Sympathetic vs Parasympathetic: The Nervous System Battle Inside You!

Did you know...?

[video transcript] Here's a fun fact: Do you know how many times a day you get a strong contraction from your intestines?

We'll get you an answer in a second. It's Dr. Dan again with a "lunch and learn" video. Welcome!

Your intestines contract eight times a day, causing these minor waves that move food through your body. And I don't know about you, but if I caught eight good waves like that throughout the day if I were surfing, I'd be pretty stoked!

Your Personal Auto Pilot: The Autonomic Nervous System

So why are we talking about the contracting of the intestines? It's actually something called the autonomic nervous system. There's this entire process that goes on, and we're not even thinking about it. I mean, think about it: you don't have to worry about your heart contracting; it just contracts. You don't have to sit there after you eat and go, "Okay, now I need to move the food. I need to move it a centimeter to the left, a centimeter to the right." You're too busy for that. The body does all this stuff for you. It's really cool!

The autonomic nervous system is the one that happens in the background that we don't really have any conscious dealings with. It just does it. But there are two other ones you need to be well aware of, and these are the parasympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system.

Your Nervous Systems: "Rest & Digest" vs. "Fight or Flight"

Now, these are the two nervous systems that are really important for gut health and for hormone function. What are they?

Parasympathetic means "rest and digest."
Sympathetic means "fight or flight."

Why are these two things important in day-to-day life? Well, our original factory design is as parasympathetic beings. Think about it: We used to live in small groups on savannas. We lived in peace. Nothing really happened, and then a lion shows up, up pops our sympathetic nervous system like Meerkat Manor. Oh, that was really just somebody stepped on a twig. Why'd you do that? Everybody goes back to peace.

Well, think about life today instead. We don't live like that! We live in cities. We have computers, we have cell phones. Everything's coming at us all the time: an email from the boss, a text from your wife, something that you've been thinking about and ruminating on since last night. All of these things cause this sympathetic response, "fight or flight."

It is completely opposite of our design. And what does that do? Now, if you are running from a lion, what do you need? You need as much energy as possible. So the body shoots out adrenaline, it shoots out cortisol, it dissolves sugars, it pushes them into your muscles so you can run.

And what's happening when you're getting that text, that phone call, that email, ruminating on that thought? Are we running? No, we're sitting at a desk usually, and when that happens, bad things happen. We start accumulating all of that glucose. It starts causing damage. We're in a constant cortisol state that starts to cause inflammation..

Reclaiming Your Original Factory Settings

So, we want to be in that parasympathetic "rest and digest" mode. You need to be doing things on a regular basis that switch you back to that factory setting as much as possible. So, you need to relax.

What are the easiest ways to do that? If you have a prayer practice or start meditating, these are really good ways to get set up in a parasympathetic state and to do it all day long. It's one of those things that's cumulative. You can't just sit down and meditate and then in 10 minutes, you're all better.

It's one of those things that my patients tell me that as it goes on, you kind of accumulate it, and after three weeks, four weeks, a month, suddenly somebody will come to them and say, "You know, you really handled that project with a lot of grace. That thing that stressed us all out, it just didn't do anything to you." And that's parasympathetic. That's the benefits of meditation. You're dealing with things in a very calm state.

So, parasympathetic: rest and digest. Sympathetic: fight or flight. Be aware of sometimes when you're in the "fight or flight" mode. Things you can be thinking about: you can be thinking about your breathing. If you're getting tightness in your muscles, just be aware of it and relax. These are some things that'll tell you that you're in a sympathetic "fight or flight" state.

Need a Custom Health Plan?

Now, if you're in a chronic sympathetic state, I invite you to give me a call. I offer free 15-minute visits here in our Scottsdale, Arizona. I also do telehealth and phone appointments. I'm more than happy to talk with you and find out what's going on, and nobody leaves without some direction. We also have full batteries of testing here that we can direct you to as well.