As everyone you know as well as everyone across the globe, continue to endure unprecedented TOXIC STRESS imposed by the Coronavirus pandemic – I would like to bring attention to my THREE PILLARS OF HEALTH. What are the 3 Pillars of Health and why are they important?  IF followed, the 3 Pillars of Health can greatly reduce the sustained-REACTION we can have to ongoing environmental stress. Called the “fight or flight response”, this sustained reaction to stress can be very harmful and actually life threatening if not curbed and brought into check  WHY is this?  "Fight or flight" should be short-lived response and can be life-saving in measure, but never should be prolonged. The 3 Pillars of Health enables us to restore our healthy survival response which protects us from harm and illness.  

The Three Pillars of Health

1. Adequate and Restorative Sleep
2. Clean Nutrient Dense Food
3. Exercise which supports your total health to include your nervous system

The reason I LIST these 3 areas or PILLARS of Health is because when instituted together routinely under stress, they are able to better ensure a balanced physiology and adaption which means less vulnerability to illness and the disease process that stress can cause.

There is a very important part of our human physiology which is too often neglected, ignored or simply not understood. This important part of our human body is called the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). The ANS is connected to that part of our Central Nervous System (CNS), often referred to as the Primitive Brain, which together with the ANS, controls our innate and automatic self-preserving behavior patterns.

The Autonomic Nervous System involves both the ability to be productive in your waking state as well as being productive in your physiology when you sleep.

The Sympathetic tone or arm of the ANS is responsible for waking you up in the morning and doing your day productively, but it can also respond to your life, world, environment in a way that helps you to avoid danger and to escape danger.

The Parasympathetic tone or arm of the ANS is responsible for your ability to sleep well and feel well rested when you get up in the am. It is also responsible for the detox process which occurs while you digest during sleep and it is why the bowels are best to move in the am.

The ANS does not reside IN OUR brain, but rather provides important messages from where it resides outside the brain in the body, making it responsible for the body’s involuntary functions. The (efferent) connections and messages that the ANS provides to the CNS - especially the primitive brain - is how the ANS communicates to our higher brain which in turn responds back to the ANS to ensure our own survival as well as the survival of our species.

WHY IS ALL this biology so IMPORTANT TO KNOW when it comes to our health?

• Well, humans are very evolved creatures and we are survivors. SO we have an extremely sophisticated form of the Autonomic Nervous System which closely interacts with our Central Nervous System/Primitive Brain for our survival.
• SO, one can imagine that chronic stress or acute/sudden stress can really cause health problems if our nervous system thinks our survival is at RISK.

To better understand this, let me simplify:

The sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the Autonomic Nervous System:

• Actions of the sympathetic nervous system are associated with ‘fight or flight’.
• Actions of the parasympathetic nervous system are associated with ‘rest and digest’.

These divisions work together, usually with one activating and the other inhibiting the actions of internal organs.

Because the sympathetic division prepares the body for stressful or emergency situations....

.. it increases heart rate and the force of heart contractions and widens (dilates) the airways to make breathing easier. It causes the body to release stored energy. Muscular strength is increased. This division also causes palms to sweat, pupils to dilate, and hair to stand on end. It slows body processes that are less important in emergencies, such as digestion and urination.

THESE ARE ALL SYMPTOMS OF STRESS and if stress occurs a lot or is chronic- the Sympathetic Nervous System is telling the body it is in constant fight or flight! NOT GOOD!!

The parasympathetic division is very different....

...in that it conserves and restores.

It slows the heart rate and decreases blood pressure. It stimulates the digestive tract to process food and eliminate wastes. Energy from the processed food is used to restore and build tissues. The parasympathetic division of the ANS is most active at night, while we sleep, restore, digest and detoxify and very importantly, rejuvenate! Our heart rate and respirations are slowed and we are not in an active conscious state-while we sleep.

This is why adequate restorative sleep as well as rejuvenating exercise that keeps the mind and body effectively decompressed and more relaxed are 2 very important pillars of health.

Nutrient dense foods support the work of the parasympathetic division, and this is very important for sustained health. WHY and HOW does food that is high in nutritional value do this? Well, we activate the REST and DIGEST Parasympathetic division of the ANS when we digest good nutrient dense food that will not only nourish our body but also relaxes us! 

This is in contrast to what processed and unhealthy food does to our health; Nutrient deficient foods actually cause us stress and will stimulate the sympathetic ANS to feel fight or flight as the body attempts to extract nutrients that do not exist in the food. 

 Please remember that our personal vitality and health comes with responsibility and accountability to ourselves.

My 3 Pillars of Health can help us do this:

In addition, to further strengthen your Ability to adapt, remain healthy and strong during these stressful times, please consider adding VITAL ADAPT Capsules -2 or more daily, to your Innate Response C (or C-Flav capsules or C powders I have recommended in the past).

Vital Adapt is a nourishing herbal tonic designed to optimize the body’s natural resistance and adaptation to stressful influences, while promoting health, longevity and total well-being. Vital Adapt contains herbs that promote our natural ability to Adaption during stress. Called Adaptogen herbs, and to name a few here, Siberian Ginseng or Eleuthrococcus, Rhodiola, Schizandra and Ashwagandha, work synergistically to support our energy and immune function naturally while under stress, whether it be daily stress or more sustained chronic stress, such as what we are all experiencing now with the Coronavirus.

Remember to take good care of you for everybody's benefit.

Visit me at www.yourholisticdoc.com 

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Thanks for joining me,