5 best tips for activating the parasympathetic nervous system
And, why you might want to
We all have a central nervous system and a peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system includes the brain, the spinal cord, and the cerebellum. The peripheral nervous system includes our nerves. Our nerves send signals to and from our central nervous system, our organs, muscles and our senses.
Our peripheral nervous system has several subsets of systems which include our somatic and our autonomic nervous systems. Our somatic system helps us perform voluntary actions, and includes our reflexes and senses. It includes the cranial nerves that connect directly to your brain and the spinal nerves that connect to your spinal cord.
The autonomic system helps us perform involuntary actions. The autonomic system connects our central nervous system to our organs. It’s made up of 2 parts; the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. Connecting the central nervous system and the digestive system is the enteric nervous system which receives and transmits information through both the sympathetic and the parasympathetic systems. The vagus nerve makes up 75% of the parasympathetic nervous system and is also known as cranial nerve 10. It’s the longest nerve in the body.
The sympathetic nervous system prepares us for stressful activities. It includes the fight or flight response when we are under increased stress.
The parasympathetic nervous system prepares us for relaxation and digestion. It helps us to conserve our energy. It helps us to relax after a stressful situation.
Since the Vagus nerve makes up so much of the parasympathetic nervous system, let’s talk about Vagal tone. The tone of your Vagus nerve helps with how you respond to stressful situations. The higher the tone, the better your response and recovery from a stressful or fearful situation. Vagus nerve activity includes regulating many bodily functions when we are at rest and feel safe. These functions include lowering your heart rate, and regulating emotional states. Higher vagal tone is usually seen with a lower heart rate and higher heart rate variability. When you have a higher vagal tone, you can typically recover and relax faster after a stressful event.
You can improve your vagal tone in many ways, but here are my top 5:
Hum, chant or sing. The vagus nerve is connected to your vocal cords, and humming, singing and/or chanting has been shown to improve vagal tone
Cold exposure. Ice baths, cold showers, applying cold packs to your neck, and/or spending time outside when it is cold are all ways to expose yourself to cold and help improve your vagus nerve tone!
Exercise! Aerobic activity, resistance training and yoga are all excellent choices.
Breathing deeply and slowly gets the diaphragm moving. To improve vagal tone, you need to focus on the exhale. Because of connections with the lungs and the vagus nerve, the parasympathetic system is activated when you exhale. When the diaphragm returns to its resting, domed shape as you exhale, the intra-thoracic pressure increases and presses on your heart and lungs. Your body reacts by dilating blood vessels and lowering your heart rate. The vagus nerve is responsible for lowering your heart rate, so lengthening the exhale for a few counts longer than the inhale is a great place to start!
Belly laugh. Socializing and connecting with friends and laughing is a great way to improve heart rate variability and reduce stress.
I hope you try one or all of these tips! I’d love to know what you try and how this resonates for you!
Take good care,
Sharon