Parasympathetic Nervous System

Winding down after a long day at work?

It's your parasympathetic nervous system that slows your body down. It relaxes the muscles, lowers your blood pressure, slows your heart rate and breath, starts your digestive juices flowing, and gets your bladder and bowels ready to do their thing.

In other words, it's the source of the relaxation response!

In contrast to the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) which is involved in energy output, the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is involved in "shutting down" your energy expenditure.

The PNS also gives us all those emotions we want more of...contentment, joy, laughter and peace of mind.

Here's the mind body wellness connection...

It's the parasympathetic nervous system that you want to understand when it comes to mind body wellness. The PNS is involved in recuperation and healing.

As the PNS calms the body down, immune funtioning returns. White blood cells are once again produced and sent off to defend the body against outside intruders like viruses, bad bacteria and cancerous cells.

The PNS calms down using discharge. It discharges or 'let's go' of excess energy and returns the nervous system to a point of balance called homeostasis.

Here's the psychotherapy connection...

There's a direct connection between the PNS and your moods. Your PNS can go into overdrive producing depression, despair, withdrawal and feelings of shame.

Your energy goes inward. You become more introspective.

What's important to understand.

The parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems (SNS) work in tandem. At a point of balance they may be both operating, that is, neither is dominant.

When the SNS is activated we feel it as being stressed or excited. Eventually there is a compensatory reaction of the PNS. The PNS brings the nervous system down. (It is as if, as high as you go, as low as you go.)

Overreaction of the parasympathetic

When the parasympathetic nervous system moves into overdrive we experience it as fear induced states such as the freeze response or shame.

What helps to modulate these states is the regulating function of our higher cortical centers in an area of the brain called the prefrontal cortex (right between our eyes and above).

My Personal Musings

You probably noticed that I refer to our infancy a lot on this site. One reason is that when infants received attuned care from their parents they develop the prefrontal region of the brain. This builds the capacity to manage their emotions without being flooded or reacting impulsively. In other words, they can manage stress more effectively and are better able to feel connected to their feelings.

Teaser for another time...

However, it is possible to train the nervous system to modulate these up and down swings. They become less severe.

You see, "regulation of the body and of emotion go hand in hand."¹

For instance, through somatic or body-based psychotherapy the nervous system becomes more adept at managing energy. The end result is that the swings are reduced and one can handle stress better and recover more easily!

Notes

¹Badenoch, Bonnie ((2008). Being a Brain-Wise Therapist: A practical guide to interpersonal neurobiology. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (p.30).

Reference

Porges, Stephen, (1995). Orienting in a defensive world: Mammalian modification of our eveolutionary heritage. A polyvagal theory. Psychophysiology, 32, 301-318.

Stephen Porges' identified two, not one, branch of the parasympathetic nervous system. His discovery of the dorsal vagal (and its relationship to the ventral vagal) has helped us to understand the relationship of the freeze response in the development of PTSD as well as states such as depression and joy. The polyvagal theory has also been useful in understanding the mind body connection. You can access his classic 1995 article here (you will be taken off site:

Orienting in a Defensive World...A Polyvagal Theory.

Roz Carroll M.A. The Autonomic Nervous System: Barometer of Emotional Intensity and Internal Conflict. A lecture given, 27th March, 2001. The material for this lecture is part of a six evening seminar ‘The New Anatomy: Exploring the Mind in the Body’ run at Chiron February-March 2001.

Related Topics

Discharge

Sympathetic Nervous System

Scared to Death

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