Sunday 6 December 2015

Gift #423



 Eat right, Move more, Sleep well seem to be the ultimate health mantra these days. Yet when we look around we find people having the most nutritious diet and doing the right mix of cardio and strength training exercises with well balanced polarities of activity and rest end up falling ill or having some or the other disease reducing their life span eventually.

People then blame their genetics, lower immunity or toxic environment in general as the cause of dis-ease. One rarely looks within to find the cause in the way we think and feel. Yes our Beliefs create our Biology!!!

Let me explain this with the analogy of a car where good food and exercise are akin to quality fuel and tyres/body. As the car requires a driver our body requires a well functional brain and nervous system to run it smoothly.

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) has two components: the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system which operates on a subconscious level and is regulated by the hypothalaactio. Activation of the sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for action - increased blood flow to the muscles and other responses known as "fight-or-flight (just like the gas pedal in a car) whereas the parasympathetic nervous system functions when body is at rest and can be compared to the break pedal, which helps the body store energy for future use. For smooth functioning both operate in sync, example during exercise the sympathetic nervous system increases heart rate whereas after exercise the parasympathetic nervous system helps to slow down the heart rate.

However emotions like anger, anxiety or worry can cause the signals going to these two parts of the ANS to get out of sync with each other. This can be likened to one foot on the gas pedal and one foot on the break simultaneously which causes jerky rides and burns more fuel. This kind of disharmony between the two branches of ANS causes a lot of stress, wear and tear on our body and depletes its energy. Also because extra stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system the blood flow is more towards our limbs and less to the visceral organs causing improper digestion of even the most nutritious food. It also lowers our immunity levels as the focus is to fight the external enemy/situation and not the virus attacking the body within.

- See more at: http://twinklet8.blogspot.in/.../all-about-human-emotion...

To achieve complete wellbeing we require a sound mind in a sound body. This was very well exemplified by the oldest documented living person - a French woman Jeanne Clament who lived for almost 123 years without suffering any ill effects of her smoking habit of 100 years. Thought is more important than lifestyle!!!

* Proper credits to be given if this article is used for reference.

BE HAPPY BE HEALTHY
Twinkle Thakkar