In short, it keeps you alive.
It’s probably a good thing that your autonomic nervous system is out of your conscious control.
Can you imagine if you had to learn how to speed up your heart whenever you needed to?
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Or if you stopped breathing every time you forgot to breathe?
These are sometimes thought of as being opposite to each other, ultimately striking a balance within the body.
This allows for another level of communication and control.
Function of the Autonomic Nervous System
The autonomic nervous system has many functions.
The parasympathetic system performs basic housekeeping and controls things when you are at rest.
The sympathetic system is the emergency system and helps you carry out life-saving flight or fight responses.
Parasympathetic stimulation also causes your eyes to tear and your mouth to salivate.
They receive information from parts of the brain such as the brainstem and thehypothalamus.
Fibers run from synapses in ganglia just outside the spinal column to their targets, usually along blood vessels.
Autonomic Neurotransmitters
The nervous system communicates through chemical messengers called neurotransmitters.
Neurotransmitters likeacetylcholineandnorepinephrineare primarily responsible for communication in your autonomic nervous system.
Imagine that you stand suddenly after having been in a seated position for a long time.
For most of us, the autonomic nervous system is generally out of our conscious control.
These regions communicate with your hypothalamus to impact the actions of your autonomic nervous system.
Practices like yoga, mindfulness, and meditation can help you manage your physical autonomic nervous system activity.
Mindfulness and meditation can have similar effects.
