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💾 Combat stress by hacking your nervous system

💾 Combat stress by hacking your nervous system

Plus: should you be taking melatonin if you can't sleep?

MedMind
July 06, 2024

This is MedMind. The newsletter for science backed tips to optimise your diet, sleep and exercise.

In this edition, we cover:

🫁 How you can use breathing to hack your nervous system and control your stress levels

🛑 When is it too late to exercise?

😴 Should you be taking melatonin supplements?

“The one constant throughout your life is your breath”

Jay Shetty

Control your breath, control your stress

You might be familiar with the term “fight or flight response,” the stress reaction in which your heart races, your gut wrenches, and your palms sweat.

This response has a counterpart—the “rest and digest" system. Your heart rate slows down, your stomach starts digesting food, and your stress levels drop. The parasympathetic nervous system and the vagus nerve (the largest of your cranial nerves) control this response.

The way in which these responses are talked about implies that you have no control over them. That they are merely a response to external stimuli. This could not be further from the truth.

In the same way that you can stress yourself out by thinking about that embarrassing moment from your childhood, you can activate your parasympathetic nervous system to relax.

How to breathe

There are many different breathing techniques that will stimulate your vagus nerve.

The principle they all follow is the same.

Breathe deeper —> Exhale longer—> INCREASE the CO₂ in your blood —> slow your heart rate —> activate the vagus nerve.

Breathing deeper and exhaling longer can do several things. Deep breaths allow time for your lungs to extract oxygen, while longer exhales increase the CO₂levels in your blood. This activates your vagus nerve and dilates your blood vessels, letting more oxygen flow to your brain.

Deep breathing also activates muscles in your body (the diaphragm) directly connected to the vagus nerve.

Below is a technique called “box breathing” for vagus nerve stimulations ⬇️

The box breathing method

Another simple technique is the “4-7” method:

Breathe in for 4 seconds

Breathe out for 7 seconds.

That’s it.

It might take anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes to feel the full effects.

If your heart was racing, you should be able to feel it beating slower. If your mind was racing, you should have some more clarity.

So next time you are stressed or can’t sleep, try one of the breathing techniques to activate your “rest and digest” response yourself!

BTW: You can activate your vagus nerve in other ways, such as splashing cold water at the back of your neck or even smiling! (the muscles in your face are also innervated by the vagus nerve).

Working out at night: should you do it?

For many, the only viable times to work out are before or after work. This usually results in workouts at either stupidly early hours or when it is stupidly busy at the gym. As a result, you might find yourself at the gym at 9 or 10 PM, when it is usually quieter. But are there any drawbacks to working out that late?

In short- probably. Vigorous exercise raises your body temperature and increases adrenaline in your bloodstream. Both make it harder for you to fall asleep and can, therefore, harm recovery. You might also be less likely to stick with a later workout hour: you might go for a workout “later”, but that later never comes.

That being said, if you can limit the intensity of your exercise and stick to a later routine, night workouts might not be that bad. You still get all the benefits of a good workout and destress after long days. As long as you are still sleeping well and allowing your body to recover, there is no need to worry about what time you exercise.

What is up with Melatonin supplements?

If you suffer from insomnia, you may have taken melatonin supplements in the past. Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone in your body that allows you to fall asleep. It is stimulated and suppressed by many factors, some of which are discussed in this article.

Supplements add to your natural melatonin levels to help you fall asleep faster. They are generally safe to use in the short term with the possibility of small side effects like headache and nausea.

However, you should take melatonin for no more than 13 weeks as you risk disrupting your natural melatonin production.

Plus, if you are suffering from insomnia, it is better to address the underlying cause rather than solely relying on melatonin. The long-term side effects of using melatonin have not been studied yet, but there has been a recent push in the US to regulate it more carefully, as scientists are realising the potential harm in extended use.

So in summary:

You can use specific breathing methods to activate your “rest and digest” response
Be mindful of working out too late into the night
Melatonin can be useful, but not in the long term. Try and address the underlying problem instead.

MedMind Weekly Wellness Challenge

Try to do the box breathing method 3 times a day for the next week when you feel a little stressed. Note how it makes you feel before and after.

As always, leave any questions you have in the comments and make sure to check your inbox for the next issue!

All the best,

Jan