nervous-system - Concepts
Explore concepts tagged with "nervous-system"
Total concepts: 14
Concepts
- Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia - The natural variation in heart rate that speeds up with inhalation and slows with exhalation, reflecting vagal activity.
- Autonomic Nervous System - The nervous system division controlling involuntary functions like heart rate and digestion.
- Autonomic Flexibility - The capacity of the nervous system to shift smoothly between sympathetic arousal and parasympathetic recovery as context demands.
- Rest and Digest - The everyday name for the parasympathetic state in which the body restores, repairs, and processes food.
- Vagal Tone - The activity level of the vagus nerve - a key indicator of stress resilience and emotional regulation capacity.
- Orienting Response - The reflexive turning of attention toward a novel stimulus that prepares the body to assess and respond.
- Polyvagal Theory - Stephen Porges' theory of a three-part nervous system hierarchy: social engagement, fight/flight, and freeze.
- Vagus Nerve - The longest cranial nerve connecting the brain to major organs, key to the relaxation response.
- Freeze Response - The immobilization response to overwhelming threat when fight or flight seems impossible.
- Co-regulation - The process of regulating emotional and physiological states through connection and interaction with another person.
- Allostasis - The process by which the body actively maintains stability through change, predicting and adjusting to demands.
- Sympathetic Dominance - A chronic state in which the fight-or-flight branch of the nervous system stays activated without adequate recovery.
- Parasympathetic Recovery - The physiological restoration process driven by the parasympathetic nervous system after sympathetic activation.
- Social Engagement System - The ventral vagal circuit that supports safety, connection, and co-regulation in the presence of other people.
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