When Your Physiological Systems Can't Keep Up With The Chaos
This post originally appeared on Health Shift, Dr. Alice Burron’s Substack.
Happy Monday, health heroes!
Today’s newsletter is a deeper dive into some of the topics I touch on the latest episode of the of this podcast with the amazing Dr. Natalie Marr. Here’s the video!
Podcast links to the episode are listed at the end of this newsletter.
Now, onto today’s topic.
What to do when your physiological systems can't keep up with the chaos.
Your body is an amazingly synchronized machine.
If you stop to think about it, the human body is truly amazing — something you’ve heard a lot, I know, but really stop to think about it.
There are 12 known physiological systems — like the endocrine, cardiovascular, respiratory, immune, digestive, nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems, to name a few — that work in coordination and synchronization every minute to keep us functioning at an extremely high level. We should applaud the incredible work our bodies do every day!
However, many things can throw our health into a spin—sickness, injury, pain, and that never-ending to-do list that leaves us with little rest. When this happens, the entire organism must rebalance and re-regulate to return to optimal functioning. All systems kick in, and not one takes a step back. It’s ‘all systems go’ to rebalance and heal because the body is wired to heal in this way.
A look at all twelve of your body systems.
A look at all twelve of your body systems.
Here’s how the cycle usually goes.
Think about when you’ve had an intense few weeks at home, work, or both, leaving you feeling overwhelmed. But you still did everything you had to do because you’re a rockstar. Go you! But know this: Your body has kicked all the right systems into overdrive to help you accomplish your goals.
Your nervous system took the lead—the brain told your body it was in charge. It thought through everything in detail—tasks, goals, to-do lists. This was what you had to accomplish, and so it was, with every other system taking a back seat.
Behind the scenes, your digestive system churned out massive amounts of glucose for your brain to use… even from the not-so-healthy foods you gave it to work with. This was shuttled to your brain and body with a slightly higher heart rate and blood pressure because your cardiovascular system knew you meant business—you were on a mission.
Your endocrine system sent signals to all the other systems, telling them what to do using hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.
Your immune system kicked into overdrive to make sure you were protected as you moved stalwartly toward your goals.
And to recover from the extra work all your body’s systems had to do, you needed sleep. But maybe sleep eluded you (a very common occurance for many people) and you didn’t give your body the chance to rest, repair, and recharge. Behind the scenes, your body was starting to become imbalanced.
Finally, you met your goal. You performed well at the event, finished the project, or wrapped up your kid’s school year (activities and all), took care of your aging parents and your own household, and you were left spent. Wiped out. Exhausted. (Sound familiar?)
Likely, shortly following this big event, you catch a cold, or a mystery symptom like fatigue or weight gain. What happened? Is it a coincidence?
Nope. Your immune system couldn’t keep up, your endocrine system was so focused on keeping you on task that it ran out of juice for normal physiological functions, and it impacted your endocrine organs, like your thyroid, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands, which regulated everything from metabolism to heart rate and blood pressure.
The Let Down Effect
When we get sick after big events or challenges, it’s called the Let Down Effect, and it’s a perfect example of when your physiological systems can’t keep up with the overwhelming assaults. Sometimes it gets even more serious than just a cold—a chronic disease develops. An observational study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) illustrated the correlation between stress-related disorders and the onset of autoimmune diseases (Song H, et al, 2018).
This is the typical western cycle of how we manage our health. All engines firing, then all engines failing.
This is one major reason why disease starts to form. Your systems can’t keep up with the chaos. We then go to the doctor and take medications to force-regulate our systems. This never is ideal, but sometimes it’s all we can do because our systems literally have been overworked and quit functioning well. It’s a sad day when a physiological system begins to fail.
Think of the daily assaults our bodies must regulate: a poor diet, lack of sleep, a stressful job, allergens or viruses around us... the list goes on and on. It’s truly amazing that we function so well despite what we do to ourselves, isn’t it? When we start to see our health as an orchestration of amazing physiological coordination, it should give us a desire to take better care of ourselves.
Stop and think for a minute about the demands you are placing on your physiological systems right now.
Are you faced with ongoing stress? Do you have a schedule that you can’t keep up with? Is your job continually assaulting one or two physiological systems, like sitting does to the muscle and skeletal systems, or stress does to the nervous system?
What can you do to counterbalance the assaults?
Bringing It All Back Into Balance
Here are some ideas to rebalance your physiological systems:
Move your muscles in ways that are counter to your usual movements. Yoga, stretching, and personal training are good places to start.
Build margins in your life to relax and let your nervous system calm down. Take time to unwind. You can just sit and stare into space listening to relaxing music, read a book, or try deep breathing or meditation.
Give your brain space to process what’s happening in your life. This helps the brain “let go” of perceived urgent needs and recharge. Prayer and spiritual connection are another approach, as is journaling.
Get out in nature and allow your skin (integumentary system) and eyes and ears (the sensory system, a subsection of the nervous system) to soak up environmental signals. This changes our perception of our world, countering the “take-charge and get ’er done” mode.
Do something creative to give your brain some “brain candy.” Let your brain enter a pleasant flow state, which allows you to unwind and recharge. Your immune system will calm down, and so will your gut and muscles—all systems will let go of the urgency, allowing them to recharge.
You deserve a break today, and so do your physiological systems. If you think about all they do for you, you will do more for them.
Test this approach out, give it a try, and tell me how it changes what you do in the comments!
Have a great week, health heroes. 💪🏼
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