Nervous system

Nervous system? I thought you were going to blog about the digestive tract this year?! Rightfully so, but you see, there won’t be complete and lasting healing, if you do not start/include work on your nervous system. Almost every chronic illness comes on, because of a disregulated nervous system. Let’s see why by focussing on the digestive tract.

There is a part in your brain that is called the reptile brain. It is the oldest part of your brain and it controls your vital functions such as your breathing, heartrate and bloodflow. This part of your brain acts very swiftly and instinctively and it carries the fight/flight, in short the stress response. It can start firing an enormous amount of stresshormones and neurotransmitters into your system. One of the stress hormones is adrenaline and we also have a long term stress hormone called cortisol.

Then you have a vagal nerve. It runs to your head but also runs to your chest and abdominal cavity. The vagal nerve influences a lot of physical processess and has everything to do with your feeling of safety. In case of stress and trauma, your feeling of safety will be gone out of the window and you will be in a survival mode. This survival stress will linger on in your nervous system and will thus influence the communication with the digestive tract. I will write more about the vagal nerve in a later blog.

And last but not least, your intestines have their own nervous system: the enteric nervous system. The enteric nervous system communicates through your vagal nerve. The enteric nevous system is also called your ‘second brain’. It is said that 95% of the neurotransmitter serotonin and 50% of the neurotransmitter dopamine comes from the gastrointestinal tract. These neurotransmitters give happy feelings. The enteric nervous system is responsible for regulating the digestive system. So yes, it is very important to regulate your nervous system, because with a disregulated nervous system, your intestines are having difficulties to heal and regenerate. All of it is very much connected. Your entire body is so incredibly intelligent!

Back to the stress response. A traumatic stress response will keep lingering in your nervous system until you decide to actively work with it to release it. It will NOT go away over time by itself. And also: if you do not work with your nervous system, other healing strategies will not stick in the long run.

When there is stress, trauma, feelings of unsafety, which is stored in your body, you will very likely disconnect with your body as a coping strategy to keep safe. This will eventually lead to chronic illnessess, may it be mentally or physically.

[So, since the digestive tract is one of common threads this year, I thought it was of the utmost importance to mention the role of the nervous system. Should you choose to start working with your nervous system, you will start healing on the deepest level. I would recommend TRE (tension/trauma release exercises. You can read about this in an ealier blog written by Pepine) or Somatic Experiencing.

Of course, it is important to eat healthy and exercise regularly as well because this also influence the nervous system in a positive way, but that goes without saying. Like eating healthy and exercise regularly, working on/with the nervous system is an ongoing process.

As always, you can comment below! Love to hear from you!