Rest, Relaxation & Recovery: How to relax, why you can’t, and what’s getting in your way
When it comes to working out, we tend to believe more is better. Want to lose weight? Got to the gym more. Want to get bigger muscles? Lift heavier and more often. Want to run faster or longer distances? Spend more time training.
Now of course, the more you do something, the better you’ll be at it. There’s no doubt about that. The more you expose yourself to the stressors that are limiting you from your goal, the more resilient you will be to them, and given enough time, those limitations won’t be a challenge anymore.
This is all good and well, but at the end of the day, if you’ve set your goal as top priority OVER maintaining the ability to achieve that goal over time, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Let me explain:
Your body fluctuates between stress and relaxation, or more accurately, between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Understanding how to shift your mind and body between the two is crucial for overall health, regeneration, longevity and well being. If you are unable to recover from a big stressful event, or yo avoid stress at all costs, both will lead to a sub-optimal lifestyle and further your degeneration.
If you want to live the best life you can, learning how to enter stressful situations with calm focus, followed by rapid recover to move on from the experience is key for longevity. Unfortunately, many people today find it extremely difficult switching from a sense of fear to a sense of peace, and this lack of flexibility limits our potential for living an optimal and satisfying life. People don’t have the ability to enter states of non sleep deep rest, which is a relaxed and regenerative state of calm while awake. For this reason, we tend to be overly stressed, and as a result, think adding more to their plate will somehow magically turn off all the things that are stressing us out! The way out of this district I’ve loop is by understanding how to enter these states of parasympathetic relaxation and why you need to make sure you know how to relax.
The Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous Systems
First and foremost, let’s’ understand the basic roles of these two nervous systems and how they interact with one another.
The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS)
The sympathetic nervous system is a branch of the autonomic nervous system responsible for the body's rapid, involuntary response to dangerous or stressful situations, commonly known as the "fight or flight" response. It prepares the body to face or escape threats by increasing heart rate, redirecting blood flow to muscles, and releasing stored energy. This system can be activated by physical or psychological stressors, such as exercise, a big presentation, an argument with a spouse, a challenging work assignment, or walking in the woods.
Originally, the sympathetic nervous system evolved to support physical activity in response to immediate dangers, like escaping predators or hunting. Once a person escapes a physical threat, the sympathetic activation decreases, and the parasympathetic system takes over. This allows the liver to metabolize stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine, helping the mind and body relax.
In modern times, the sympathetic nervous system is often triggered by non-physical stressors, such as psychological stress and environmental toxins. Stressful situations at work, relationship issues, or even traffic jams can activate the system, releasing stress hormones meant for physical activity. Without a physical outlet, these hormones accumulate in the body. Environmental stressors, like electromagnetic fields, unhealthy food, water toxins, and pollution, also activate the sympathetic nervous system. Continuous exposure to low-grade stressors prevents the body from achieving states of deep rest or deep sleep.
The Parasympathetic Nervous System
The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is often referred to as the "rest and digest" mechanism. When activated, it releases neurotransmitters like acetylcholine, which lower heart rate, aid digestion, and relax muscles. A well-functioning PNS is essential for maintaining calm, equanimity, and facilitating recovery. Overactivation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) hinders the PNS and is linked to chronic diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, insomnia, metabolic syndrome, depression, and anxiety disorders.
Chronic stress results from SNS overactivation, while the PNS helps counteract stress by promoting relaxation and recovery. This reduces the risk of health issues like anxiety, depression, heart disease, and sleep disorders and supports healing, longevity, and anti-aging.
People often try to activate the PNS with practices like breathwork, meditation, yoga, or massages. While these may offer some benefits, they often fail to address the root causes of SNS overactivation. At GT, we emphasize solving the underlying causes rather than just treating symptoms. For instance, exercise releases endorphins, which temporarily reduce stress and improve well-being, acting as natural painkillers. Although exercise is vital for health, it shouldn't be used to mask negative emotions or pressing issues. Many use practices like meditation and yoga to superficially feel better, subconsciously coping with problems rather than solving them. This is why, at GT, we often say exercise is the most abused anxiety drug on the planet.
so, how can you actually enter states of non sleep deep rest without depending on exogenous substances or outside factors?
Optimize Your Environment
- Optimize your nutrition, sleep and light environment, eliminating environmental toxins, maintaining healthy relationships, and getting into nature.
- Giving your body what it needs to thrive will allow it to rest and exit the sympathetic state, knowing that it is safe and no longer under attack
Address Root Causes
- whether psychological or physical, managing and eventually eliminating chronic stress requires resolving the underlying factor causing the stress
- Once you address and eliminate underlying root causes, your body will stop sending stress signals, allowing your parasympathetic nervous system to turn on.
How your body can get in the way
If your body has many movement imbalances and muscular asymmetries, it will be much more difficult for you to relax. Muscle imbalances cause certain muscle groups to hold onto tension even when they’re not under stress. While massages can offer temporary relief, the only lasting solution is to address your movement dysfunctions. Correcting these dysfunctions will help balance your structure, allowing your muscles to relax and activating the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). Shifting effectively between the sympathetic and parasympathetic states is essential. However, if your muscles are unable to release tension due to imbalances, you won't be able to truly relax, no matter how much you meditate or how calm you are mentally. For the PNS to activate, your muscles need to relax. If postural asymmetries prevent muscle relaxation, your body perceives a constant threat, keeping you in a fight-or-flight state.
At Gravity Trained, we believe that creating balance within your body is one of the most crucial aspects of triggering a parasympathetic state.
Conclusion
A well-functioning autonomic nervous system allows for healthy activation of the stress response, followed by a smooth transition into a parasympathetic state. When your body has the resources it needs, your mind responds to stress with equanimity, and your body remains in a state of relative peace, you won't need techniques like breathwork or massages to trigger relaxation and enter non-sleep deep rest. Instead, your body will naturally shift from a sympathetic to a parasympathetic response with minimal effort.