The Tiger Stealing Your Energy
Remember that old song about the skeletal system?
The hip bone's connected to the back bone,
The back bone's connected to the neck bone,
The neck bone's connected to the head bone…
Now shake dem skeleton bones!
Well much like that, your digestive system IS connected to your nervous system.
Your nervous system actually plays quite a large role in your digestion. When you’re stressed, you’re in what’s referred to as a ‘fight or flight’ state. In earlier human time, this was like when a tiger was chasing you. Your body temporarily shifted energy away from digesting food for a short time to deal with the stress of this threat.
Nowadays your nervous system may continually experience stress as if a tiger is constantly chasing you. One major result of stress is the reduction in the release of chemicals like digestive enzymes to break down food into absorbable nutrients, or the chemicals that keep the cell junctions in your gut lining tightly together so you don’t end up with leaky gut, or the chemicals that make your intestinal tract relax and contract to move food along so it can be absorbed and excreted.
During stress, your body also increases the production of the hormone cortisol.
A high cortisol level prevents insulin from unlocking the cells allowing glucose from food to enter. This results in high levels of glucose remaining in the blood which makes the blood sticky which increases blood pressure. Excessive glucose is eventually stored as fat. So your cells aren’t getting the nutrients they needs to produce energy leaving you feeling exhausted.
All this disruption from stress in the digestive process may make you feel bloated, gassy, acid reflux, constipated or fatigued.
So let’s slow things down a bit.
Let’s look at some tiny habits to engage the ‘rest and digest’ (parasympathetic) part of your nervous system, your normal default state, to calm your mind and body for good digestion to occur. Let’s get you into the state so it feels like the tiger is no longer chasing you.
Sit to Eat
Do you eat standing up in the rush to get ready for the day or at your work desk while answering email? Bring your food to a table to eat it undistracted or with pleasant thoughts/conversation. As Michael Pollan notes in his book Food Rules, a desk is not a table.
Take a Few Deep Breaths
Deep breathing immediately engages the parasympathetic nervous system and relaxes you which directly aids digestion. It can get you out of a state of stress, even when we don’t realize you are in it. It will allow your digestion system to release its chemicals in proper amounts, break down your food so you can absorb the nutrients, and produce energy so you don’t feel digestive unease and fatigue.
Take a Walk Before or After You Eat
Moderate movement also helps relieve stress so is helpful around mealtime. Have you ever noticed how relaxed you feel after a walk, particularly a walk in nature?
Now go blow away that tiger with some deep breaths and begin to repair your digestion and restore your energy.
Please share what tiny habits you use to de-stress and digest.
