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How The Mind And Nervous System

Good Essays

Jonathan Lewis
Dr. Steven Scott
Capstone
29 April 2015

How the Mind Modulates the Autonomic nervous system Mind modulation of the autonomic nervous system (Autonomic nervous system) is essential to how we live our daily lives. The reaction between our brain, brain stem, and different glands and nerves in our body is imperative to how we react to things or even go through daily routines. As usual with humans, we are not perfect and have issues such as “psychosomatic problems” which lead to unwanted responses to stimuli or stress (Rossi). The process in which the mind modulates the cells which produce these effects is broken down into three stages: mind generated thoughts and processes; the filtration of these impulses via state-dependent …show more content…

These participants were highly skilled in cycling with 10-11 years of training, each of these participants completed an intensive cycling exercise test which followed the stimulation of the brain. The perceived exertion regulate exercise performance (RPE), heart rate (HR), and R-R intervals were recorded during the tests as well as peak power output (PPO) (Okano). The results from the experiment showed promise as with anodal tDCS, their PPO improved by approximately 4%, parasympathetic vagal withdrawal was delayed, their HR was reduced (but not maximized), and their RPE increased at a slower rate (but not maximized) compared to no stimulation (Okano). This experiment, conducted in 2013, shows a very promising connection between the brain and the autonomic nervous system via mind modulation of the cells, leaving us more prepared to search for other means of altering or enhancing this process for more optimal performance. As stated before the mind modulates the autonomic nervous system via an enormous process which starts through signals sent from the brain. One of these “senders” is the vagus nerve. When your body is hurt, your vagus nerve sends a signal which acts as a counter-inflammatory role (Karimi). In Karimi’s experiment, which took place in 2011, they used vitro stimulation in order to showed that “following subdiaphragmatic vagotomy of mice, CD4+ T cells from the spleen

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