Rest and Digest

While attending the Wisdom of Trauma Summit a couple of months ago with Gabor Mate, I wrote in my journal, “rest and digest.” A couple of weeks later, while re-reading my notes, I saw the words and thought “That is an interesting two words together. I wonder what this means?” So I did a google search and learned our Parasympathetic Nervous System is sometimes called our rest and digest system as it relaxes our heart rate and muscles and increases our gland and intestinal activity. A lightbulb went off for me as I started to put pieces of a puzzle together of my own experience. More on that in a bit.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

Our Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) and Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) are a part of our Autonomic Nervous System (ANS).

Our Autonomic Nervous System is the part of our nervous system which is responsible for our bodily functions that we have no conscious control over - breathing, heart rate, digestion, sneezing, etc.

Thus, what this means is both our Parasympathetic Nervous System and Sympathetic Nervous System are automatic and not something we control.

The Parasympathetic Nervous System is our rest, digest, feeding and repair response.

The Sympathetic Nervous System is our action response and is best known as our fight or flight response.

Our body is always in a state of activation and relaxation. This is called homeostasis.

Our Parasympathetic Nervous System undoes the work of the Sympathetic Nervous System after a stressful situation. As we slow down, blood flow returns to our internal organs and our heart rate and blood pressure slows down. Our digestion increases and the sphincter muscles in our digestive track relaxes. Our bodily secretions increase, such as salvia in the mouth and bile in the liver, both part of our digestive system. The limbic system in our brains, where emotions are processed is activated.

The chief neurotransmitter for the Parasympathetic Nervous System, acetylcholine (ACH), plays a significant role in our brain and muscle function. In terms of muscle function, ACH controls all of our body’s movement: from the movement of our stomach and heart; our arms and legs; and the blinking of our eye. Our memory, motivation, alertness, arousal, attention and learning are effected by our levels of ACH. High levels of ACH are associated with depression and anxiety. Low levels of ACH are associated with dementia, Parkinson’s and Alzheimers.

Vagus Nerve and Tone

Our Vagus Nerve is the longest nerve in your body, starting in our brain and going to our organs - heart, intestines, liver and lungs. This nerve is a two way communication pathway between your brain, and organs and modulates several essential processes.

The Vagus Nerve is the key nerve pathway to our Parasympathetic Nervous System.

The Vagus Nerve picks up information from our body and sends it to our brain for analysis and interpretation. The brain then sends messages down to our organs - heart, lungs, liver and intestines.

The tone of our Vagus nerve activity is reflective of the relationship between our Parasympathetic Nervous System and our Sympathetic Nervous System signals. An increased vagal tone is generally associated with a lower heart rate and better heart rate variability (HRV). Heart rate variability is a measurement of our heart’s flexibility to adapt to situations.

Good Vagal tone means we are able to relax more quickly and easily after stress.

Low Vagal tone may lead to a heightened stress response. When our stress response becomes chronic, this can possibly result in depression, anxiety, gut issues and inflammation in the body.

Thus, we need good flexibility in our heart to counter the play between the Sympathetic Nervous System and the Parasympathetic Nervous System to stay healthy.

Rest & Digest Journey

Ten years ago I went on sick leave from work due to a multitude of digestive issues and burnout from chronic stress. I had all of the symptoms of Low Vagal Nerve tone - depression, anxiety, gut issues, inflammation and severe adrenal fatigue. Yet, not once did a doctor or specialist ever speak to me about my parasympathetic nervous system or my vagal tone being low. Their only solution has been medication for life - one which changed my metabolizing resulting in weight gain and the other weakened my bones resulting in 3 bone fractures.

Not once was the word REST used in relation to my digestive system. It was recommended I meditate for my mind more than for my body.

Regardless, instinctively I knew I needed to teach my body to remember how to relax again. I was aware that having worked in crisis intervention since the mid 80’s my body was chronically in fight or flight mode. Or, in other words my Sympathetic Nervous System was more active than my Parasympathetic Nervous System.

For the first 3 years of being off work I floated in a sensory deprivation tank 1-2 times a week. For me, water has always been the element where I have been able to surrender and relax. The magnesium in the water supported not just my body to float but provided a necessary nutrient needed for relaxation. Floating did support me to remember what I already knew and sensed my body needed.

With rest comes an increase in intestinal activity, which is exactly what I experienced! Unfortunately, due to the damage from my chronic stress and no longer having parts of my esophagus mobile, when my body started to relax again the increase of the intestinal activity resulted in a lot of pain, nausea and constant spasms all along my digestive tract.

I know recognize my digestion was, and still is, returning to homeostasis with relaxation.

At the time I had been conditioned to believe that pain means something is wrong which requires fixing. Yet pain is complex and has a multitude of purposes and meanings. In response to my increase in digestion pain, I temporarily returned to the fight or flight response. In this period I kept a food, mood and symptom journal for several months and was able to track the foods and drinks that were exasperating the pain response. When I eliminated nightshades, alcohol, almonds and chocolate, the inflammation and spasms subsided and I was able to rest and digest again with more ease.

I continue to have bouts of pain and have learned when I relax into the pain or feel space around the pain for the pain to expand into, I find the pain releases within seconds or minutes instead of escalating or prolonging the pain.

I am learning to witness the pain as a part of the process of healing and to discern when the pain is potentially a signal that something is wrong and may require further intervention.

I now have a daily relaxation routine which involves healing activations. Everyday I hear something new during the guided activation that my body needs in that moment. I am learning to relax and allow on a deeper level. I am witnessing my old physical, emotional and mental patterns and recognize them as old waste that has been stirred as the new energy comes in. This is the digestion process of the parasympathetic nervous system. And, just like with our digestive system that we have no control over, if I disengage with the old as much as I can, it eventually leaves.

This deep surrender and allowing is bringing me into greater balance. I am beginning to trust in my body and hear her messages. And it all starts with rest and digest, which the Healing Activations are supporting.