It’s nearly Halloween but I want to trick AND treat this year.
We know the fight of flight response? What about the parasympathetic nervous system or the ‘rest and digest’ system? Part of the nervous system that regulates visceral organs such as your glands to conserve and restore energy to the body. It kicks in when we are in a calm state, allowing us to heal.
Why is this important? Because it only kicks in when our survival is assured. Remember it’s our brains job to keep us alive not make us happy! Today we are making choices that are leaving us feeling anxious, sleep-deprived, and filled with toxicity. We are prioritising work over rest, eating on the hoof and behaving as though we are under threat.
In short we’re communicating to or bodies that our survival is not assured. Our body is really really good at surviving and it will prioritize the biochemical process that promotes survival, hence the fight or flight.
So, what to do? We need to trick ourselves into triggering the parasympathetic response to reduce anxiety and stress. How? Prioritise sleep, laughter, time in nature, time with friends, exercise and good food. All this will lift our mood and ‘trick’ our system into feeling assured, being clam, strengthening our immune systems and lowering the blood pressure. A treat for the body and mind!
Trick and Treat = perfect