Tag Archives: nervous system

Surprising Ways Digestion Affects Your Overall Health!

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Georgianna Donadio, MSc, DC, PhD

The single most reported complaints in all hospital emergency rooms are related to digestive system disorders. The digestive system is the most “stress affected” system in the human body and a big topic in our accredited health program. According to the Drug Topics News Magazine for Pharmacists (October, 2008) in 2008, Americans spent 5 billion dollars on over-the-counter digestive or “stomach” remedies.

It Starts With Education

Wouldn’t it be helpful to understand and educate others on how and why they are suffering from digestive ailments? In the accredited health program, we all know people who eat organic, natural food and are meticulous about the quality and quantity of what they put in their body and yet are sick, tired and plagued with health issues. Then there are others who eat anything and everything, the good, the bad and the ugly, and have energy to burn, not a pimple on their entire body and feel great.

Often, this is the result of the function and efficiency of their individual nervous systems. Those who have an active “sympathetic” nervous system, with the tenth cranial nerve wreaking havoc with their alimentary canal then to struggle. These are the folks that no matter what they eat and how much pure or clean organic food they consume – they just don’t do well and feel unwell much of the time.

For the individual with a well-tuned central nervous system, the digestive system can be a culinary playground that accepts all types of nutrients and food stuffs and produces ample nutrition without upset or illness.

What makes one nervous system different from another, one person’s experience different from another? It has more to do with the unconscious personality of an individual than any other single factor, with the exception of the rare congenital or pathological occurrence.

Demystifying The Nervous System

Just as our machines need electricity to operate, so do our internal organs and cells require electrical impulse to function and operate as well. The degree to which our nervous system is balanced and well-functioning – or not – is the degree to which we are healthy and able to function at maximum capacity in the world. As discussed in our accredited health programs, many healing arts such as acupuncture, yoga postures, meditation, chiropractic, breathing techniques, biofeedback, hypnosis, EMDR and other healing modalities attempt to restore balance to the nervous system as the pathway to improving internal and external bodily function. These methods address the cause of the presenting condition and not just treat the pain or symptom of the bodily malfunction.

Looking more closely at the digestive system and its intimate relationship with the immune system and the nervous system, we can easily follow the pathway of how brain function and the nervous system can create a “whole body” systemic cascade of bodily reactions which overtime lead to chronic illness and disease.

Bringing Stress Into The Mix

Our nervous systems are impacted by stressors; however, stress is not limited to just emotional stress as many believe. Stress includes poor nutrition, inadequate sleep, infection, excess exertion, surgery, trauma and reproduction. When our stresses or anxiety cause our brain to send biochemical messages to our cranial nerves, our digestive systems can be functionally affected. The anxiety and stress decrease our digestive and immune system functions.

The effect of a stressor on the body in the short term can be readily overcome by a healthy, adaptive nervous system. It is the longer-term stress, the chronic ongoing conditions and issues that place wear and tear on our nervous systems and organs and it is this friction or wear and tear that leads to chronic illness.

By understanding the intimate dance of our body’s organs and systems and how to maintain a balanced, healthy nervous system, we can avoid illness and chronic disease and live long, productive and disease-free lives!

For more information on Whole Health Living, consider visiting the National Institute of Whole Health. This nationally accredited program provides comprehensive, evidence-based Whole Health training for Patient Advocates, Whole Health Educators, and more.

 

Every Breath You Take:
How Breathing Affects Whole Health

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Every Breath You Take Whole Health Living

Most of us take our breathing for granted. We generally do not think about how our amazing brain automatically regulates the most urgent and important bodily function we have. If we do not breathe we do not live beyond a few short minutes. The ability to breathe and the quality of our breathing clearly has an important impact on our ability to live, but also expresses a great deal of information about the state of our nervous system and emotional health.

Breathing is such a critical function that in addition to being under the automatic control of our brain stem it is also a physical function we can control at will. We know that our breathing is affected by and directly affects our emotional states, exertion levels, nervous system fluctuations and overall whole health.

The affects of emotion on the respiratory system can readily been seen during an asthma attack, which can be very frightening and further reduces the individual’s ability to “catch their breath”. Many of us do not breathe freely. We are breathing freely when we breathe in and out through the muscles of our bellies. We tend to breathe through the chest muscles because we are tense and “holding our breath,” which starves our cells of energizing oxygen.

Deep breathing or relaxed breathing exercises can make an enormous difference in our health and vitality. By changing our breathing from shallow to deep,  we can experience many whole health benefits:

Every Breath You Take: Whole Health Living

> Breathing deeply rather than shallowly creates detoxification within our cells, bringing oxygen rich blood into our cells and cleansing out carbon dioxide.

> Breathing deeply into our bellies rather than our chest muscles produces a greater sense of calm and relaxation brought about through the increase of oxygen to the nervous system.

> This form of cleansing, nourishing breathing is conducive to whole body health and brings about a sense of inner peace.

> Deep breathing can help you sleep better and also feel more energetic because of the increase of oxygen to the brain

This is a great subject to review in your patient education. If you would like to re-train your breathing so that you derive the most benefit each day from this life-sustaining, automatic body function – start slowing. Take just five minutes twice a day to sit quietly in your chair with eyes closed, body relaxed. Allow yourself to focus on your breath. Rather than tensing your shoulders and back muscles, let your breathing rise and fall from your belly muscles. Slow, relaxed breathing for five minutes each day, twice a day, can re-train your automatic breathing patterns and help you to feel better, sleep better and be healthier and more energetic.

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How Digestive Function Affects Integrative Nutrition

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Digestion Disorder and Nutrition National Institute Of Whole Health Integrative Nutrition Information

The single most reported complaints in all hospital emergency rooms are related to digestive system disorders. The digestive system is the most “stress affected” system in the human body. The American Nutrition Association shares that as many as 70,000,000 suffer from digestive symptoms like diarrhea, gas, bloating and abdominal pain. These symptoms aren’t just uncomfortable, they also disrupt the body’s ability to absorb essential nutrients, leading to a host of diseases.

Wouldn’t it be helpful to understand and educate others on how and why they are suffering from digestive ailments? Let’s looks at this from a whole health perspective.

We all know people who eat organic, whole foods and are meticulous about the quality and quantity of what they put in their body and are sick, tired, plagued with health issues. Then there are others who eat anything and everything, the good, the bad and the ugly and have energy to burn, not a pimple on their entire body and feel great.

Often, what this is the result of the function and efficiency of their individual nervous systems. Those who have an active “sympathetic” nervous system, with the tenth cranial nerve reeking havoc with their alimentary canal, they are the folks that no matter what they eat and how, pure, clean and how much organic foods they consume – they just don’t do well and feel unwell much of the time.

For the individual with a well tuned central nervous system the digestive system can be a culinary playground that accepts all types of nutrients and food stuffs and produces ample nutrition without up set or illness.

What makes one nervous system different from another, one person’s experience different from another? It has more to do with the unconscious personality of an individual than any other single factor, with the exception of the rare congenital or pathological occurrence.

The digestive system has an intimate relationship with other systems including the immune system, reproductive, circulatory and endocrine systems. Improving overall whole health often starts with the digestive system.

For more whole health discussions, listen to Dr. Georgianna Donadio’s radio show Living Above The Drama.