Monday, October 14, 2013

The Autonomic Systems: Friends or Foes?

How does our organism integrate within itself and with its environment?  What role does the autonomic nervous system play in that regard?  Let us briefly explore those questions.

As Dr. Ray Peat describes in his article Autonomic Systems, the autonomic nerves extend from the brain, through the spine, into all the diverse organs and tissues.  The two branches, sympathetic (flight or flight) and parasympathetic (vegetative), can be seen as having opposing actions on the respective organs and tissues.  The sympathetic intensifies energy expenditure while the parasympathetic limits energy expenditure.  These are, in turn, regulated by the cortex of the brain, according to the overall needs of the organism.

The ultimate function of these systems, as described by Dr. Peat, is for the integration and optimization of energy throughout the organism.  When energy is adequate, the activity of these systems is minimal.  When energy is inadequate, the cortex of the brain adjusts their activity in order to stabilize energy in the respective organ or tissue.  The primary mechanism for the influence of the autonomic systems is the various transmitters, including histamine, acetylcholine, serotonin, and adrenalin, all of which can impose further stress on the organism if their activity is excessive.  Thus, the importance of supporting optimal cell, tissue, and organ energy so as to minimize the activity of the autonomic systems.

Also of relevance here is the observation that an environment that provides choices and allows for meaningful and complex interactions minimizes the toxic effects of over activity of the parasympathetic (energy sparing) system.  In other words, when choices are limited, energy expenditure is reduced, and energy production is inhibited, having systemic and long-term ramifications.

References

Autonomic Systems - Ray Peat's Newsletter, 2006
The Dark Side of Stress - Ray Peat's Newsletter, 2013

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Organisms as Patterns in Time

The following is my own response to a wonderful blog post at pranarupa.

Imagine that there are fields in the body regulating metabolism, structure, healing, and regeneration.  These fields would facilitate coherence of the entire body, that is, a holistic way of regulation via a bird's-eye view of what's happening and what needs to be adjusted to effect balance and harmony.  These fields, also called "morphogenetic" fields, would provide a pattern or guiding principle for the formation of structures, from cellular to organic to the entire shape of the body, and, the structures would interact with energy to effect function.  Here, the old adage, "structure meets function" applies, in that the quantity and quality of the energy determines the nature of the structure.

That being the case, what would be the thing that generates, organizes, and energizes these fields?  Consciousness, or, sensitive and dynamic interaction with Life, would seem to be the impetus or the means by which these fields are manifested.  "An organism is a pattern unfolding in time, oriented by consciousness".

Here, then, the importance of the nervous system becomes apparent.  The nerve supply to tissue can be viewed as the means by which consciousness is extended throughout the body, or, at least the primary way in which that happens.  As biological research has shown, to the degree that the nerve supply is compromised, there is a corresponding lack of structure, energetic coherence, regeneration, and proper differentiation of tissue (The Body Electric by Robert O. Becker).

How, then, to promote the healthy formation and function of these morphogenetic fields?  Anything that promotes coherent development of the nervous system would likely be of benefit.  As Phil at pranarupa describes, meditation can effect coherent nervous system development by promoting "inhabitation" of the nervous system.  Carbon dioxide retention is also emphasized, via reduced breathing techniques such as yoga, for example.  Carbon dioxide facilitates the efficient use of oxygen with favorable effects on metabolism, benefiting the entire organism.

Monday, July 29, 2013

A Holistic View of Carbon Dioxide Physiology

Is it at all important to understand the real role of CO2 in the human body?  Read on!

The common idea of the role of carbon dioxide in human physiology is that of a "waste gas".  That is, it is commonly thought of as solely a useless byproduct of metabolism and something that the body must continuously eliminate.  As Dr. Ray Peat illuminates, however, CO2 is actually a most important regulator and facilitator of oxygen usage at the cell and tissue level.

In Altitude & Mortality, he explains that "Carbon dioxide, produced in the cells, releases oxygen into the tissues, relaxes blood vessels, prevents edema, eliminates ammonia, and increases the efficiency of oxidative metabolism."  In effect, it opposes all the harmful consequences of increased lactic acid.

He notes that increased lactic acid contributes to many, and varied, chronic degenerative diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and cataracts.  This notion fits nicely with a holistic view of physiology in that anything, including lactic acid, that interferes with normal oxidative metabolism, whereby glucose is oxidized to produce CO2, interferes with efficient energy production leading to "stress physiology" via the many compensatory mechanisms available to temporarily fill an energy deficit.  These adaptive mechanisms all function at a tremendous cost to the resilience of the organism as a whole, ultimately depleting energy and leading to a chronic inflammatory state.

So, what causes increased lactic acid production?  According to Dr. Peat, hypothyroidism, or decreased thyroid function, is the primary cause of elevated lactate, via low blood sugar, high adrenaline, and finally hyper-ventilation, which further depletes CO2 in a vicious cycle.  In this context, decreased thyroid function potentially includes both the thyroid gland itself, as well as the thyroid hormone.

References

Altitude & Mortality - Ray Peat

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Wound Healing and Regeneration

Wound healing is actually a very appropriate example of the regenerative process of the body.  A properly healed wound has lost little or none of the structure or function of the original tissue before it was damaged.  Unfortunately, with aging, as tissue damage occurs, there is a tendency toward more and more inflammation and scarring resulting in a loss of structure and function of the respective tissue.

The good news is that the ultimate determining or limiting factor in healing and regeneration appears to be primarily environmental, not genetic.  Environmental factors such as temperature and nutrition play a particularly important role in that regard.  The types of fats we eat, for example, have a profound effect on the types of signaling factors produced during wound repair.  Certain fats, such as specific polyunsaturated fatty acids, promote the production of inflammatory signaling factors, inhibiting the normal regenerative process.  These fats can also directly harm certain immune cells called macrophages that are necessary in the regeneration of tissue.

Thyroid hormone is another endogenous factor that plays a key role in regeneration, the production and function of which is profoundly influenced by the environment, including light exposure and nutrition.  Carbon dioxide and the youth associated hormones are yet other important factors in healing and regeneration, similarly influenced by the environment of the cell, tissue, and organism.

References

 Regeneration and degeneration:  Types of inflammation change with aging - Ray Peat

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Nightmares

I was intrigued to learn, from Dr. Ray Peat, that nightmares are triggered by nerve stress caused by falling blood sugar levels.  Basically, if the liver function is not optimal, blood sugar will tend to drop during sleep as a result of not eating.  As Dr. Peat describes it, when the blood sugar drops, it's like suffocation to the nerves.  When that happens, the stress hormones, including cortisol, are released in order to increase the glucose level, which is not ideal, as that creates stress in and of itself.  The nerves become desperate, in a sense, and so create experiences that will wake you up, whether a nightmare or perhaps thoughts or aromas of food.  Either way, you wake up with hunger or a desire to take in nourishment, and the body gets what it needs. 

Another fine example of how the body functions as a coherent whole in order to adapt to some form of stress.  Low blood sugar may be the most frequent cause of physiological stress for the average person.  That being said, I find it helpful to have some juice before bed in order to stave off low blood sugar during the night.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

The Vision of the Self Heal Centre Blog

With this, my very first blog, I'd like to share the vision and scope I see for the discussions herein.  I will be discussing all things Holistic, especially as it relates to how the human body functions, and, in particular, how it naturally heals itself.  This, in the context of environmental influences on that healing process, and how to promote and optimize the influences that support that process while minimizing those that detract from it.  This inquiry, in my experience, affords the opportunity to witness and encourage the magnificent resilience of body, and the innate drive it has to heal and be well.

To that end, let us take a look at the term Holism.  In a nutshell, the term describes a viewpoint that considers that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  For example, a Holistic view of the human body sees the body not as a linear summation of many different parts that work more or less in isolation of one another, but rather a coherent, purposive, cooperative, intelligent whole, wherein every part functions with the consciousness or awareness of the whole in mind.  I find this viewpoint to be absolutely necessary if one is to begin to make sense of how the human body actually heals itself.

May this mark the beginning of many interesting, timely, pertinent, relevant, imaginative, and practical discussions of all things related to the Holism of Self Healing.

Thank you for reading.

Bat Man

Bat Man is the title of an article in this month's National Geographic magazine.  I can't think of a better example of the Holism of the human body.  The article describes the extraordinary sensory abilities of Daniel Kish, a 47 year old man whose eyes were removed when he was 13 months old.  He is nonetheless able to "see" well enough to ride a bike, via "echolocation", using his tongue to create sound waves, the echoes of which are processed by his brain into dynamic images!  "It's like having a conversation with the environment" he said.

Talk about a "team effort"!  His other senses have clearly "picked up the slack", especially the sound faculties, in order to compensate for the lack of "visual" input.  And yet, a visual image is in fact generated in his conscious awareness!  Amazing!  He sums it up nicely:  "Vision isn't in the eyes; it's in the mind".  And, he teaches other blind people to do it too!  Wonderful and inspiring!