Your Tongue and Stress Relief

The brain controls everything we do; all our thoughts and actions begin in the brain.  The brain's response to stressful times, like we've been living since Covid, is a tensed, forward-flexed posture with hormones of the sympathetic nervous system running rampant.  Prolonged exposure to cortisol and adrenaline has a detrimental effect your brain, body and bodily functions.  The longer we're in this fight/flight mode, the worse effects on our nervous system.

We need to calm down however that is often easier said than done. To counterbalance the sympathetic nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system which is our "rest and digest hormone system" needs to be consciously activated.   There are simple ways to activate areas of the brainstem that activate this calming, necessary balance in our life.

The vagus nerve is the focus for calming the brain and body down.  I wrote a blog about humming as a way to activate the vagus nerve and calm the nervous system down.  There are breathing drills to stimulate this system and here is one of my favorite ways to activate areas of the brain to calm you down.

The tongue is powerful connection to the brain.  Where you place your tongue can have a significant impact on your balance and tension level.  Swallowing activates nerves surrounding the vagus nerve and because neurons that wire together fire together,  swallowing activates the vagus nerve.

Another benefit of swallowing is the activation of the insular cortex.  This is the fifth lobe of the brain and is involved in emotional connections to physical body, aka how you 'feel' in your own body. Times of stress can leave you feeling 'disconnected' from your body, from your life.  This is when you need to activate your insular cortex.

Swallow.  Trust me.
Smiling activates the nerve next door to your balance nerve.  Smiling can improve your balance which is probably needing some activation as well.

If you want to know more about the insular cortex and the power of smiling, my book will be ready soon!

Follow along with me!  Cheesy grain and swallow.
Be safe.  Stay engaged.

Yes, I want to read your book, ABCs of Balance!

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Power of the tongue and stability!

We know the power of the tongue.   Neuro-anatomically, the tongue is loaded with with both motor and sensory components.  The fantastical-ness of the tongue is that sensory and motor activation stimulate both the pons and medulla of the brainstem.   Wowww-za!!!!

What this means in everyday terms is that tongue drills can increase stability.  The best way to improve midline stability is to put your tongue in the SPOT.    Studies indicate that a person is 30% stronger when the tongue is in it's anatomical spot.

As you know by know, I don't share any of my training techniques in this blog. My training techniques are not free.  However this one's on me.  The "SPOT" is the follow: 

1.  Place tip of tongue behind front teeth  

2.  Press tongue up into the roof of your mouth

That's it.  

Keep tongue laying pressed up on roof of the mouth.  Tip of tongue is not touching teeth but almost.     

In simple English, the tongue is a powerful brain activation tool.  Because the brain needs activation to be healthy,  tongue drills are a fantastic way to stimulate important parts of the brain for better movement through life.