We NEED some fight-or-flight

I used to think that our sympathetic nervous system, the one in charge of our body’s “fight, flight or freeze” response was bad, and that it was the culprit for things like poor sleep and poor digestion, interfering with our body’s normal functions. However, this not a very accurate picture.

First, some background. We have two systems (both divisions of our autonomic nervous system) that exist in balance with one another: the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system (“fight, flight or freeze”) is responsible for things like increased heart rate and blood flow, increased arousal, dilated pupils and narrowed peripheral vision. The parasympathetic nervous system (“rest and digest”) is responsible for things like increased digestion and peristalsis, increased peripheral vision, and lower heart rate. When activation of one increases, the activation of the other decreases.

You may have heard that it is bad to always be in a state of fight-or-flight, and yes, we don’t want the sympathetic nervous system to always be highly activated. However, always being in a state of parasympathetic nervous system activity is also not ideal. When you are about to perform, compete, or participate in any physical activity, you WANT your sympathetic nervous system to be more active. You NEED a higher heart rate and more blood flow to your extremities in order to perform optimally. In this case, choosing to do a calming breathing drill right before activity may not be the best decision.

We’ve talked about breathing before, but now give this a try:

• For more sympathetic nervous system activation, try longer inhales than exhales (inhale for 6, exhale for 4, for example)

• For more parasympathetic nervous system activation, try longer exhales than inhales (inhale for 4, exhale for 6, for example)

Choose the appropriate drill for the type (or lack) of your body’s activity. And let me know how it goes!