Читать книгу The Human Race – Too Smart to Survive онлайн

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Since the individual nerve roots from the spinal column have more or less the same path and the same target organ in all people, it is easy to assign specific misalignments to a symptomatology and to treat accordingly.

The anatomy and function of our “autonomic nervous system” is crucial to understanding the underlying cause of a disease. The autonomic nervous system can be thought of as a living battery within us that controls metabolism, energy levels, our need and quality of sleep, and the distribution of blood flow. It can be fully charged or it can be almost empty. Stress and recovery depend on a balance of its two counterparts: the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system is our stress system and is essential for survival in threatening situations. Typical “sympathetic” reactions are: increase in heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, fatty acids and blood sugar, decrease in thyroid activity, digestion and sleep as well as an increase of the tone of the small vertebral muscles. These are all natural reactions to a stressful situation, whereby the body does not differentiate between emotional, chemical or physical stress. It always responds first with an increase in sympathetic activity, which is of significance in this context. Normally, the acute stressful situation should eventually subside, and the response should cease accordingly. However, if the stress becomes chronic, this can become a problem. The situation of increased blood pressure, increased cholesterol, low thyroid levels, poor digestion and limited quality of sleep affects many people. Often a doctor prescribes a blood pressure medication, cholesterol-lowering drugs, thyroid hormones, laxatives and sleeping pills. But even without having studied medicine, one will now understand that the cause of the changes has not been treated or even investigated. This is because the various forms of stress continue to be present and do not diminish on their own over time.