Homeostasis

We live in a world that is constantly creating stress on our bodies. The stress that we endure everyday adds up and can take a toll on who we are. Our bodies are highly adaptive, able to take on the world seamlessly at times. Other times though, we get thrown out of balance. Our physical bodies start to break down, causing sickness and disease. Our mental health starts to fail and it seems like we are not able to feel good again. I recently realised that it is balance in the body that allows for optimal health. True Balance which is known as ‘Homeostatsis’.

Homeostasis itself is a testament to optimal health drawn from equilibrium. When we are balanced, we are happy and healthy. The body works and then is allowed rest to perform at its highest level. Let’s say you go to work and you have a super stressful day, you go gym (exerting more pressure) come home and turn on the TV, eat, play with your phone then go to bed ready to do it all over again. But how much time did you actually take to check in on yourself and the body?

If you consistently keep performing without rest, you can throw yourself out of balance. These imbalances can add up over time, and with that imbalance can come sickness. The human body is designed to flush out the imbalances. Generally this is done by overcompensating to stabilise the imbalance and through evolutionary adaptation. I.e. “develop it’s own antidote” for external foreign bodies like antigens or allergens for new diseases. This is on a level of physical health. Mental health is also all about balance. Our bodies need to actively create time to rest & restore but often in our current lives we do not allow for this to happen.

We only get sick if the rate of proliferation is increasing faster than the body can develop to stabilise back to equilibrium. More so when it is fighting or being introduced to multiple ailments at once. I believe this is because the body is already overcompensating, to counter one or a few issues causing an imbalance, and if the initial imbalance isn’t stabilising fast enough, new barriers to entry open for other illnesses to multiply in the body.

In terms of creating a healthy body & mind. We need to achieve balance in the body. Through energy practices such as meditation, life practices such as actively creating time to better ourselves (reading or going to the gym for eg.). The reason meditation works on a scientific level is because we allow our Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) to come back into balance. The ANS has 2 parts, the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) & the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS). Each of these carries specific functions within our body which activate things such as Fight or Flight (SNS) & relaxation and repair (PNS). When we actively work on Homeostasis in the body, we allow the entire Nervous System to become whole and in total order.

The mind is the way we can go ahead and control all of this. Like a clouded mind encourages poor decisions in the external world, so too will it’s ability to regulate and overcome ailments in the inner world. Be very careful of the every day stress responses that control your life. Be mindful to take a deep breathe and slow down for a few minutes. Close your eyes and just check in on yourself. Create an actively slow and coherent rhythm with your breathing. Even 5 minutes a day of this can have amazing results

I will go into more detail about the Autonomic Nervous System in another article. I like to give enough information for people to digest, but not enough to have you not make sense of it. So just remember, balance in all areas is important in life.

A special thanks to my friend Daniel Attard who inspired me to write this article through our discussions. Our chat was originally centred around Bruce Lee and his teachings as Daniel follows him closely. I’d urge people to look into the teachings of Bruce Lee to understand how he got so much out of his body & mind.