The Autonomic Nervous System

How massage reduces stress and promotes general wellbeing.

Your autonomic nervous system—which controls involuntary bodily functions like breathing, heartbeat, digestion, and more—is divided into two parts. The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) causes the “fight or flight” response. Your SNS activates whenever you encounter stress, regardless of what kind. The Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) causes the “rest and digest” response. When the body is at rest, it routes resources to improve digestion, filtration, immune response, and hormone balance.

The Sympathetic Nervous System

The SNS cannot distinguish between types of stress, and its bodily response is designed to deal with a physical threat. Your body responds to an approaching deadline or tense interpersonal relationship in the same way it responds to a physical threat. These responses include increased clotting factors so you don’t bleed out if you get injured, increased heartbeat and blood pressure to move blood to the muscles, increased tension in the skeletal muscles to help you move faster, and much more. You may recognize these functions as risk factors for serious illnesses. This natural body response, intended to keep you alive in dangerous situations, becomes problematic when you remain in a chronic state of stress. This is how never-ending stress can lead to serious health problems.

The Parasympathetic Nervous System

The PNS routes a majority of your blood and nutrients to the internal organs so they can function at peak efficiency, encourages your muscles to relax, and lowers your blood pressure. When you manage your stress on a regular basis, you improve your body’s ability to digest your food, filter your blood, and deal with minor immune threats that could become major. The focus of the PNS is on maintenance, rather than emergency management, and your body systems function better when they’re not trying to put out proverbial fires. Massage activates your parasympathetic nervous system which decreases stress and anxiety, encouraging your body to perform its routine functions and decreasing your chances of developing serious illness down the line.