How to Balance Sympathetic and Parasympathetic States

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated April 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

The autonomic nervous system is the part of the nervous system that regulates the various mostly unconscious functions of the body such as digestion, heart rate, respiration, and sexual arousal. The two main divisions of the autonomic nervous system are the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, and to a large extent these two divisions of the nervous system are antagonistic to each other.

Function of Sympathetic Nervous System

The responsibilities of the sympathetic nervous system are most easily described by the common fight or flight phase. When the body is primed for action the sympathetic nervous system is dominant. Exercising, stressful high-stakes situations, fighting, or fleeing are all examples of when the sympathetic nervous system is dominant. The release and presence of cortisol and adrenaline is another easy way to identify a sympathetic state from a parasympathetic one.

Function of Parasympathetic Nervous System

The responsibilities of the parasympathetic nervous system are most easily described by the common feed and breed and rest and digest phrases. The parasympathetic nervous system is dominant when the body is in a relaxed state. Relaxing, sleeping, and low-effort activities are all examples of when the parasympathetic nervous system is dominant. The parasympathetic nervous system also governs sexual arousal, though the autonomic nervous system may begin shifting to a sympathetic state if sexual activities become especially energetic.

While most people are aware of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, their functions, and the importance of keeping the two balanced, many people still have unbalanced nervous systems. Using everyday examples this article presents an easy to grasp methodology of how to stay balanced between sympathetic and parasympathetic states. First let’s examine the symptoms of an overly-active sympathetic and (less commonly) an overly-active parasympathetic nervous system.

Adrenal Fatigue

The entire nervous system is highly complex being composed of many different parts, from various glands of the endocrine system, to an assortment of chemicals and neurotransmitters, to neurons themselves and the ion balances they maintain in order to discharge (known as a neural spike). Whenever the nervous system is interacted with it is stressed to some degree, and this impact will tax the resources available to the system. The larger the stress to the system the larger the depletion of required components like vitamins, minerals, and neurotransmitters.

For example endurance exercise like running will causes the adrenal glands to release the hormone cortisol and also vitamin C (both useful for performance purposes_. Post exercise the adrenal glands now will replenish cortisol levels to normal by synthesizing it from cholesterol and other chemicals. A 20 minute jog will stress the adrenal glands much less than a 90 minute run. If adequate recovery and nutrition is not provided after the exercise, the body suffers but will adapt to the new reality, reducing performance capabilities. Overtime after many bouts of exercise if such disregard of keeping the natural systems well fueled and in balance continues the result is adrenal fatigue, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome. The body underwent long term adaptations (like low-energy sluggishness) to the stresses of an overly active sympathetic nervous system in order to provide the body the best chance of recovery through unconscious behavioral alteration. Said another way, you’ll be less likely to exercise if you don’t feel high energy to begin with, which gives the adrenal glands a better chance of restoring themselves to proper function.

Note - For those who practice herbalism taking ashwagandha before the exercise, or later as part of a recovery protocol, could have helped prevent adrenal fatigue from developing in the first place (though certainly a good diet, enough rest, and the right mindset are the most important factors).

The adrenals are one gland of many in the endocrine (hormone) system, and the endocrine system is one part of many of the nervous system. For this reason, if balance isn’t maintained between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, the imbalance can manifest in a nearly limitless amount of ways, from reduced immunity to the development of a chronic disease.

Visualizing the Activity of the Autonomic Nervous System

In the example above with the constant endurance exercise causing adrenal fatigue it’s important to note two things. First, exercise which is a sympathetic activity is good for health and wellness when done to the proper limit which causes a beneficial adaptation. Second, after this exercise occurs it’s most advantageous to rest and refuel fairly soon afterwards.

Let’s visual various states of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity using waves. Each wave has a positive (peak) and negative (trough). A wave cannot be a wave without both parts. Sympathetic waves will be colored pink and parasympathetic waves will be colored green.

Example 1 - Laying in bed all day

If one was to wake up and continue lying in bed all day until it was time to sleep again, the wave would actually look like a straight line going deeper and deeper into parasympathetic activity.

Example 2 - Hectic day with no rest

If one was to wake up and immediately afterwards be crazy active all day fueled throughout with a few cups of coffee and no rest is taken then the wave would look like a line going upwards further and further into sympathetic nervous system activity.

In both of these simple examples we’ll note that in order to return to balance the person who slept all day should be fairly active the next (and they should have the energy for it), whereas the over-active person should rest and relax most of the following day (and they should be sufficiently tired). If these steps are taken then the full up and down of the autonomic nervous system wave would be balanced over a two day time scale rather.

---

Example 3 - Lazy day with run then rest

Now let’s visualize a lazy rest day with a run in the middle. They’re doing some chores, some relaxing, it’s a fairly good balance of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity up to the run.

As shown, the run caused a spike in sympathetic activity and then because they rested afterwards a corresponding dip into parasympathetic activity, a healthy balance over that few hour timespan.

---

Now let’s visual a hectic workday fueled by a couple cups of coffee followed by a run immediately after work. After the run two main options are present. Does the person rest enough to recover from all the go-go-go activity for the day, or do they continue around being busy and stressed? Here’s what each of these options looks like.

Example 4 - Hectic day with run & no rest

This graphic shows the person accumulated a net sympathetic balance which the body will require to be balanced out at some later point in time, the sooner the better. While that day may have been stressful, with sufficient rest the following day (like shown in the 2 day version of example 2) the body will adapt to the whole experience and health is maintained. If that day is never recovered from, and in fact that type of lifestyle continues on day after day for a couple years, then the tide that eventually flows out (deep parasympathetic rest) will be just as large as the tide of sympathetic activity that flowed in unbroken for weeks/months/years.

The required parasympathetic recuperation that the nervous system requires might finally be triggered by the onset of an illness or disease…or if the person is conscious and checks their ego they’ll catch it early and make the necessary lifestyle adjustments in order to return to optimal health and wellness.

Example 5 - Hectic day with run then rest

This graphic on the other hand shows that sympathetic and parasympathetic balance was reached on that day and no long term health effects will result. Having recovered sufficiently, the person adapted to the run and improved their future performance slightly.

The point of these examples is to impress upon you the importance of having a lifestyle that maintains sympathetic and parasympathetic balance and to typically keep the waves small. Larger waves have the potential to create more problems, so don’t create large waves yourself as life will do that for you already in abundance. If a large wave of stress comes in, like from being fired or the death of a family member, if you’re already riding a large wave of sympathetic activity then things can go south quickly.

Note - All these examples made the assumption that the person slept a restful 8 hours after the day was done. If sleep is poor then parasympathetic recovery will be reduced correspondingly and will add further complications to the matter. Learn more about the importance of sleep.

Easy Recovery Methods

We’ll return to the example of a bout of exercise to outline the strategy I follow to maintain sympathetic and parasympathetic balance across a short time scale in order to parasympathetic debt to accumulate.

• Ease into a workout with a warm-up. This primes the body for better performance by allowing time for the metabolic systems to warm up instead of being quickly jolted into a demanding sympathetic state.

• Rest after a workout with a cool-down. Once the main working sets of a workout are complete, take a short period of time to rest afterwards, whether it’s a minimum of five minutes of shavasana or a more complete thirty minute stretch session. The yogic systems teach this well, every yoga session is followed by some time lying down in shavasana (corpse pose) and deeply relaxing. Increase the efficiency of a post workout rest with healthy sun exposure if possible in order to replenish vitamin D levels in the body (important after a workout).

• If a workout is one hour long, set aside one hour of rest afterwards or later in the day. This can watching a show, reading a book, light conversation, etc. Three hours of hard physical fitness is best served with three hours of rest. This 1:1 ratio is a simple rule of thumb that can be followed, the intensity of an activity (fitness or rest) will determine exactly how much is required to balance out the demands of the other.

Sympathetic and parasympathetic fluctuations over longer time spans are harder to measure unless careful observations are continuously made. For example the demands and stresses of the first 3 months of a new job would build over time, and to recover from the sympathetic stress that accumulated would require a longer period of rest and recovery, such as a long weekend spent camping in nature and grounding. Or that stress could have been balanced out by starting a new recovery practice like grounding alongside the job.

One final relevant example would be if drinking coffee daily for 4 weeks (which increases sympathetic activity through the release of cortisol), then coffee consumption should be reduced or cycled off completely for 4 weeks or so. If that proposition sounds difficult, read my caffeine usage and tolerance reset guide.

If taking an herb like cistanche (which raises testosterone levels and therefore sympathetic activity) for performance or health reasons cycle off the herb for as long as you were using it for. This on/off strategy holds true for most supplements. Creating longer fluctuations of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity can be useful for certain endeavors, whether health or career related, just be aware that certain risk factors will increase and the proper steps should be taken to maintain balance as best as possible.

Over-active sympathetic nervous system activity is far more common than experiencing too much parasympathetic activity, so learn more useful recovery methods you can use to maintain balance by reading through our recovery focused articles:

Balancing Stress and Rest

The equation is simple, the addition of new stresses requires the addition of new recovery practices. Likewise, if lazing and grazing about all day (parasympathetic), then it would be best to introduce some sympathetic activity like walking, yoga, calisthenics, strength training, running, heat therapy via a sauna or steam room, etc into the daily routine.

The recommendations given in how to balance sympathetic and parasympathetic states is not intended to be viewed through the lens of limitation but instead seen opportunistically. Lifestyle changes may be required to better maintain a state of autonomic nervous system balance, but when those waves of beyond-our-control stressors eventually roll in, better adaptability to these challenges more than makes up for any slight conveniences that may have been sacrificed up until that moment. With time and practice, the flow of maintaining balance is felt intuitively pretty easily, and it’s not difficult to keep activity balanced with recovery. In addition to being a very important factor in the maintenance of good health, being in the flow of balance requires minimal thought and consciousness which frees up time, cognitive power, and resources for other desires and ventures.

The information presented here is a combination of biological science and my own experience learning how to maintain nervous system balance. When I was in my mid to late twenties I went through a multi-year phase of heavy strength training coupled with a disregard of performing an equivalent amount of recovery practices. I pushed my sympathetic system further and further until I was jolted to the realization that I needed to practice better management of my energy systems. I experienced adrenal fatigue and it took me about a year to really reset my nervous system back to point of health and balance by moving away from weights and by practicing a lot of yoga, meditation, and grounding. I am thankful I learned he lesson of maintaining balance when I did rather than many years down the line after greater unnecessary hardship.

Too much or too little stress/activity is a large causal factor in serious health problems like obesity, infectious diseases, and chronic diseases, so if you respect your physiological and psychological need for both activity and rest and you’ll have solved for yourself one of the largest wellness problems that effects humanity.

---