Smartwatches and fitness trackers can tell you all sorts of things about your health and well-being. You may already know they can track heart rate, steps, distance, exercise, and sleep. On the other hand, some trackers can measure more specialized data about your health, such as heart rate variability, SpO2, stress, VO2 max, and your autonomic nervous system. Let’s explore that last one in a little more detail.
What Does Your Autonomic Nervous System Do?
Overall, your nervous system is the command center of your body. It includes your brain, spinal cord, and nerves. Messages are sent to and from the brain that control all aspects of movement. You can control some of these movements, like lifting your arms over your head or walking.
However, some functions happen automatically. This is what your autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls. It certainly has an important job to do. It regulates essential bodily functions such as temperature, production of many body fluids, digestion, metabolism, electrolyte balance, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, sexual and emotional responses, and urination and defecation.
Taking Care of Your Autonomic Nervous System
Your autonomic nervous system works around the clock. However, it does need your help to stay in tip-top shape. For example, stress from life and intense exercise can kick your autonomic nervous system into overdrive. Thankfully, you can do your part. In fact, one study involving college students concludes that direct intervention that focuses on improving your ANS functions may also improve the quality of sleep.
Sleep
Sleep directly affects your autonomic nervous system. It helps you rest and recover and reduces your nervous system responses to re-balance your body. Conversely, a lack of sleep can prohibit your nervous system from relaxing, thus stressing your body and mind.
Regular Exercise
You will benefit by exercising regularly. If you aren’t exercising now, then you should start. Even a daily walk is exercise. However, you may need to adjust your routine if you regularly exercise. That’s because high-intensity exercise can stress your system and cause it to go out of balance. Therefore, you should include a rest day or a day of light exercise at least one day a week. Light cardio exercise can have a calming effect and reduce the stress on your body.
Managing Stress
Stress can directly affect your autonomic nervous system. In fact, stress over time can affect your mood and cause a number of health conditions. Fortunately, managing your stress can be as easy as taking a break. Everyone is different, so any activity you do to relax helps. Do whatever works best for you, whether that means reading, running, yoga, or napping.
Take A Moment to Breathe
Even with a busy schedule, taking a few moments to breathe can help your autonomic nervous system. Intentional breathing can strengthen your lungs, increase energy, boost immunity, lower blood pressure, and improve your sleep. You can start small by dedicating 2 to 5 minutes to breathwork. For example, start by breathing in slowly for 5 seconds, holding it for another 5 seconds, and then slowly breathing out. Repeat this process for 2 to 5 minutes.
Track Yourself
Tracking yourself provides insight into your entire journey from the beginning until today and what you could do to keep you moving toward your goals. You can track anything, such as your weight, habits, and exercise. Tracking can be done with old-school methods like pen and paper or automatically using an app.
Tracking your mood and blood pressure can help identify stress in your life while tracking exercise and sleep can ensure you’re getting enough of both. Furthermore, several modern smartwatches and fitness trackers from companies such as Fitbit, Garmin, and Polar can automatically track your heart rate variability and sleep to provide instant feedback.
The Takeaway
Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) is part of your nervous system. It regulates all those involuntary processes in your body, such as temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. Everyday stresses of life and intense exercise can cause your autonomic nervous system to go into overdrive. Thankfully, you can help care for your autonomic nervous system with quality sleep, exercise, and stress management. When your autonomic nervous system is in balance, your body and mind work more efficiently.
FitTrend’s mission is to help you along your self-improvement journey, promote an active lifestyle, and help you achieve your goals. Our journal can help you track your workouts, weight, mood, calories, and more. Also, FitTrend allows you to connect supported gadgets to your account to make it easier for you to update your journal automatically. Create your account today and start using FitTrend for free!
Disclaimer: No content on this site should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
