The Parasympathetic Nervous System: Your FRIEND IN COPING WITH Anxiety
If you experience anxiety, it’s likely that you have had times when your body is physically activated in uncomfortable or even scary ways. When this happens, knowing how to tap into your parasympathetic nervous system can support your ability to calm your body and return to a more regulated state. What is the parasympathetic nervous system, why does it matter, and how can you develop practices that switch it on? Keep reading to learn more.
What Is the Parasympathetic Nervous System?
The parasympathetic nervous system, along with its counterpart the sympathetic nervous system, make up the body’s autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS controls unconscious bodily functions like body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, and digestion. The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems operate in tandem to allow our bodies to maintain homeostasis.
The role of the sympathetic nervous system is to ready the body for physical activity. When activated, the sympathetic nervous system causes physiological changes like pupil dilation, increased heart rate, slowed digestion, and relaxation of the muscles in the airways. The sympathetic nervous system is well-known as the controller of our stress, or “fight-or-flight,” response. When we are anxious, we are in a sympathetic state.
The parasympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, relaxes the body or decreases its activities. When in a parasympathetic state, heart rate slows down, digestive processes increase, and muscles in the airways narrow so that the lungs are doing less work. Learning to activate the parasympathetic nervous system is powerful because it will reduce the physical sensations of anxiety and can also decrease subjective anxious feelings.
Note that references to stimulating the vagus nerve or increasing vagal tone are different ways of referring to the same idea. The vagal nerves are the primary and largest nerves of the parasympathetic nervous system. They are long and winding, running through the brain, neck, chest, heart, lungs, and digestive tract. If you activate the vagus nerve, you activate the parasympathetic nervous system.
How To Activate the Parasympathetic Nervous System
While we do not consciously control sympathetic or parasympathetic activities, there are things we can do to help ourselves shift into a parasympathetic state when we want to calm our bodies. The following practices tap into the parasympathetic nervous system, are simple to utilize, and are accessible across many situations.
Deep breathing. Slow, deep breaths with an elongated exhale activate the parasympathetic nervous system. Be mindful to breathe in and out of the belly, allowing it to rise with your inhales and fall with your exhales.
Massage. When conducted with light to moderate pressure, massage stimulates the vagus nerve. You can engage in self-massage or seek out a massage from a loved one or a licensed professional.
Exercise. Regular, moderate exercise improves vagal activity.
Humming/singing. The vagus nerve attaches to the vocal cords. Humming or singing produces vibrations that activate this nerve.
Cold water immersion. The short-term experience of cold temperatures helps decrease the stress response and activate the parasympathetic nervous system. Cold water exposure can take a number of forms, including submerging your face in a bowl of ice water, ending your shower with a brief blast of cold water, or even just splashing very cold water on your hands, neck, or face.
Still Feeling Anxious?
If you are trying these strategies and not noticing much relief, or struggling to be consistent with practices like these because your anxiety is so high, anxiety therapy is the next step. Sometimes we can be doing everything “right” and still experience anxiety that is disruptive to our lives. You don’t have to continue to struggle on your own. Contact me today to access the expertise and support you deserve.
