues and Hormonal Imbalance issues. We have started “Reverse Your Chronic Disease (RYCD) Module where we take a scientific approach to arrive at your root cause using blood reports (advance tests) and then set protocols to reduce and cure your root cause. It is a process and not a quick fix and it takes 3-6 months to understand and work on the root cause and start seeing results. If you know someone who has any lifestyle disorder. Please help me spread the word and help them reach out to me at manishkbhagwani@gmail.com. We are a team of healers who follow a functional medicine and corrective nutrition approach.

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See you next Saturday.

Manish Bhagwani,

Human → Active Human