Sick Season + the Vagus Nerve
The fall season is upon us and for some families that time is filled with football, apple orchards, and enjoying the last warm days of the year, but some of these families recognize this time as a period filled with stuffy noses, coughs, and sore throats. The constant struggle of missing school, canceling playdates, and recurrent trips to the pediatrician for antibiotics can be hard for any family.
There are a variety of things we can pinpoint to help parents understand why the fall and winter seasons seem to bring on more sickness. For instance, we have less fresh air and vitamin D, more sweets (hello Halloween candy and Christmas cookies!), and added stress from social activities such as school and traveling for the holidays. Yet all of these things are usually just the straw that broke the camels back. At the core of it all, is a dysregulated nervous system.
Our nervous system controls and coordinates every single cell, tissue, organ, and muscle in our bodies. We have two sides of our nervous system that are each very important, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic portion is designed to help us react to high stress moments - think fight or flight. If a bear were to walk into your room right now, the sympathetic nervous system gives you the best chance to survive this encounter with the bear. Once the moment is over, our body should be able to come back to a neutral state. On the other hand is the parasympathetic nervous system. This side is our rest, digest, and healing side! We operate best when these two sides work in tandem and neither one gets stuck on!
If we have stress stuck in our nervous system, we are going to shift into a state of sympathetic dominance. This is going to result in a down regulation of our parasympathetic nervous system. Think of this analogy - when you are driving a car, you are unable to press the gas and brake at the same time, and have an efficient response from your car. In sympathetic dominance, think of the gas pedal constantly being pressed. This sympathetic upregulation decreases the immune response and our ability to adapt to the increased stressors of the fall and winter months.
The Vagus Nerve, also known as the wandering nerve, is going to play a massive role in counteracting this sympathetic dominance. The Vagus Nerve exits the brainstem and travels throughout our body relaying parasympathetic function to the body.
So how do we make sure that the Vagus Nerve is operating efficiently? As nervous system focused chiropractors, we use INSIGHT scans in our office to help measure where stress is within the neuro-spinal system of both kids and adults! This allows us to know the best way to care for you or your child. Through specific and gentle adjustments, the nervous system is able to balance and bring adaptability to the increased stress during the coming months. The result? Healthy and thriving families!
