When I speak of a healthy gut, I’m usually always talking about keeping it healthy with food, but there are many tools that we can implement into our lives that will help keep your gut healthy.
What many of these tools do is reduce the stress response in the gut. In the last episode I spoke of meditation for general stress in the body, but what most of us don’t realize is that the stress response has a major impact on our gut because the fight or flight response can create an unhealthy gut leading to IBS and other uncomfortable gut issues.
If this is you, you may want to consider meditation, as mentioned in the last episode, one or two of these modalities, such as
massage therapy because the healing power of touch is so important to our daily lives. Human touch through massages reduces the production of stress hormones and helps relax the muscles, which in turn creates a more relaxed gut. But for long term benefits, massage needs to partner with a healthy food and Lifestyle changes or Its effects are short lived.
Neuromuscular release is a gentle, targeted massage that focuses on releasing tension in the muscles by accessing the nervous system. It affects have the ability to last longer than a regular massage.
Rolfing is a deeper type of massage focused on the release of the connective tissue called fascia that surrounds the muscles. This connective tissue has the tendency to get tight like Saran wrap and prevents your muscles from relaxing. This massage technique has the ability to get into deeper muscles, like the diaphragm that controlled the bodies core. Tension in these muscles may result in the buildup of tension in the gut, which leads to digestive problems.
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese therapy that is more than 2000 years old and uses tiny needles placed in very specific points along energy meridians in the body. Some of the meridians have been found to correlate with the patterns of the fascia surrounding our muscles. Inserting these very thin needles into the body releases endorphins. When placing needles in the abdominal wall, people with ongoing gastrointestinal problems may release tension around the gut.
Acupressure is another form of massage, sometimes called shiatsu, which like acupuncture is based on the concept that life energy flows through the body through meridians. Instead of using needles, pressure is applied directly to certain points using the hands. It’s a great alternative for those who don’t like needle.
Chiropractic care restores nerve communication to and from the gut organs by realigning spinal misalignments. It works with the bodies innate ability to heal itself. Most of the intestinal nerves are found in the lower part of the spine so, by releasing trapped or pinched nerves. Chiropractic. helps support a healthy gut
The last modality I’d like to speak about is homeopathy, which is a medical system based on the belief that the body can cure itself. The active ingredients in homoeopathic medicines are micro doses of plants, animals, and minerals that relieve the symptoms, including those caused by stress.
For example. A microdose of coffee bean helps nervousness. It has been used to alleviate many gut symptoms such as bloating, nausea and digestive cramps.
That’s all for today, if you’d like help creating a healthy gut for exceptional aging,
please reach out to me at donna@donnajskincare.com to see how we can work together to do just that.
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