Parasympathetic for Digestion

How you eat might be more important than what you eat.

In order to digest, absorb and assimilate your nutrients, your body needs to be in the healing Parasympathetic state of nervous system function.  It is only in this state where the optimal digestive cascade can occur.  

Attempting to digest nourishing food under stress in the Sympathetic state will only lead to impaired digestion that will contribute to inflammation.  For example, undigested proteins can trigger an immune response, contributing to gut inflammation and diminishing your health, while properly digested, absorbed and assimilated nutrients provide the building blocks to nurture and support health.

Vagus Nerve Signals Digestion

Digestion begins in your brain.  Signals from your brain, sent via your vagus nerve, turn on your digestive function and route blood flow to your organs of digestion.

In order to properly assimilate nutrients, you need to eat in the parasympathetic “Rest, Digest and Heal” state.  Stimulating your vagus nerve with Parasympathetic® oil triggers your parasympathetic response, which turns on your digestive process:

Stimulates Secretion of Saliva: Your vagus nerve innervates the salivary glands of the mouth and stimulate the release of salivary enzymes which helps to break down the food before it enters the esophagus. Saliva also protects against disease-causing organisms, such as bacteria and viruses. It contains antibodies that attack viral pathogens. Saliva contains enzymes that destroy bacteria in different ways, by degrading bacterial membranes, inhibiting the growth and metabolism of certain bacteria, and disrupting vital bacterial enzyme systems (more here).

Releases stomach acid: Your vagus nerve regulates and supports optimal production and secretion of gastric fluids, like hydrochloric acid (HCL) and pepsin from your stomach  which help break down the complex particles of the food you ingest – like protein – into simpler forms that can be absorbed in the later stages of digestion. In addition to breaking down proteins so they don’t trigger an immune response, stomach acid serves as a chemical barrier against infection, effectively killing any bacteria or viruses that have been caught in mucus in the airways or consumed in food or water.

Gastric Motility: Your stomach operates through a series of coordinated events, collectively known as gastric motility and secretion. Upon the ingestion of food, your stomach initiates mechanical and chemical processes to facilitate digestion. The walls of the stomach contain layers of smooth muscles that contract and relax in a coordinated manner, churning the food and mixing it with digestive juices. The vagus nerve stimulates the smooth muscles in the stomach wall. This stimulation is crucial for the initiation of peristaltic waves, which are rhythmic contractions and relaxations of the muscles. Peristalsis propels the partially digested food, known as chyme, toward the lower part of the stomach and eventually into the small intestine.

Stimulates Release of Digestive Enzymes: Your pancreas produces and secretes digestive enzymes into your digestive tract through a duct into your duodenum to aid in nutrient absorption and help neutralize your stomach acids.   These pancreatic enzymes work in tandem with bile from your gallbladder to help break down food for proper digestion and absorption.  Enzymes produced by your pancreas for digestion include:

• Lipase to digest fats
• Amylase to digest carbohydrates
• Chymotrypsin and Trypsin to digest proteins

In addition to helping your body break down protein, fat and carbohydrates, your pancreas can support your immune system by fighting pathogens in the intestines. Research shows that pancreatic enzymes can support your immune system and calm inflammation.

Stimulates Release of Bile: Your gallbladder stores and concentrates bile, a yellowish-green fluid that is produced in the liver.  When you eat a meal that contains fat, your gallbladder secretes bile to help emulsify the fat for digestion. New research shows that bile acids may help regulate gut immunity and inflammation.  More specifically, bile acids have been shown to exert immune-modulating effect by interacting with immune cells in the gut. “Once bile acids leave the gallbladder and complete their fat-dissolving duties, they make their way down the digestive tract where they are modified into immune-regulatory molecules by gut bacteria.”

Gut Motility and Nutrient Absorption: Gut motility – or the rhythmic contractions of your digestive system – is facilitated by your vagus nerve which orchestrates the stimulation of smooth muscle contractions in the gastrointestinal tract, facilitating the movement of ingested food by opening and closing sphincters – including the pyloric sphincter, which regulates the movement of partially digested food from the stomach into the small intestine — allowing nutrients and waste to move through the digestive system and be properly absorbed or eliminated. 

 Your vagus nerve creates a wave-like action in the small intestine to help move the food through to the large intestine, contributing to motility.  This stimulatory effect is mediated by the release of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that triggers muscle contractions vital for effective digestion.  

Any kind of compromised motility or constipation can impede absorption of key nutrients, some of which are needed to support the immune system, as well as other side effects such as inflammation and bloating.  Over time, this lack of nutrient absorption and build-up of food matter will weaken your immune system, making you more susceptible to the viruses. Constipation also affects the balance of good bacteria within your digestive system, which is crucial for the strength of your immune system producing substances that drive off or kill invading bugs and viruses.

Tight Junction Integrity: Your vagus nerve serves as a sensory conduit, relaying information about the state of the gut to the brain by monitoring the conditions inside the digestive organs. It provides the brain with essential information on the condition of the digestive tract, and the health of microbes in gut, allowing for adaptive changes to help maintain the integrity or normal permeability of gut lining.  This ensures that gut interface is tightly sealed and only nutrients get into the blood while inflammatory substances and bugs are kept out.  When the sympathetic nervous system is more active, your  gut becomes more permeable, allowing inflammatory provoking substances to enter the bloodstream.

Parasympathetic for Optimal Digestion

A poorly functioning brain does not stimulate your vagus nerve, and healthy digestion is not turned on, which contributes to inflammation and undermines healthy gut function.

When you attempt to eat under stress, in a sympathetic state, you compromise your ability to assimilate your nutrients and eliminate waste. 

The critical first step to support optimal brain function and enhance digestion is to eat in the optimal rest and digest Parasympathetic state.  You can do this by really taking time to sit down, relax, and breathe before eating.  We also recommend applying a drop of Parasympathetic® oil to the vagus nerve (behind the earlobe on the mastoid bone) before meals to trigger optimal digestion. 

When you apply it, take a few deep breaths, with the exhalation longer than the inhalation to fully relax and turn on digestion prior to meals. Read more about the benefits of activating your parasympathetic nervous system here.

Stimulating the Parasympathetic state also routes increased blood flow to the small intestine, allowing for healing of the intestinal wall and optimal enzymatic activity and nutrient assimilation.  The parasympathetic state also triggers peristalsis, the muscle contractions that move food and waste through the digestive tract, known as the “Housekeeping Wave”.  If motility is impaired, the inability to move food through the intestines leads to abnormal fermentation, intestinal bacteria, yeast overgrowth or unhealthy digestive conditions such as IBS and SIBO.

Featured Oils:

• Parasympathetic® available here 

References:

• https://www.tuggerahdoctors.com.au/single-post/2017/09/21/The-importance-of-oral-health-for-good-overall-health–healthy-smile-healthy-body
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2743019/
• https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200103141047.htm
• https://vibrantblueoils.com/parasympathetic-state/