The Power of Self Healing
Let’s talk about WHY our body tries to find BALANCE within our internal and external
environment. Too much of anything is never good and that’s why our amazing human body has
a built-in system to modulate this without us even knowing.
The stress we accumulate puts us MORE into a biased state of “fight or flight” meaning we are
stressing our body thinking we have to run from a lion (meanwhile, it might be a spouse telling
us to take the garbage outside…). I like to think of this “fight or flight system” as a gas pedal and
the brakes as our “rest and digest system”. In today’s age the stress is all around us and tends
to easily bog us down from constant circulating stress hormones in our blood. Learning to take
our foot off the gas pedal and onto the brakes is a simple exercise with profound benefit.
(Parasympathetic) rest and digest vs (Sympathetic) fight and flight.
Both of these systems are working together to find our balance or as science calls it
“homeostasis”
Rest and digest: decreases heart rate when it is too high, decreases blood pressure when too
high, aids in digestion, puts blood flow into vital organs, helps muscles relax
Fight and flight : increase heart rate, increase blood pressure, blood flow directed to working
muscles away from vital organs, decrease digestion, muscles contract, releases epinephrine
and cortisol (stress hormones)
Cortisol is a major hormone that circulates in our body when we are stressed, physically or
emotionally.
The literature shows that when cortisol is HIGH our immune system shuts DOWN and
inflammation INCREASES. This can lead to common colds, illness, depression, increase
in pain, chronic conditions etc.
Simple acts to decrease stress and promote recovery/healing
● Deep breathing
● Meditation
● Light a candle (scented)
● Listen to soothing music
● Massage
● Exercise
● socialize/laugh
Won, E., & Kim, Y. K. (2016). Stress, the Autonomic Nervous System, and the Immune-kynurenine
Pathway in the Etiology of Depression. Current neuropharmacology, 14(7), 665–673.
doi:10.2174/1570159×14666151208113006
