A New Way to Understand Your ANS and “Spidey-Sense”
If you’re new here, then you might be wondering what “ANS” is before you even start to dive into what I’m going to talk about. You should all know what I mean by “Spidey-Sense” (cue Spider-Man).
Here’s a quick refresher (if you want to learn more look through this blog): the ANS stands for your Autonomic Nervous System. Your ANS is essentially the neuro-endocrine-immune structure that enables our survival. Our autonomic nervous system (the involuntary system that helps to control things like our breathing, heart rate, digestion, and salivation) is complex and always busy. In addition to running these important functions in our bodies such as helping us breathe, helping our heart pump, and helping us digest food, our autonomic nervous system is also helping us to scan, interpret, and respond to danger cues. (Reminder: we measure your ANS activity in our office.)
Traditionally, the ANS has been described as having two branches:
Sympathetic nervous system. This system is involved in arousing our bodies to respond by mobilizing us to move when in dangerous situations. Many refer to this system as prompting our "fight or flight" reactions to danger cues in our environment. It is also responsible for activating our adrenal glands to release epinephrine into our bloodstream, otherwise known as an adrenaline rush. When we see a snake, our sympathetic nervous system will read the cue of the potential threat and prompt our body to respond, likely involving a quick adrenaline rush and us immediately moving away from the snake.
2. Parasympathetic nervous system. This system is involved in calming our bodies, conserving energy as it begins to do things like slow our heart rate, regulate our digestion and lower our blood pressure. Some refer to this system as the "rest and digest" system. As we begin to read that a cue is not dangerous, our body begins to calm with the help of our parasympathetic nervous system.
This has been the standard model when learning about the autonomic nervous system classically. Back in 2011 however, Stephen Porges, Ph.D introduced a new model of the ANS and called it the “polyvagal theory.” This theory changes the typical understanding and picture of the ANS by stating it has THREE branches, not two, and they are sequential, not reciprocal. His studies were focused on the role of the Vagus nerve (10th cranial nerve).
Porges has shown evidence of a third, more modern branch of the ANS that is essentially our “social nervous system” (his proposed term for this branch.) This vagal branch is dedicated to our social interactions and is therefore also called the “social vagus.”
From the time we are born, we are intuitively scanning our environment for cues of safety and danger…aka what I like to call your “Spidey-Sense”.
A great example is in healthy infants, who will first attempt using the social vagus branch of their nervous system to get their biological needs met, by using subtle communications and vocalizations - expressions that are controlled by the vagus nerve.
If this method fails them, which it often may, infants will resort to crying and screaming, indicative of the sympathetic branch of the nervous system being active. Usually, this sympathetic approach will solve the problem.
However, when it doesn’t, and their needs are still not met for a sufficiently long period of time, then the infant will resort to what’s called “parasympathetic shut down,” which is the body’s oldest stress-management system. It goes back to the reptilian “freeze” response. (As our surveillance system kicks into overdrive, working very hard to protect us, it can also read many cues in our environment as dangerous—even those cues that might be perceived as neutral or benign to other people.)
In polyvagal theory, Dr. Porges describes the process in which our neural circuits are constantly reading cues of danger in our environment. Through this process, we are experiencing the world in a way in which we are involuntarily scanning situations and people to determine if they are safe or dangerous.
As part of our autonomic nervous system, this process is happening without us even being aware that it is happening. Just as we are able to breathe without having to intentionally tell ourselves to take a breath, we are able to scan our environment for cues without telling ourselves to do so.
We are wired for connection and, in order to help us survive, our bodies are designed and prepared for observing, processing, and responding to our environment, no matter what our age.
Another incredible phenomenon our our incredible bodies and you didn’t need to get bit by a radioactive spider to get them!