Suicide, stress and chiropractic.....is there a connection?
Over 20 years ago now I lost a dear friend to suicide. When I got the call letting me know about what happened I was shocked to say the least. Doug was such a loving soul, he genuinely cared for others and was full of creativity and life.
I saw him just a week before he took his life and I had a nagging feeling that something wasn’t right. He seemed nervous and on edge, not qualities that were common for him. I considered asking him what was going on but I worried that I may embarrass him in front of our friends asking such a personal and what seemed to be off the wall question; a decision that I consider to be my only life regret.
The reason I share this is because lately this seems to be happening more often in the public forum. For my own mental health, I stopped watching the news a few years back, but I still get glimpses when I log onto my computer or check my email. It seems a week doesn’t go by where there is a headline about some up and coming tiktok celebrity, a former child star, a talented DJ taking their life, often to the shock and surprise to those who love them.
You may be asking, what does this have to do with chiropractic and that is a fair question. On one hand absolutely nothing and on the other hand absolutely everything.
You may have heard of Dr Stephen Porges. He is a psychologist, neuroscientist and the author of the polyvagal theory. Polyvagal theory describes how the human nervous system has evolved allowing us to turn off our response to threat and in doing this move our nervous system into a state of safety.
He states that a nervous system that is chronically in a state of stress leads to a loss of resiliency and causes a person to stay in a state of defense and protection. Over time this can impact health leading to chronic disease including but not limited to heart disease, digestive issues, fibromyalgia and other mental health disorders.
This chronic state of defense and protection also impacts how we interact with others and how well we can co-regulate with others, in simpler terms how well we are able to soothe and be soothed by those we love, trust and feel safe with.
Our nervous system is what interprets the world in and around us through receptors located throughout our body; these receptors detect temperature, pain, our position in space and much more. It is through this sensory system that our nervous system is able to determine if we are safe or in danger. A sense of safety is what facilitates health, growth and restoration while a sense of danger puts us in a state of protection and defense, a state where healing and restoration can not occur.
The polyvagal theory focuses primarily on how talk therapy can help to impact the nervous system in a way that dampens this stress response, increases feelings of safety and moves us back towards health; what is referred to as a top down approach.
Since its inception, chiropractic care has been shown to impact the nervous system. Polyvagal gives a clearer picture how it does this in what can be referred to as a bottom up approach, in other words working from within.
Our vagus nerve, the subject of the polyvagal theory, is what is responsible for bringing 80% of the sensory information from in and around our body back to our brain for processing. It then relays information from the brain to almost every organ of our body; it’s a pretty big deal. It is the tone of our vagus nerve that determines our capacity to heal and it is affected by feelings/interpretations of feeling safe of threatened. Low tone keeps us in a state of protection and defense where high tone allows us to be more resilient and in a state of growth and restoration.
Chiropractic adjustments impact the vagus nerve as well as restore proper movement of your spine. This is vitally important as your spine is loaded with receptors that provide information to your brain about the world around you.
As we improve the movement of the bones of the spine new information is sent to the brain via the nervous system which increases vagal tone and creates a sense of ease in our body. When people first get under care this sense of ease can be short-lived. This has everything to do not only with the stresses and storms of life we all have but to a larger degree, how we have been programmed to deal with these stresses and storms. This is why it is typical that your chiropractor recommends more frequent care when you first start getting adjusted, this allows your body to work through old habits and patterns like posture, muscle imbalance and stress responses.
When describing chiropractic care DD Palmer, the inventor of chiropractic stated, “[chiropractic] will lessen disease, poverty and crime, empty our jails, penitentiaries and insane asylums…”. This quote is a excerpt from The Chiropractor written by DD Palmer in 1914; he was clearly a man of wisdom and vision.
I can’t say definitively what is causing so many people in recent years to take their own life. I can say that the world we live in has changed so much during just my short time on this planet. Stress is all around us, it comes in forms like a global pandemic, the rising cost of living, or social media debates just to name a few.
While chiropractic care doesn’t claim to cure anything it can help to better equip your nervous system to better deal with the stresses and storms of life and help you to live your healthiest life possible!
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