REST & DIGEST, RECOVER & THRIVE. Part 1
As the saying goes, “The better your recovery, the better your training”. But when you're dialed-in to your training so much, recovery can sometimes take a back seat.
When you think of recovery, your mind heads to sleep, food, massage, and post-workout shakes. All of these are vital for recovery, but we can build on these factors by taking a look at a branch of our nervous system called “The Parasympathetic Nervous System” (PSNS) or our “Rest and Digest” state.
The opposite of the PSNS is “The Sympathetic Nervous System” (SNS) or our “Fight or Flight” state.
By activating and nourishing the PSNS, we substantially promote recovery. The longer we can remain in our rest and digest state, the faster we recover, repair damage, and build strength.
So, how do we activate, nourish and create a productive balance between the SNS and PSNS?
By improving the quality of our sleep, we can spend more time in the non-rapid eye movement which switches the balance from SNS to PSNS and aids our recovery. There are many nutrient, supplemental, and mindfulness interventions we can utilise to improve sleep quality. One supplement, which I find hugely effective, is Sensoril Ashwagandha.
Removing stress is much harder than it sounds. Stress takes on so many varying forms, but the first step is to remove the stress factors we can control, and limit our exposure to those we can’t. A powerful way to manage the factors we can’t control is the use of meditation. By learning to meditate, we discover how to control our reaction to stresses out of our control. Practising breathing techniques, employing positive thinking, and addressing our behaviour towards triggers in stressful situations, all have physiological affects. It’s these affects such as reduced blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing rate, which all indicate that the PSNS has been activated.In a similar response to meditation, yoga has the same affect of not only transitioning you into your PSNS but also, improving your ability to decrease SNS activation when you are stressed.
Just the act of being massaged is enough to trigger the PSNS, but what’s probably more important is that being massaged regularly teaches the body to switch from the SNS to the PSNS, even whilst under stressful conditions.
Have you ever noticed how when you're stressed your breath is short, fast, and shallow. These are all signs that you are in an SNS state. Well, the opposite is true of the PSNS. Even though breathing is autonomic, we can still control it. By slowing our breathing rate and focusing on breathing in through the nose, allowing the belly to expand, then breathing out through the mouth, we activate our PSNS. This, in turn, slows our heart rate and stimulates the PSNS further. The implementation of regular breathing techniques* not only nourishes your PSNS but improves your immune system and lowers your resting heart rate.
*After a hard training session, I aim to get my clients into a PSNS state as quickly as possible. To do that I employ a simple breathing technique called box breathing. Breath in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, breath out for 4 seconds, and hold for another 4 seconds. Repeat this for a minimum of 4 minutes.
Stayed tune for part two of this blog where I delve into more strategies for nourishing your PSNS