THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM

The autonomic nervous system in details

The autonomic nervous system regulates certain body processes, such as blood pressure and the rate of breathing.

 It also supplies the internal organs, including the blood vessels, stomach, intestine, liver, kidneys, bladder, genitals, lungs, pupils, heart, and sweat, salivary, and digestive glands.

The autonomic nervous system has two main divisions:

• Sympathetic

• Parasympathetic

After the autonomic nervous system receives information about the

body and external environment, it responds by stimulating body

processes through the sympathetic division, or inhibiting them, through

the parasympathetic division.

Our internal organs are controlled primarily by either the sympathetic or

the parasympathetic division. 

Generally, the sympathetic division does the following:

• Prepares the body for stressful or emergency situations—Fight or Flight, disrupting their natural bodily functions

- Circulation increases blood supply to brain, muscles and to limbs (more O2). *Brain activity changes: we think less and react more instinctively.

– Heart beats quicker and harder – coronary arteries dilate. Blood

pressure rises. Lungs take in more O2 and release more CO2.

– Liver releases extra sugar for energy.

- Muscles tense for action. Sweating increases to speed heat loss.

-Adrenal glands release adrenaline to fuel response.

- Decreased activity will occur in the body

- Digestion slows down or stops – stomach and small intestines reduce activity. We might feel sick, or be sick. -

- Mouth does dry – constriction of blood vessels in salivary glands.

-Kidney, large intestine and bladder slow down. We often feel we want to go to the toilet. - Immune responses decrease.

The parasympathetic division does the following:

• Controls body functions, processes during ordinary situations and in a calm state.

Generally, the parasympathetic division conserves and restores. 

It slows the heart rate and decreases blood pressure. 

It stimulates the digestive tract to process food and eliminate wastes. 

Energy from the processed food is used to restore and build tissues.

EFFECT OF MINDFULNESS MEDITATION IN THE BRAIN

Mindfulness meditation has been known to help with stress in general, also with anxiety disorders and depression. Mindfulness meditation allows the parasympathetic nervous system to become active by down-regulating the sympathetic nervous system. 

What happens is that once the sympathetic nervous system shuts down, the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA (which is the brain’s own tranquilizer ) starts kicking in. Mindfulness meditation and relaxation thus ultimately slows down brain waves, which rejuvenates the brain’s chemistry and gives rise to a calmer state of mind, even after the relaxation or meditation ends.

MEDITATORS WILL EXPERIENCE OVER TIME:

• An increase in the size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for learning, memory, and spatial orientation

• A decrease in the size of the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for fear, anger, and stress.and increase the size of the prefrontal cortex in the brain.  This results in decreased emotional reactivity and improved decision-making skills as well as increased emotional stability.

WHAT YOU PRACTICE GROWS STRONGER

What is Neuroplasticity?

Neuroplasticity refers to the ability of the brain to adapt to changes in an individual’s environment by forming new neural connections over time. And that happens as a result of new repitetive experiences. Because of the plasticity of the brain, it can be altered in response to environmental and/or structural changes. The brain can “rewire” and “re-organize” itself after brain damage as new connections are formed and neural pathways to damaged brain areas are terminated. 

Neuroplasticity explains how the human brain is able to adapt, master new skills, store memories and information and even recover after a traumatic brain injury.

Neuroplasticity primarily occurs through processes called sprouting and rerouting. Sprouting is the creation of new connections between neurons, or nerve cells. Rerouting involves creating an alternative neural pathway by deleting damaged neurons and forming a new pathway between active neurons.

Whenever you engage in a new behaviour over and over again, this can make changes in your brain and this is referred to as neuroplasticity. As the brain is plastic the neuron can change how they talk to each other with experience.

There are some studies , one of which is about juggling. They took people who have never juggled before

and they scanned their brain then they taught them how to juggle, regularly practising for 3 entire months.

After 3 months they went back to these people and scanned their brain with an MRI scan,  and what they detected was changes in the grey matter of their brain, in areas that are concerned with detected visual motion which is the occipital lobe.

Steps to Elicit the Relaxation Response by Dr Herbert Benson

The Relaxation Response is essentially the opposite reaction to

the “fight or flight” mode response. According to Dr. Benson, using the

Relaxation Response is beneficial, as it counteracts the

physiological effects of stress and the fight or flight response 

in order to deal with stress in a better conscious, calm way.

1- Sit quietly in a comfortable position and close your eyes

2- Allow yourself to relax all your muscles, beginning at your feet and progressing up to your face.

3- Breathe in and out through your nose. Become aware of your breathing.

As you breathe out, mentally say silently to yourself any word that comes to your mind , like One, or love, or peace, or calm, or happy, etc….

For example,

breathe in … out, and say "one", in … out, "one", and so on.

Breathe gently and naturally.

When distracting thoughts occur, you can say “oh well!”  without getting upset with yourself and return to repeating "one with the next outbreath."

Do not worry about whether you are successful in achieving a deep level of relaxation.

Maintain a passive attitude and permit relaxation to occur at its own pace.

With practice, the response should come with little effort.

Practice the technique once daily, ideally before breakfast and not straight after meals since the digestive processes seem to interfere with the elicitation of the Relaxation Response.

With  Elicit of Relaxation Response you are tapping into your natural resources opposite to that of stress.

PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION TECHNIQUE (PMR)

It is a method of deep muscle relaxation, based on the fact that muscle tension is the body's psychological response to stress and anxiety-provoking thoughts, so that muscle relaxation lowers  anxiety levels.   The technique involves learning to monitor the tension in specific muscle groups by first tensing for a few seconds each muscle group. This tension is then released, as attention is directed towards the differences felt during muscle tension and after muscle relaxation.

Gradually work your way up the body contracting and relaxing muscle groups.

– Right foot, Left foot.

– Right calf, Left calf.

– Right thigh, Left thigh, hips, buttocks.

– Stomach , Chest, Back

– Right arm, hands, Left arm, hands.

– Upper right and left shoulders, neck Face, head

– Gently come back and open your eyes.

Take a moment for yourself as you go back to your day.

Here is how it works; 

Beginning to get yourself comfortable, take a few breaths in and out  to relax , breathing in and out in slow deep breaths. While inhaling, contract one muscle group holding for 5 seconds to 10 seconds, then exhale and suddenly release the tension in that muscle group. Give yourself 10 seconds to relax, and then move on to the next muscle group. While releasing the tension, try to focus on the changes you feel when the muscle group is relaxed. Imagery may be helpful in conjunction with the release of tension, such as imagining that stressful feelings are flowing out of your body as you relax each muscle group.