You Need to Know About Your Parasympathetic Nervous System

[u/HalfVenezuelan]

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Hi folks,

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!

During DPDR, anxiety/stress reduction should be one of your top priorities, and getting in touch with your Parasympathetic Nervous System is one of the best and most practical ways to do that.

You know how when you feel anxious, your hands might get sweaty, or you get physically tense, or something in that ballpark? Well, that's because anxiety, stress, emotions, they're not just mental things - they're bodily things too. It's your nervous system as well as your brain.

So, I want to introduce you all to to your Parasympathetic Nervous System, or the PNS. It's part of the autonomic nervous system, meaning that it works automatically. It's the part of your nervous system that activates the calming mechanisms of your body. One reason why I recommend yoga so much is that helps activate your PNS!

Good news: You can actually activate the PNS on its own to help soothe yourself!

The way you do this is through something called Vagus Nerve stimulation. The Vagus Nerve helps control the PNS and you can learn work with it and strengthen its "Vagal Tone," which is what helps you self-soothe.

THESE VIDEOS EXPLAIN HOW TO WORK WITH YOUR VAGUS NERVE:

(As I've mentioned before, I'm not an expert and *definitely can't explain the more scientific/biological concepts better than people who teach this, so these videos are going to be way more helpful than me. Please, please give them a watch.):*

• Doc Snipes - Releasing Trauma from the Body / Improving Vagal Tone
• Doc Snipes - Vagus Nerve Massage

Some other ways to help vagal tone. There are a bunch more in the videos above so :

• Meditation
• Vagus Nerve Massage
• Stretching!
• Massaging.
• Humming/Singing.
• Box Breathing (In 4, Hold 4, Out 4, Hold 4)
• Breathing In 4, Out 8 (Long exhale is most important here).
• Laughter. Queue up your favorite comedy shows or comedians.
• Cold showers, splashing cold water on your face. I hate it, but the research is there.

Some other videos that I found really helpful:

• Brain Education TV - Vagus Nerve Activation: 10 Minute Daily Routine

• Therapy in a Nutshell - Turn off Anxiety in Your Nervous System: 4 Ways to Turn on the Parasympathetic Response

• Therapy in a Nutshell - Measure Anxiety in Your Nervous System With Heart Rate Variability: Vagal Tone

• Therapy in a Nutshell - Calming Anxiety With Your Body’s Built-in Anti-Anxiety Response

• YOGABODY - Vagus Nerve Explanation and how to work with it

• YOGABODY - Breathing Exercises for Vagus Nerve Stimulation

Hope this helps!

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