As I mentioned in Part One in my series; diet, exercise, relaxation techniques, such as Yoga, meditation and self-nurturing are all important in the journey to relieving stress, anxiety and depression.
My goal is to help you understand that lifestyle choices are an important factor in healing the nervous system and that this can happen with just a few small changes to improve not only the health of our nervous system, but our health in general.
In part one I compared our bodies to that of cars, and in this part I am going to compare human bodies to our allies, plants.
We have all had some contact with plant life, whether it’s a lawn, a houseplant, or even a garden and we understand that when plants get too much (or little) water or sunlight, they become nutrient deficient. These imbalances can have a drastic effect on the plant causing it to become “stressed” therefore wilting, losing its color, dropping its leaves and not blooming, and in a sense, losing its luster. Once the plant or lawn becomes stressed, we understand that with time, care, and nurturing the plant can become the beautiful plant it was meant to be, but that it doesn’t happen overnight. The same holds true for a human body. If we don’t give the human body proper nutrients water sunlight and nurturing we too lose our “luster”, causing stress on the body. It’s important to give ourselves time patience love and nurturing to become the beautiful human we are meant to be. In our society we have lost sight of that. In our busy busy world we have forgotten how important it is to love, care and nurture ourselves and even how to love care and nurture ourselves.
So where do we start, and how do we begin to make the changes that are so important in keeping our nervous system healthy?
One of the ways is making some simple dietary changes. You don’t have to be drastic (I deleted what was in the comments, your choice) like completely changing your eating habits overnight. Start with some easy to do steps:
• Flaxseed: Flaxseed can be an inexpensive and easily added addition to your diet. Ground flax can be added to any dish you already make, like spaghetti, chili, casseroles, smoothies and baked goods. Be creative! Flaxseed oil is known to help improve moods and boost brain function. (you might want to note that while whole flax seeds are great fiber, you want to grind them for the nutrition)
• Brown Rice: Use brown rice in place of white rice or pasta. Brown rice is unprocessed rice and is rich in B vitamins. B vitamins (niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, B6, biotin, pantothenic acid, B12, folic acid) and are all important for a healthy functioning nervous system.
• Drink More Water: The best rule of thumb is to drink ½ of your body weight in ounces per day. A 150 pound person would need to drink at least 75 ounces of water per day (150/2=75 ounces) Lets go back to the plant analogy since we have all seen what happens to plants when they don’t get the required water. The same biological things happen to us. Maybe we don’t see the affects as easily as we do our yard when it lacks water, but it is just as profound, if not more so.
• Processed Foods: The more a food is processed the harder our digestive system needs to work to digest the nutrients, which in turn, puts more stress on our health. Our nervous system has no way to recognize different kinds of stress, so emotional stress and digestive stress both elicit the same response in our nervous system.
• Eat less processed sugar. Try organic sugar (should be brown in color), Stevia (a naturally sweet plant) in the raw. Remember stevia is a plant, so unprocessed stevia should be green and not white. Raw, unprocessed local honey. Pure Maple sugar and organic agave nectar. Keep in mind that processed foods and food that are labeled sugar free and low fat have many more chemicals (like aspartame) that have to get filtered through the liver and kidneys. Just like our car when the filters are clogged it stops working correctly. It is important to keep our filters clean, because unlike a car, they are not so easily changed.
Exercise: I know we hear this all the time. I want for you to really understand why it’s important to get your heart pumping. The example I will use is a heart attack. We all understand that when our heart stops beating we die and that is caused from lack of oxygen to our organs. When we don’t get our heart pumping on a daily basis it’s hard for the oxygen rich blood to get to our organs, causing us to feel sluggish and tired. Our heart pumps the blood and that blood goes down first toward our feet then has to go against gravity and move up. If we are not helping this process through exercise we cannot get the required oxygen to all of our organs, which can lead to disease and stress. Increasing our heart rate not only helps to bring much needed oxygen to our organs but also helps to bring nutrients and keeps our filters from becoming clogged through its pumping action. When we increase our heart rate we increase oxygen levels, helping our bodies to get the nutrients where they need to be creating less stress and an all-around feeling of well-being.
Gentle exercise tips:
• Park farther away from the entry to a building and walk briskly to and from the store.
o Take an extra lap around the store, walking briskly.
o Take the stairs. If you can’t do all the flights start with one and take the elevator the rest of the way.
o Dance, like no one is watching
o Be Creative and just start moving
Meditation: In part one I discussed the flight or fight instinct and that when our nervous system is off kilter the fight or flight gets confused and can cause anxiety when there really is no reason to be anxious. Meditation reverses the prolonged effects of the flight or fight response. Meditation releases dopamine (helps us to experience pleasure), serotonin (has a calming effect), oxytocin (a pleasure hormone), and endorphins (creates exhilaration, reducing the side effects of stress). Its easy to do, doesn’t take much time and really helps with stress.
Let’s give it a try. Sit up straight (this helps our lungs to completely fill with oxygen), put both feet flat on the ground, close your eyes and take a deep breath, hold it for a moment and slowly release the breath. Try this 5 times. You can do this parked in your car, sitting at your computer or desk, in the bathroom, in a waiting room. Anywhere when you have a minute or two to just close your eyes, relax and breathe! There are many techniques and videos that you can use. And you can take as little or as much time you need.
Yoga: I know what you are thinking. How the heck can I do those contortionist poses? I look at the pictures myself and think YIKES! Start small, take advantage of YouTube and find what works for you. Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress on the body by encouraging relaxation. Yoga also helps to lower the levels of the stress response. Other benefits include lowering blood pressure and heart rate, improving digestion and boosting the immune system as well as easing symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, and insomnia. Remember any time we put stress on our system our body sends out a response to that stress. Creating a less stressful environment will help improve our bodies ability to nurture the fight or flight response.
Self-Nurturing: To nurture is to nourish and give to feed and protect; to self-nurture is to do the things that offer physical, emotional, and spiritual nourishment for yourself. This is as different as the individual — self-nurture can be simple or complex, lengthy or brief, together or alone. It can mean going to a weekly yoga class, working in a garden, reading a book, taking a walk, getting a massage, it can be training for a marathon, meditating, knitting, or writing poetry . All the things I mentioned diet, exercise, meditation and yoga are self-nurturing and a self-nurtured person is better equipped to, in turn, be more nurturing to others creating a balanced life.
In part three I am going to discuss how to incorporate herbs into helping to nourish the nervous system. Herbs are a great way to help get some relief from anxiety, stress, insomnia and depression, along with diet and exercise herbs can be a wonderful addition in the journey of healing and help you to feel your best.
I am currently a student of Western Herbalism at SWIHA in Tempe Az.
To Date I have received a Certification of Completion in:
• Seed Sowing
• Germination
• Growth and Evolution
• Manufacturing and Remedy Production
• Herbal Flowers
• Foundations of American Herbal Studies
• Flower Essence
• Completed classes in:
• Botany
• Holistic Health Nutrition
• Physiology
• Pathology
• Public Speaking
• Life Coaching
