How to Improve Imbalance of Autonomic Nervous System to Prevent Aging of Blood Vessel (1/2)

By the recent medical research, it turned out that imbalance of autonomic nervous system could be related to aging of the blood vessel. There are various other symptoms caused by the imbalance of autonomic nervous system such as diarrhea, constipation, dizziness, stiff neck and shoulders, insomnia, depression, intolerance to cold, palpitation, shortness of breath, irregularity of menstruation, etc.
 
What is the autonomic nervous system (ANS)?

The autonomic nervous system is a control system that acts largely unconsciously and regulates bodily functions such as the heart rate, digestion, respiratory rate, pupillary response, urination, and sexual arousal.
 
As an experiment, a person was asked to solve a simple numerical calculation (subtraction). At that moment, various changes in her body happened such as contraction of the blood vessel, perspiration, increase of the heart rate, enlargement of the pupils, etc.
 
The autonomic nervous system consists of the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is activated by nervousness and stress, while the para sympathetic nervous system is activated by relaxation and rest such as eating or sleeping. In other words, the sympathetic nervous system is the accelerator and the parasympathetic nervous system is the brake.
 
When one system is activated, the other system is inhibited. But if the sympathetic nervous system is continuously activated and the parasympathetic nervous system is not activated, that condition is considered the imbalance of the autonomic nervous system, and the cause is stress (Fig. 1 and 2).
 
How to check the imbalance of the autonomic nervous system
 
(1) Whether or not you are moved to tears when you watch a touching movie
 
The sympathetic nervous system gets activated before being moved to tears and at the same time as being moved to tears, the parasympathetic nervous system gets activated. Therefore, people with tears has proper autonomic nervous system.
 
The autonomic nervous system of the people who aren’t moved to tears at the same scene is that the sympathetic nervous system is continuously activated and the parasympathetic nervous system is continuously inhibited.
 
(2) Whether or not you sweat right after eating hot spicy food and afterwards the sweat dries
 
People whose sweat doesn’t dry and who continuously sweat while eating can be considered their autonomic nervous system is abnormal.
 
While in the case of people with normal autonomic nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system are activated alternately, in the case of people with abnormal autonomic nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system is continuously activated and the parasympathetic nervous system is not activated.
 
Is any kind of tears good for the autonomic nervous system?
 
Whatever kind of tears inhibits the activation of the sympathetic nervous system and activates the parasympathetic nervous system.
 
Aging of Blood Vessels Caused by Imbalance of Autonomic Nervous System
 
Why is aging of the blood vessel caused by the imbalance of the autonomic nervous system?
 
A recent research discovered that the imbalance of the autonomic nervous system is related to the blood pressure.
 
The imbalance of the autonomic nervous system keeps the blood pressure high even during the time the blood pressure should be lower such as during a meal and during sleep, damaging the blood vessel and resulting in arteriosclerosis (hardening of the blood vessel).
 
The sympathetic nervous system should be active during daytime and the parasympathetic nervous system should be active during night time, but the sympathetic nervous system of the people whose autonomic nervous system is imbalanced is active during night time as well, making the risk of high blood pressure higher.
 
Another cause of the imbalance of the autonomic nervous system
 
Stress is a cause of the imbalance of the autonomic nervous system, but there is another cause. That is aging. The function of the parasympathetic nervous system becomes weaker with age.