Are you on the brink of burnout? Acupuncture can help!
Do you find yourself feeling wired but tired? You get that 3 pm slump, yet when you try to fall asleep at 10 pm you just can't seem to calm your mind enough to drift off to sleep. This is a sign that your nervous system is out of regulation.
Our nervous systems are taking a huge hit in our modern society, from demanding jobs and home lives, pressure to keep up with the 'Jones', to an increasing amount of screen time, and being bombarded by the news and all the horrible things happening in the world. It's just one thing after another, all day long!
The way our lives are set up gives our nervous system no hope, we are constantly being triggered into high states of arousal, or the 'fight or flight' response.
Let's talk a little bit about the autonomic nervous system and its categories.
The autonomic nervous system is made up of the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches, which is where the juiciness of this topic begins!
When your body perceives a threat or experiences stress, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activates to help you respond quickly. It's like an alarm system that prepares your body for action.
These are the changes our body goes through in response to stress.
Stress Response: When your body perceives a threat or experiences stress, the sympathetic nervous system activates to help you respond quickly. It's like an alarm system that prepares your body for action.
Increased Heart Rate: It causes your heart rate to increase, pumping more blood to your muscles and vital organs to provide the energy needed for a quick response.
Dilated Pupils: It dilates (widens) your pupils, allowing you to take in more light and be more alert to your surroundings.
Bronchodilation: It opens up your airways, allowing you to take in more oxygen, which is essential for physical exertion.
Mobilisation of Energy: It stimulates the release of glucose and fatty acids into the bloodstream to provide extra energy for your muscles.
Inhibition of Digestion: The sympathetic system decreases digestion and intestinal activity to divert energy to more immediate needs.
Sweating: It can trigger sweating to help cool your body during physical exertion.
In essence, the sympathetic nervous system readies your body to respond to challenges and emergencies. It's a crucial part of your body's stress response, helping you to either confront a threat ("fight") or escape from it ("flight"). Once the threat or stressor subsides, the parasympathetic nervous system, which was mentioned earlier, helps return the body to its normal, resting state.
Now this is absolutely imperative and is honestly the reason you are here reading this today. Your ancestors survived because of this fight-or-flight response. The only difference between now and, say, 200 years ago is that we have many more 'perceived threats' coming our way on a daily basis. While the majority of us are not under direct threat of attack or imminent death, our nervous system can not tell the difference between a perceived threat, like a nasty comment on social media and an actual attack by a wild animal. Herein lies the issue in our modern society. We are chronically on high alert and this is drastically affecting our health and our ability to move through our lives with ease.
This is where the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) comes in, our saving grace, the yin to our yang.
When we're in the parasympathetic nervous system it feels like a warm hug. We are cool, calm and collected. We can respond to life from a grounded state. This is where we want to spend most of our time!! But unless you're a Buddhist monk meditating 15 hours a day, it's unlikely this state is your default.
Listed below are the physiological changes that occur when we’re in the PNS.
Rest and Digest: When the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, it slows down various bodily functions. This allows your body to focus on activities like digesting food, repairing tissues, and storing energy. It's like a "rest and digest" mode.
Heart Rate: It decreases your heart rate, helping you to feel calm and reduce stress.
Digestion: It stimulates the digestive organs, increasing their activity to help break down food and absorb nutrients more effectively.
Pupils: It constricts your pupils, which makes them smaller.
Breathing: It slows down your breathing, making it more regular and efficient.
Blood Pressure: It can lower blood pressure as part of the relaxation response.
In a nutshell, the parasympathetic nervous system helps your body recover and rejuvenate. It's the opposite of the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the "fight or flight" response, where your body gets ready to respond to stress or danger. The parasympathetic system is like your body's built-in relaxation mode, ensuring that you can rest, digest your food, and recharge.
So as modern-day humanoids, it is clear that we are going to have to be intentional about our internal state and have some tools that we can rely on when we get stressed out!
The beauty of acupuncture is that it puts us into the parasympathetic nervous system, there are many ways in which it does this.
Needle Stimulation of Specific Points: Acupuncture points correspond to traditional meridians and are believed to be associated with specific nerve pathways, eg. the vagus nerve. When needles are inserted into these points, it is they stimulate these nerve pathways, including those that are linked to the parasympathetic nervous system.
Regulation of Autonomic Nervous System: Acupuncture helps to balance the activity of the autonomic nervous system, which includes the sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest) branches. By targeting specific points, acupuncture can shift the balance from the sympathetic system to the parasympathetic system, leading to relaxation and reduced stress.
Release of Neurotransmitters: Acupuncture triggers the release of various neurotransmitters and neuropeptides. These chemical messengers influence the autonomic nervous system and promote relaxation. For example, acupuncture stimulates the release of endorphins, which are natural painkillers and mood enhancers.
Reduction of Stress Hormones: Acupuncture helps to reduce the production of stress hormones, such as cortisol. This results in a decrease in the "fight or flight" response and an increase in parasympathetic activity.
Pain Reduction: Many people seek acupuncture for pain relief. When acupuncture helps reduce pain, it can lower stress and anxiety levels, which can, in turn, promote parasympathetic activity.
If acupuncture is not accessible to you, there are many other tools you can incorporate to get into this state in your day-to-day life.
Meditation
Breathwork
Exercise
Spending time in nature
Petting animals
Hugs
Spending less time looking at screens
Listening to calming music or binaural beats and frequencies
Having less exposure to the news
If you can be intentional about recognising when you're in a stressed state and using your tools to return you to a calm and peaceful state, everything will flow better. This is where the body can naturally heal itself!
If you need a reminder of what it feels like to be calm and peaceful, make a booking with me today.