What we need to understand is that the body is in constant flux. This means that even though it seeks to maintain homeostasis (a process in which the body maintains its internal variables at a steady and constant flow),the processes in themselves are constantly being challenged by stressors. And if you are like me, they come in the form of being able to manage people,provide immense amounts of value, and maintain relationships. And at the central focus, I have to take care of myself so that I can give back to the world in a big way. I remember hearing :
" train your mind to give back to your body first, such that you overflow with all your gifts to others",at a YouTraining conference by Brandon Hawk.
This has lingered in my consciousness long enough to see that there is an obvious pattern with performance. And it has little to do with "KILLING IT!!!" in the gym. It has a lot to do with what we put in to our bodies. No, this isn't just the common "diet is everything speech". We must take a deeper look at how we can optimize our bodily processes to better handle our stressors. Enter the Parasympathetic (Yin) Nervous System!
When we are able to access more Parasympathetic activity in our body (via the vagus nerve), we ensure the crucial processes of rest, recovery, rejuvenation, energy production, hormonal regulation, and proper circadian rhythms. This is key when it comes to staying resilient in the gym as well as our everyday lives! Do we really want to live on punishing ourselves for our vices? Have a little more self-love! ? I truly wish they taught that in schools more,
Enter The Nervous System- Background
Whether you use the philosophical explanation of Yin and Yang or Sympathetic Nervous system versus Parasympathetic nervous system, there's a dynamic balance that occurs in the body. When we dishonor this, thinking we can just push through anything, the body responds in sickness or dysfunction.
But before we go there, a short breakdown of the branches of the Nervous System will help get an appreciation of how complex we really are.
1) Central Nervous System (CNS)- This is central command, and consists of your brain and spinal cord. This is where much of our conscious thought and control occurs. If we learn how to use our central command to take care of our body, we can truly honor the power our body has to thrive
2) Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)- Involved with all the connections outside of the brain and spinal cord.
This can be broken down further into the:
Somatic Nervous System- Voluntary part of the PNS, involved with skeletal muscle contraction.
Autonomic Nervous System- This is the part of our nervous system involved with automatic regulatory processes in our body. An example of this is the breathing process. It happens by itself without much conscious thought. Now, of course if we can use our central command to help train diaphragmatic breathing. This is where our power comes in! Honoring and acknowledging what's happening to our body,and then having the courage to put you first by training a more empowering response.
This is further broken down into the :
a) Sympathetic Nervous System- This is involved with much of our fight or flight responses. Things like heavy exercise, dangerous situations, rushing to meet deadlines, stressing out about life etc, would be examples of activating this part of our nervous system. This of course has implications for the kind of hormones being released! Which then of course, affects all of our metabolic processes. This can affect our performance on virtually every aspect of life including
b) Parasympathetic Nervous system- The part of our system involved with recovery, digestion, sleep, rest, and deep breathing. We often take this part of our nervous system for granted. It helps us create energy in the form of ATP. It helps support our joints, regulates our hormones, keeps us structurally intact, and rejuvenates our minds. And yet, sometimes we can be so silly to think we can push our bodies to no end without repercussions.
So now that you have an appreciation of how complex our nervous system is, how do we honor our Parasympathetic branch? Without Further-ado continue on.
How to Honor your Yin (Parasympathetic Nervous System)
No,this is not the sexy stuff that everyone keeps sensationalizing. But guess what? If you want to stay resilient on your way to your goals, you better pay attention to this, or you'll fall apart sooner than you think.
Physiologically, you are aiming to increase vagal tone. It simply means that you are exposing yourself to stimuli that increase the activity of the vagus nerve. What the heck does this do, you may be asking?
Taken as an excerpt from Increasing Vagal Tone:
"The vagus nerve is part of the parasympathetic nervous system, referred to as the rest and digest system. It’s not the only nerve in the parasympathetic system, but it’s by far the most important one because it has the most far reaching effects.
The word vagus means “wanderer,” because it wanders all over the body to various important organs.
The vagus nerve connects to the brain, gut (intestines, stomach), heart, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, kidney, ureter, spleen, lungs, fertility organs (females), neck (including pharynx, larynx, esophagus), ears and tongue"
So when we create more tone, we are able to alter the regulatory processes that occur in all the above connections. That's a whole lot of things that we can control! Let's get right it shall we?
5 Ways to Increase Vagal Tone
1) Breathe Deep!!- This means that your breath must come from your diaphragm. Your belly must rise on the inhale and fall on the exhale. Practice this the first thing when you wake up! And keep this integrity throughout the day as much as possible. When you are hit with a stressor, the first thing to do is turn to your breathing pattern. When we are stressed,we are often prone to shallow breathing and excessive tightness in our traps, neck,and chest. However, when we breathe deep into our cores, our jaw begins to relax, neck softens, our facial muscles begin to lengthen, and we begin to support our spine in a proper posture.
2) Improving your Circadian Rhythm- Download F.lux for your Computers, Tablets, and iphones! This minimizes the amount of blue light that hits your body during the evening. Our goals are to produce melatonin (the most powerful antioxidant in the body), and let go of day consciousness! If you are chronically exposed to light during the evening, you keep your cortisol elevated longer than it should be.
Also, dim the lights around your house as the sun sets. Make sure you block out as much light in your bedroom before you fall asleep. Cut out the noise, and work on deep breathing. You can even play with taking an epsom salt bath
3) Coughing or Tensing the Abdominal Muscles- If you activate your pelvic floor muscles, this also improves vagal tone. The more you can practice activation of your pelvic floor, the more you feel relaxed throughout the day. You direct the energy away from your jaw/neck and down into your core. This helps stimulate proper breathing patterns as well.
4) Mobility and Massage/Body Work- Taking time to increase your range of motion, work on your soft tissue, and couple deep breathing during the process is key to recovery processes. Work on 1-2 joint surfaces everyday. This has to be an integral part of your life. You will have to think about the positions you put yourself in everyday. Yes , you have to, before something does fall apart later on.
5) Training Your Response to Cold- Studies have shown that when your bodies adjust to cold, your fight of flight system is less activated, as your parasympathetic nervous system activation increases. This means you are better able to stay calm during the proverbial "shitstorms", that life will throw at you. And this is what its all about. It's becoming resilient in the face of all the things that life throws at you. This is why we train!
Cold showers are a great way to train this adaptation.
Week 1: Start with simply finishing with cold water for the last 30 seconds or so to rinse off the soap.
Week2-Week 4 : Then move into a contrast of hot and cold. Going for 20 seconds cold and then one minute hot. Going for 3 rounds or so throughout the shower bout.
Week 5- Week 7: Increase the previous protocol to 4 to 5 rounds
Week 8 to 12: Increase the cold exposure to 30 seconds and go warm for 1 minute. Repeat for 4 to 5 rounds
Week 12-Week 16: Increase Cold exposure to 1 minute cold and go warm for 1 minute.
Slowly progress your way to all cold everyday.
For more ways to increase Vagal Tone, check out: Increasing Vagal Tone!
In Strength,
Sumair
