You Could be Holding on to Excess Fat if your Nervous System is out of Balance

In my practice, I often hear how healthy a diet a person is following, but they're not losing weight. While eating a healthy diet is certainly essential, the reason the person is not losing weight could be because their autonomic nervous system is not balanced.

The autonomic nervous system essentially is an involuntary internal control system that affects heart rate, digestion, respiration rate, salivation, perspiration, diameter of the pupils, micturition (urination), and sexual arousal. There are two main parts to it:

the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) or “rest and digest”
and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) or “fight or flight.”

Most of the time, we are on overdrive, which is means the SNS is working overtime. That means that we don’t give our systems a break to digest food and then we end up holding on to fat.

Our bodies don’t distinguish if we’re feeling stressed because we’re being chased by a tiger or because we’re unable to pay a bill. In both cases, the SNS is at play.

This is why it is so important to make some attempt to relax after a meal. The Spanish had it right with their “siesta.” I completely understand how difficult this is in our society, but I highly encourage you to take a moment during the day to relax, or at least breathe. That’s a start.