Breathe deep and long till you are bursting with health
The caveman era was a time when human beings had to face the possibility of encountering mortal danger every day. The best days were probably the ones when you wouldn't hear a hungry bear growl in a bush nearby or need to flee from an approaching lion. The body's "fight-or-flight" response would help these brave souls bear the brunt of having to hunt for food and seek shelter in the wild.
In today's times, we rarely face danger in the form of an immediate threat to our lives. And yet, our "fight-or-flight" response is being triggered more frequently than ever before. While a stressful meeting with your boss or an argument with your spouse may not seem as perilous as being potentially mauled by a lion, these circumstances still hold the power of making our body rouse to action, ready to retort with the choicest responses (fight) or shut the other person down (flight).
When our body's fight-or-flight response is triggered repeatedly, it wears our body's self-regulatory system down and makes us susceptible to compromised health, disease and a high-strung disposition to even mild stressors. These stressors further weigh down an already struggling physiologic system.
If one's caught in this vicious cycle of chronic stress or poor immunity, the only way to get out of it is by triggering the alternative response of our body; the one that supports rest and recovery.
To explore how you can recover from being a worn-out, illness-magnet to a restored and rejuvenated human being, let us go over some basic terminology used to refer to our bodily functions.
The autonomic nervous system
The autonomic nervous system or the ANS is a division of the peripheral nervous system. The ANS controls our body's response to varying conditions, changes and demands imposed by the environment or by our state of mind. The ANS consists of two branches; the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The SNS is the fight-or-flight response and the PNS is the rest and recovery response.
Continual exposure to stressors overworks the ANS and may render the parasympathetic response unable to cope with the demands put upon the body. This is a mighty dangerous thing to happen because being constantly stressed out with frequent palpitations and shallow breathing is not the prognosis we'd be looking for to indicate a long and healthy life.
The baroreflex mechanism
The PNS is rather like a muscle; the more you exercise it, the stronger it will get. One of the key physiological processes that PNS is involved in is the baroreflex mechanism.
The baroreflex mechanism is a key regulator of cardiovascular function. Baroreceptors in the aorta and carotid artery register changes in blood pressure that could be caused due to varying stimuli such as our breathing rate. In combination with nerve fibers and specific brain structures that are all part of the PNS, the baroreflex mechanism regulates heart rate by suppressing or stimulating the effects of PNS on one's heart rate.
Paced breathing and respiratory sinus arrhythmia
It has been observed that the baroreflex mechanism is especially responsive to paced breathing at a rate of 6 breaths per minute.
When we breathe in, our chest expands and the blood volume in the aorta decreases. This causes the baroreflex to suppress the effects of PNS on the heart rate, causing our heart rate to increase and, in turn, our blood pressure to increase.
When we breathe out, our chest volume decreases and the blood volume in the aorta increases. This makes the baroreflex mechanism stimulate the effects of PNS on the heart rate, causing our heart rate and, consequently, our blood pressure to decrease.
This phenomenon is known as respiratory sinus arrhythmia.
Respiratory sinus arrhythmia is a tool you can leverage to exercise the PNS in order to restore and optimize its functionality. Apart from exercising the PNS, paced breathing also improves the cardiovascular system's ability to modulate blood pressure and ensure its efficient transportation to various parts of the body.
Biofeedback devices that offer you an auditory and/or visual pacer to pace your breathing to the required rate and display real-time changes in heart rate can help bring your body into increased synchronicity, improve overall health, alleviate anxiety and eliminate or manage several ailments such as asthma and hypertension.
So, instead of feeling harrowed for the rest of the day after having a nasty argument, it is a better idea to sit down, cross your legs and indulge in some biofeedback-moderated paced breathing.To know more about respiratory sinus arrhythmia visit: http://www.biocomtech.com/products/for-health-professionals/heart-tracker-professional
In today's times, we rarely face danger in the form of an immediate threat to our lives. And yet, our "fight-or-flight" response is being triggered more frequently than ever before. While a stressful meeting with your boss or an argument with your spouse may not seem as perilous as being potentially mauled by a lion, these circumstances still hold the power of making our body rouse to action, ready to retort with the choicest responses (fight) or shut the other person down (flight).
When our body's fight-or-flight response is triggered repeatedly, it wears our body's self-regulatory system down and makes us susceptible to compromised health, disease and a high-strung disposition to even mild stressors. These stressors further weigh down an already struggling physiologic system.
If one's caught in this vicious cycle of chronic stress or poor immunity, the only way to get out of it is by triggering the alternative response of our body; the one that supports rest and recovery.
To explore how you can recover from being a worn-out, illness-magnet to a restored and rejuvenated human being, let us go over some basic terminology used to refer to our bodily functions.
The autonomic nervous system
The autonomic nervous system or the ANS is a division of the peripheral nervous system. The ANS controls our body's response to varying conditions, changes and demands imposed by the environment or by our state of mind. The ANS consists of two branches; the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The SNS is the fight-or-flight response and the PNS is the rest and recovery response.
Continual exposure to stressors overworks the ANS and may render the parasympathetic response unable to cope with the demands put upon the body. This is a mighty dangerous thing to happen because being constantly stressed out with frequent palpitations and shallow breathing is not the prognosis we'd be looking for to indicate a long and healthy life.
The baroreflex mechanism
The PNS is rather like a muscle; the more you exercise it, the stronger it will get. One of the key physiological processes that PNS is involved in is the baroreflex mechanism.
The baroreflex mechanism is a key regulator of cardiovascular function. Baroreceptors in the aorta and carotid artery register changes in blood pressure that could be caused due to varying stimuli such as our breathing rate. In combination with nerve fibers and specific brain structures that are all part of the PNS, the baroreflex mechanism regulates heart rate by suppressing or stimulating the effects of PNS on one's heart rate.
Paced breathing and respiratory sinus arrhythmia
It has been observed that the baroreflex mechanism is especially responsive to paced breathing at a rate of 6 breaths per minute.
When we breathe in, our chest expands and the blood volume in the aorta decreases. This causes the baroreflex to suppress the effects of PNS on the heart rate, causing our heart rate to increase and, in turn, our blood pressure to increase.
When we breathe out, our chest volume decreases and the blood volume in the aorta increases. This makes the baroreflex mechanism stimulate the effects of PNS on the heart rate, causing our heart rate and, consequently, our blood pressure to decrease.
This phenomenon is known as respiratory sinus arrhythmia.
Respiratory sinus arrhythmia is a tool you can leverage to exercise the PNS in order to restore and optimize its functionality. Apart from exercising the PNS, paced breathing also improves the cardiovascular system's ability to modulate blood pressure and ensure its efficient transportation to various parts of the body.
Biofeedback devices that offer you an auditory and/or visual pacer to pace your breathing to the required rate and display real-time changes in heart rate can help bring your body into increased synchronicity, improve overall health, alleviate anxiety and eliminate or manage several ailments such as asthma and hypertension.
So, instead of feeling harrowed for the rest of the day after having a nasty argument, it is a better idea to sit down, cross your legs and indulge in some biofeedback-moderated paced breathing.To know more about respiratory sinus arrhythmia visit: http://www.biocomtech.com/products/for-health-professionals/heart-tracker-professional
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