Let’s talk Parasympathetic.
Just what is your Parasympathetic nervous system anyway?
Your senses take in your surroundings and give you information about your environment so that your body can be ready to react to Survive or Thrive.
Your Autonomous Nervous system is responsible for the functions of the physical body that are not under conscious effort. For example, organ function, breathing, heartbeat, digestion…
The easiest way to understand this system is to think in modes:
Survival Mode & Thrive Mode
Survival – Sympathetic Nervous System
Thrive – Parasympathetic Nervous System
You can only be in one mode at a time & the mode is an Automatic Response.
Your body will change modes as a response to information gathered by the senses You can’t just decide – I am in danger or I am Safe.
You can guide your Automatic Response by tweaking the input. The mode you are in primes the bodies involuntary functions to survive or thrive.
Survival Mode
Sympathetic Nervous System
• Fight, flight or freeze response. This is your “Survival Mode”
• When you perceive something in your environment as unsafe—the Sympa-thetic Nervous system automatically primes the body for action.
• Your body is designed to go into Survival mode in a fraction of a second. All the “wiring” and “chemicals” are constantly ready for action.
• Survival mode is tough on the physical body when you are in it for extended periods. Additional chemicals are released to help keep the response ac-tive.
• Survival Mode can also be turned on by implied threats. For example, Re-membering past trauma or worrying about future plans can also trigger your “Survival Mode”
Thrive Mode
Parasympathetic Nervous System
• Rest & digest or the feed & breed response. This is your “Thrive Mode”
• The Parasympathetic Nervous system supports optimizing body function for normal day to day activity.
• It’s also important to note that it takes more time to move from Survival Mode to Thrive Mode. Your system must truly believe that you are safe.
• There are several ways that you can create the environment for Thrive Mode. We will go deeper into those activities next.
Weighted blankets are comforting to the nervous system.
Your environment stimulates your body which triggers a response. There are many things you can do to tweak your nervous system by tweaking your environment. Exercise, Breathing exercises, mindfulness, calming through relaxing work and activities. Weighted blankets are known to comfort the body and help move the senses towards a sense of calm.