If you scare easily make sure you look after your bones. We can store fear in many parts of our body such as the kidneys, stomach, brain and even blood cells. But the bones seem to be particularly adept at harbouring fearful memories, and new research indicates they play a vital role in regulating our fight or flight response.
Our bones are known to respond to vibrations more than any other tissue in the body. We can feel our bones literally shaking if we suffer a fright, and our bones are known to heal faster if vibrational therapy is used. Astronauts who spend months in space are susceptible to losing 1-2% of their bone density every month but studies show they can regain that bone loss by standing on a lightly vibrating plate for 10-20 minutes a day to strengthen muscle and bone. I remember when I broke my hand, all it wanted to do was shake during a craniosacral session, partly to relieve the trauma but it was also the body’s way of encouraging the healing process. When osteocyte bone cells sense these vibrations, they activate osteoclasts which remove damaged areas of bone, and osteoblasts which form new, stronger bone.
Even more recent research has shown that our bones are involved in the fight or flight response via the release of osteocalcin, a protein produced and secreted by the bone. Osteocalcin is a hormone involved in metabolism, fertility, and muscle and brain function. Researchers have demonstrated that under stressful conditions, osteocalcin levels surge, and that ‘osteocalcin works by shutting down the autonomic nervous system, making way for another part of the nervous system to initiate flight or flight reaction’. But when it is used up in the fight or flight response, there is less osteocalcin available to make strong bones and regulate insulin and glucose levels, improve muscle strength, regulate testosterone, and boost cognitive function, and the body becomes deficient in these areas.
So give your bones a break and relax…
🦴Sources: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fight-or-flight-may-be-in-our-bones/
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