Switch off Your Smartphone, Turn on Your Digestive System

Constant accessibility stresses not only the psyche, but also the gut. Regular “Digital Detoxing” can help normalize your metabolism and increase your well-being.

The human gut is a highly complex functional unit, controlled by 100 million nerve cells, the enteral nervous system.

Although most digestive processes take place subconsciously without the help of the brain, the intestine and brain communicate with each other continuously via the so-called vagus nerve.

The intestine is the echo chamber of our emotions.

The echo chamber of our emotions – intestine

Altered intestinal activity can reflect your feelings, stress or anxiety. Symptoms such as constipation, diarrhea or increased sensitivity of the bowel may be signs or consequences of a mental or neurological disorder.

In the Healing Hotel Océano Mayr Center in Tenerife, therefore, great emphasis is placed on relieving the intestine of the burden on the psyche through a sustained change in diet. This includes in particular the temporary abstinence of digital communication media, in particular also smartphone and tablet.

For a healthy gut, it’s not enough just to change your diet.

Anyone who wants to bring the basic metabolic processes in the body back to normal function, must also reduce the mental overuse to a tolerable level. “Digital Detox” is the buzz word for this. Significant side effect: Many who have tried Digital Detox do this, apparently, especially so that they can then report for days in the social networks about their experience. But irritable bowel and irritable stomach remain still exist.

Only in combination with a support of the intestinal regeneration by fasting or a nutritional optimization in the sense of the Mayr medicine makes such a digital detoxification sustainable and can mean in consequence even a veritable vitality boost.

An abrupt smartphone withdrawal, however, can overwhelm the organism.

Those who refrain from completely digital communication from now on will in extreme cases find symptoms that are not dissimilar to the withdrawal symptoms of known addictions such as nicotine and alcohol dependence. These include inner restlessness, sweating and increased heart rate. When having good bowel function, it will be much easier to stay offline.

Here are some basic rules of conduct with or without diet change – for the healthy use of mobile communication tools:

1.     Start the day without a smartphone. Better than waking-up by using the alarm function of your phone is using the good old analog alarm clock. So we do not look at the screen just seconds after waking up. After shower and breakfast it is still enough time to read the news of the night.

2.     Set up offline oases. It is enormously helpful to define fixed activities throughout the day, where the smartphone is switched off. This could be lunch, a coffee with a friend, the daily run or half an hour listening to music.

3.     Activate Default Mode Network. It sounds complicated, but is quite simple. DMN refers to certain brain regions that can be easily trained: by doing nothing. Go mobile after work, walk home, let your mind wander and daydream. This reduces blockages and promotes creativity.

4.     Finish the day without a smartphone. The most important thing to conclude: You should finish the day as it was started: without digital media. The bed is an internet and smartphone-free zone. It is best to switch off the phone one hour before bedtime. This has been proven to improve sleep quality. Reading – in a book or magazine – is expressly allowed.