Very commonly in my practice I see that people have problems with breathing. Even a simple task like a full inhale is often strenuous if not impossible. This may seem kinda silly or inconsequential, but it is indicative of a larger issue, and that issue is a nervous system that is sympathetically dominated.
“But Stephen,” I hear you say, “what does this have to do with health and fitness?” Well dear reader, the short answer is that it has a hell of a lot to do with fitness and health.
You see, if our body was the starship Enterprise (I’m a Star Trek nerd, roll with it) our nervous system would be the ships operation mode. These modes are shields down, normal (parasympathetic) and shields up or RED ALERT battle mode (sympathetic).
The Enterprise D. My favorite
Another (non nerd) way of looking at it is our sympathetic nervous system is our “fight or flight” response. This gets us amped up to run, fight, or move heavy objects. Oppositely, our parasympathetic system is our “rest and digest” response. This response allows us to recover from injury or exercise, digest food, and sleep.
Now you may see where I am going with this. If your body is in its fight or flight mode all or most of the time this causes many problems.
First, your body wont move as well. This is because it tightens up so that it can run fast or fight hard. Eventually this chronic tightness can lead to poor movement patterns, which then will lead to pain and discomfort, which will lead to compensated movement, which will lead to injury.
Second it wont digest and absorb food well. This can lead to IBS, constipation, bloating, fat retention, and a slew of other GI issues.
Thirdly, it will leave you drained and tired. This is because the “red alert” response is stressful (the opposite of restful remember) and isn’t designed to be sustained for long periods of time. This leaves you fatigued or lethargic.
It can cause other issues too, but for the sake of this article I think you get the point. Plus Ive ranted on a bit about this in a past post
So the question becomes why are so many Americans stuck in this state of sympathetic nervous system dominance?
We need less “news” coverage and more self care
There are many reasons for this sympathetic neural drive running our lives so lets just cover two quickly.
Probably the biggest one I believe is the fast pace of American life. Most of us want things done right now or yesterday. And if you dont feel that way then your boss does and isn’t afraid to tell you. We want a pill for everything and an answer to anything that takes longer than an episode of Squid Games is simply unacceptable. This gets everyone worked up and moving fast, which engages the red alert signal constantly.
Another big one I believe is fear. Especially after 2020 I think its pretty clear that we are inundated by a fearful culture driven primarily by the media (whether you are left, right, or center this is true). The truth is that we are the safest we have ever been in the history of the world. If you dont believe me, look it up. Here’s a start. And even if we weren’t in a safe environment, a lot of the things we tend to get worked up about we have very little control over anyway (politics, politicians, taxes, foreign countries, certain illnesses, your cat exc). If you are fearful you cannot rest and therefore cannot recover.
Here are two quick tests to do on yourself to see if you have an overly active sympathetic nervous system.
Bend over and touch your toes. That’s it. Cant do it? You are probably in fight or flight.
How is your sleep? Do you have trouble sleeping or staying asleep? That’s a big sign of a sympathetically driven nervous system.
SO……WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT!? A very simple thing that has a huge effect on your nervous system is breathing.
“But that’s dumb Steve I breathe all the time!” You say. This is targeted, purposeful breathing that will bring you down into a parasympathetic state. Its not your shallow autonomous breathing.
Watch the below video for a quick explanation and example.
I forgot to mention in the video to keep your legs bent like I do. This keeps your pelvis level and we want to have a properly stacked core “cylinder” when 3D breathing.
My recommendation is to start and end your day working on 3D breathing. You are already in bed so it makes this easy to do. This exercise can take as little as 3-5 minutes so there is really no excuse here. Just make sure you dont have TOO many pillows under your head while doing this. Stick to one or two pancakes.
I know it sounds crazy, but give it a shot, you wont regret it. It makes a huge difference and I see the difference it makes in my clients all the time.
If you have any questions feel free to shoot me an email!