Some people suffer from an “unsettled” mind, meaning that their minds are constantly working on overdrive. And whether they realize it, enjoy it, or feel depleted from it, an “unsettled” mind has health consequences.

Let’s discuss.

There is a vicious cycle to call out: pain leads to rapidly-paced thoughts and rapidly-paced thoughts lead to pain.

When the mind is racing, or thinking constantly and not resting — or having quiet time — it’s kind of like working out all day long for your “mind muscle”.

And while your core, as an example, is able to sustain some level of contraction throughout the day in order to prevent injury to the spine or internal organs within the abdomen, the mind is able to think throughout the day and also remain active.

However, if you were to do planks for the next minute, really exercising your core, you’d want to take a rest. How about after 3? 5? 30? 1 hour? 3 hours? 5 hours? 10 days?

Are you starting to get the picture?

An unsettled mind is like planking for your mind and never taking a rest.

An unsettled mind can cause an endless number of acute and chronic issues, disease-states, or even inflammation. By stressing the mind for this length of time, you are disturbing the balance between your parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems.

In other words, an unsettled mind spends time triggering a “fight or flight” response for the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), which is the sympathetic side. And yet, eating (which happens as a result of feeling emotional and often at the same time) triggers ‘rest & digest’, which is the parasympathetic nervous system. This double stimulus leads to a communication error for the ANS and puts it on overdrive.

An overstimulated ANS can create unlimited health issues, as the ANS is at the core of how you function. Your ANS might be compared to the motherboard in a computer.

And you need a motherboard healthy or things go haywire with your computer and you run into all sorts of issues.

The solution for an unsettled mind is meditation. It is breath. It is connection. It is faith, or a belief that no matter what happens in life it’s going to be ok.

This is how you create peace for the unsettled mind. And in doing so, your reality shifts.

May this post cause you to reflect and find greater peace of mind.

Sent with love,