By Page H. Gifford
Correspondent
Cynthia Moore presented another wellness program for people in the community on Jan. 18 as part of the Hygeia Wellness series. The speaker was Anna Delong, a psychotherapist with expertise in neuropsychotherapy, mindfulness, and research-based strategies to promote resilience and overall well-being.
“The human autonomic nervous system has two branches: the sympathetic, which helps you manage stress, and the parasympathetic, which helps you recover and restore,” she said. She explained that the Stress Branch (sympathetic) of our nervous systems is intended to be short-term and intermittent while the Restore Branch (parasympathetic), ideally, is the branch most often engaged in inner turmoil. “It is very common to be stuck with the stress branch of your nervous in the on mode and this is linked to an increase in anxiety, depression, and insomnia.” She added that it also affects other systems, including the immune and digestive systems.
“Primitive man’s stress benefited him, alerting him and protecting him from real danger, such as a tiger. Nowadays, we spend our time, fighting paper tigers.” She calls this constant state of high-alert Autonomic Nervous System Deregulation and it often leads to chronic disease.
Most of those in attendance were aware of these issues and were trying to address their insomnia, stress, and anxiety and some found ways to do it but most stated they could always use more information in their toolbox.
She stated there are many effective strategies to help you reset your nervous system to rest, restore, and recover. Those who attended participated in a breathing exercise, trying a variety of suggested poses to relax the body and mind.
After trying two different poses, whether it was a gravity chair or their feet up on a chair with limbs relaxed and outstretched, they appeared looser and less tense. Having a quiet environment and space to relax with slow breathing techniques was one way for anyone to take time out during the day to recover from the challenges of life.
