The science behind losing belly fat

Breathing to lose belly fat

Whether you have belly fat or not, the following information can change your life. Today I would like to share with you how visceral fat reaches the abdomen and the alternatives presented by Dr. Sten Ekberg to reverse it. ( 1 )

We have heard, read and seen everywhere that fat accumulated in the abdomen is dangerous and that is why we must reduce the consumption of sugars and fats, exercise and more to avoid it. Let's start by making common sense.

One swallow does not make a summer

It is clear that if you want a completely healthy body, there are several aspects that must be taken into account. It is not only about taking care of what you eat, neglecting other important habits such as exercise and adequate rest is not a good tactic, it is simply not enough. Taking care of what you eat will not replace the other components that allow you to enjoy complete health.

Your diet should consist of natural foods that do not produce too much insulin , as well as getting enough sleep so that your body has the opportunity to repair itself and practicing physical activity or exercise in order to activate your metabolism. It is not about burning calories, since activating your metabolism makes you burn calories efficiently, like when you were a teenager and could eat without worrying that what you ate would result in a tire around your abdomen. Likewise, an efficient metabolism allows you to keep your brain, circulatory system and endocrine system active, the latter being crucial for producing important hormones 24 hours a day.

That being said, the way you breathe can act as a complement to the physical integrity and efficiency of bodily functions.

Where does visceral fat come from?

Fat does not appear overnight, it is the result of various mechanisms and hormones that have been activated in the body, such as cortisol and insulin.

Insulin is the hormone that is activated in response to blood sugar. It absorbs sugar from the bloodstream, places it in the cells and in the presence of cortisol, these cells will settle directly in the abdominal area. We know this thanks to Cushing's disease, since people who suffer from it produce exorbitant amounts of cortisol, which as a result gives them a characteristic enormous belly, flat buttocks, very thin legs, a hump at the bottom of the neck and a moon-shaped face. All of this as a consequence of cortisol, which, in turn, modulates insulin since these two hormones work in parallel.

Now that we know where visceral fat comes from, we must understand how cortisol levels can become so high that an event like this can occur, assuming that we do not suffer from Cushing's syndrome, which is, in fact, very rare.

The only option left is that cortisol is at quite high levels due to behavioral habits within the framework of our lifestyle.

Cortisol

Cortisol comes from stress, it is a stress hormone that every time you get stressed, it makes your body anticipate a response to some kind of negative stimulus, to defend itself from something that makes you feel cornered. When you feel a threat or attack, your body will need more energy, either to run away or to face said threat or attend to an emergency and this is where cortisol is produced.

Blood sugar is your emergency fuel . Your basic metabolism runs primarily on fat and it is the body's preferred form. Gentle exercise and walking are ways you can burn fat if your body is adapted to it or you have what is called metabolic flexibility which is when you have done ketogenic cycles, for example. (If you want to learn about ketogenic cycles see here the articles that show you what they are and how to do them: ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ))

In an emergency, however, your body will need some fat, but it's not going to be enough. Humans can burn fat in the presence of oxygen, but once we start to suffocate, we reach a critical threshold that requires us to turn to glucose to get over. The emergency fuel that the body prefers is glucose or sugar because it can be broken down and provided energy without the need for oxygen, and that's where lactic acid is obtained. So, for short bursts of energy, glucose is needed.

There are two ways the body can increase blood sugar: when the body responds to a stressful stimulus, it will increase cortisol; and the other way is when the body craves sugar. That's why you get cravings when you're stressed. The body is telling you: "This is stressful, I need to have energy to deal with this, give me more fuel."

Now that we know that stress produces cortisol, what can we do to balance it?

Image from the online magazine Psicoactiva

The autonomic nervous system (the part of the nervous system responsible for regulating the body's involuntary visceral functions such as breathing, digestion, circulation, hormones, pH, and more) is a whole-body resource allocation system and has two subsystems: sympathetic and parasympathetic.

An example of how these subsystems work: imagine that you are sleeping, taking a nap after lunch (signs of the parasympathetic system being activated) and you are awakened by a strong earthquake that makes you stand up, think and act immediately (sympathetic system in action). This change is made because you do not need the blood flow in your colon (which was where you were digesting while you were sleeping) but in your muscles to stand up and perhaps escape the room you are in before the roof collapses due to the earthquake.

So, the first hormone that is triggered is adrenaline, which starts to run through your veins and as a result increases your heart rate and blood pressure in order to send more blood to your muscles so you can run away from the risk zone. A few seconds later, cortisol increases so you can produce more blood sugar and still have energy to face that moment.

This process is known as catabolic activity because at that point the body is not interested in rebuilding itself so it starts breaking down proteins and other substances in order to get you out of that danger zone as quickly as possible. It doesn't matter if you twist your foot while running, hurt yourself on branches, or hit yourself with objects, at that moment you don't feel any of that.

The parasympathetic system, on the other hand, is responsible for digestion, rest and reproduction, among other things. It is fed by the vagus nerve or pneumogastric nerve that runs from the medulla oblongata to the colon. Only with parasympathetic activation can we digest food and allow blood to reach the colon for this function.

The immune system, which fights infections, does not work unless the parasympathetic system is active. Reproductive function is not available if you are stressed. Your healing and scarring system does not work if you are stressed and cannot rest. This is why the parasympathetic system is responsible for all anabolic functions, that is, everything related to tissue repair and formation, recovery and improvement of different tissues and parts of the body. Healing occurs when the parasympathetic function is activated, and you are in a state of rest or relaxation.

The parasympathetic system only works when the sympathetic system is deactivated. You can only recover from the shock caused by the earthquake when it is over and you can calm down or at least be sure that everything around you has stopped shaking.

Is abdominal fat dangerous?

In principle, fat itself is not dangerous, what is dangerous is what put it there. The hormones that were activated and how that fat ended up lodged in that place. If you have fat accumulated in the abdominal region, it is the result of high levels of cortisol.

If your cortisol is elevated, it is because your digestive function is deficient, your immune system is impaired, your wound healing system is diminished, your reproductive system is failing. Abdominal fat is dangerous because it means that the parasympathetic system is not working as it should.

How to activate the parasympathetic system

If you read my article on Wim Hof's breathing method, you will have noticed that every time we breathe we can consciously activate our parasympathetic system. When inhaling, the heart rate increases, when exhaling the heart rate decreases.

During breathing, the inhalation phase is an action that corresponds to the sympathetic system (increased heart rate, a little stress) and when we exhale it is an action corresponding to the parasympathetic system (decreased heart rate, relaxation). The curious thing is that, when inhaling, the sympathetic system is activated immediately, while, when exhaling, the parasympathetic system takes a little longer to achieve activation, so if we exhale too quickly, the mechanisms involved in the action of the parasympathetic system will not be stimulated.

According to holistic medicine doctor and decathlete Sten Ekberg, we should take our time exhaling, that is, try to inhale for about 5 seconds and exhale for 5-6 seconds so that the parasympathetic system can be activated. By learning to breathe in this synchronous way, we are balancing the nervous system, as well as other very important mechanisms that are activated, such as the regulation of blood pH.

What does neuroplasticity have to do with belly fat?

Some people find it a little difficult to maintain this rhythm; it is not easy to try to spend the whole day inhaling for 5 seconds and exhaling for 6. But it is possible thanks to the neuroplasticity of our brain.

Neuroplasticity is the ability of our brain to change, reprogram and adapt itself. It was previously thought that the brain was bone and that the cells housed there were static, with one or another replacement from time to time. It was also thought that it grew in size throughout adolescence, but once reaching adulthood, it stagnated.

It is now known that the brain changes and this is really special because it means that if you learn something at the age of 80, like how to use a cell phone, a language, a new hobby, the brain can do it because of its ability to rewire itself. ( 2 ) Every new thing you learn is re-programming your brain, that is, you are physically rewiring new wires, making new connections and creating neural networks at any age!

Once we understand this, we can be certain that we are capable of changing the balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. Most people today are stuck in the sympathetic system, living in stress, inhaling oxygen in a hurry because they have to pay bills, deal with traffic, go shopping quickly and have no time to exhale the CO2 that is accumulating in the body. There is no need for an earthquake, we already live in this state of permanent stress.

Fortunately, the principles of neuroplasticity allow us to properly and synchronously activate the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems through breathing. These are not ideas in our brains, the activation of these systems actually affects physical places in our body. They are like cables in the spine and brain that change.

Every skill we have, such as the way we walk, the way we write, the manual skills we have, as well as the way we kick a ball, are neurological pathways, patterns in the nervous system. Therefore, the best way to learn to breathe to activate the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems according to our needs is by practicing .

Recommended exercises

There are several types of breathing exercises, as you may have noticed if you read my article on the Wim Hof ​​breathing method, where I present other alternatives. However, Dr. Ekberg recommends the following exercise, but also warns that doing it just once will not work. You have to practice.

The way it can work is to sit for 5 minutes twice a day and practice inhaling for 5 seconds and exhaling for 5-6 seconds. After a month you will feel different, after 6 months you will have more control over your cortisol and after 12 months the idea is that you will be able to deal with stressful situations with the skill with which you walk, that is, automatically. A healthy body and organism can be achieved when certain practices are repeated long enough for them to become habits.

Conclusion

To lose fat accumulated in the abdomen we saw that 95% depends on diet , specifically, avoiding sugars and flours.

5% depends on certain activities such as cardiovascular endurance exercises (brisk walking, athletics, cycling, swimming, jumping rope, skating...), and also,

Muscle strength exercises such as lifting weights or high-intensity interval training .

At an organic level , breathing activates the sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic systems, seeking to balance them in order to control cortisol .

Benefits of breathing practice with emphasis on the exhalation phase:

• Improves the function of the parasympathetic system in general.
• It improves digestion (thanks to a longer activation of the parasympathetic autonomic system) and yes, also nutrition because by now you know that the consumption of sugars and flours stimulates the production of cortisol and insulin. This knowledge allows you to make better choices about the foods you eat.
• No more colds or flu . Partly due to nutrition and a large part due to balancing breathing cycles, emphasizing exhalation.
• Increased libido . Keep in mind that your body is not ready to procreate if you are experiencing an earthquake or are in a state of permanent stress.
• Improves sleep quality . If you wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall asleep, the hormones adrenaline and cortisol that accompany a stressed or worried mind are stimulated.
• Faster recovery time . After an injury, your doctor will always recommend that you rest to help you recover, but if you add to this the proper breathing cycles, emphasizing the exhalation phase, recovery will be accelerated. This is because the parasympathetic system is responsible for relaxed peripheral circulation, which improves oxygenation and recovery time for any part of the body.
• To reverse diseases. Healing, which is an anabolic or reconstructive process, occurs while the parasympathetic autonomic system is activated, which occurs at the respiratory level when exhaling.

References:

Dr. Sten Ekberg lives and practices in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He is a chiropractor, but has specialized in holistic medicine. He has a pleasant and simple way of explaining relevant health information and that is why I have taken the liberty of transcribing part of his presentation.( 5 )