5 Questions
What is interoception?
An emotional awareness of your physical body
What is the ratio of proprioceptive nerve endings to interoceptive nerve endings?
7:1
What is abdominal massage believed to do?
Relax the nervous system and help to support gut health
What is the main function of the abdominal organs?
To maintain a healthy gut environment
What is the fight-or-flight response?
A response to danger that prepares us to either fight or flee
Study Notes
- The gut and brain are intimately connected, with stored emotions, stress, and lethargy in the gut constantly sending signals to influence our perceptions and feelings throughout our day.
- Gut health is critical for our health and system health, and abdominal massage has several benefits to help support gut health.
- Abdominal massage has the ability to relax the nervous system and help to support gut health.
- Abdominal massage encourages the lodging free and movement of undigested foods from the walls of the gut.
- Through touch and pressure, massage stimulates the organs and increases blood and lymphatic flow to all the tissues of the abdomen.
- Toxins are pushed out and the abdominal organs and muscles are flooded with fresh blood flow and vital nutrients, returning vibrancy to the organs and increasing their ability to perform their function of removing waste and maintaining a healthy gut environment.
- Abdominal fascia and muscles commonly store stress, emotions, and tension just as one commonly feels held stress and tension in their shoulders.
- In our modern day, a constant flow of stressors engages our flight-or-fight response dozens of times a day.
- With each fight or flight activation, there is an inhibition of activity and blood flow to the abdominal organs in order to put energy and blood towards your muscles and lungs.
- Also, noteworthy, the more stress we experienced as kids growing up in perhaps hectic or non-nurturing homes, the more we learned to develop patterns of tension in our abdominal organs.
- Mindful, strategic touch can release sensitive emotions from the gut tissues restoring their vitality and performance.
- FACIA AND INTEROCEPTION
- Chances are you’ve heard of proprioception, which is your awareness of where your body is in space.
- For instance, close your eyes and touch your nose with your index fingers, one at a time. Your ability to find your nose is an example of proprioception.
- You have proprioceptors all over your body. The ones in the bottom of your feet let your body know what type of surface you’re walking on, whether it’s a smooth, even surface, or a bumpy and uneven surface.
- Proprioception is critical when it comes to helping us move about in the world!
- And while proprioception is more familiar to us and widely known, recent fascia research has brought to light another important sensory system, called interoception, that was first discovered in the early nineteenth century.
- Interoception is a physiological sensory system that involves your overall sense of self and well-being; kind of like an emotional awareness of your physical body.
- The sensory receptors for interoception, called interoceptors, are free nerve endings mostly located in the fascial tissue.
- For every proprioceptive nerve ending, you have seven interoceptive nerve endings.
- With a ratio like that, it’s easy to see why interoception is rapidly getting a lot more attention as research advances!
- It has also been discovered that interoception is processed in a completely different part of the brain than proprioception.
- Interoceptive sensations include: Warmth/coolness, feeling movement, pain, tick
Explore the connection between abdominal massage and gut health, and how it can help relax the nervous system, stimulate organs, and improve blood and lymphatic flow to support a healthy gut environment. Learn about the impact of stress on abdominal organs and the benefits of releasing stored emotions through mindful touch.
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