Safety, Danger, Life Threat
Our nervous system has evolved over millions of years to do one very important thing: Survival!
Our nervous system when you look at it looks like roots of a tree. The roots reach out to every part of our body, so that information can be picked up and brought to the brain.
The most primitive part of our brain, along with other structures assesses the information to determine: are we safe? Are we in danger? Is our life in threat? Based on the answer the brain will shoot out a variety of responses into the body to ensure we survive.
The nerves and sensory organs, such as sight, sound, smell, taste, touch gathers information about people, places and things and sends it to the brain for evaluation about our outside world.
The nerves also pick up information from within the body: so the foods, beverages, substances we ingest, inhale or put on skin also sends information to the brain, so the brain can decide if it’s safe for us, if it’s dangerous or life threatening. The body will make adjustments for awhile, but at a certain point when what we are eating, drinking, ingesting cannot be balanced, symptoms/pain/or something unpleasant will show up.
This is our body saying: SOMETHING needs to CHANGE!
The nerves have special receptors that help the brain monitor temperature, chemical levels, immune levels, stress levels, or mechanical stressors (such as stress, compression or vibration). So when something is off, the brain hears about it, way before we consciously become aware.
In order for the body to respond to keep us safe it will re-direct energy from other functions to deal with the danger or threat. This can impact multiple body systems, including digestion.
When the brain perceives a threat whether from within the body or environment, it responds the same way it would if a lion was about to eat you.
And…..if a lion was about to eat you, your digestion function would become NON-important, all the energy would be re-directed to your muscles to prepare you to run or fight. While this is a normal response to an acute stress.
Modern day living has us stressing more often than relaxing and as such the brain thinks there is a lion about to attack for most of the day.
Spend enough time in this threat response and over-time is can have not only negative impacts on digestion but the body’s ability to support rest and healing.
This is one of the key foundational pieces of education I teach in the group physiotherapy program for dealing with the unpleasant sensations associated with bowel or digestive dysfunction.
And with the education comes specific exercises and techniques to support the nervous system to regain a sense of safety and therefore support the body’s ability to heal, while undergoing other medical interventions.
The group physiotherapy program doesn’t address the condition directly, it address the symptoms and under-lying processes to support healing and managing the symptoms.
If you want to dive deeper into this theoretical model, consider joining our program.