parasympathetic nervous system

[Iwillheal]

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What's a really good book that goes into details on parasympathetic nervous system?

I was reading an article online on activating the parasympathetic nervous system through deep breathing and relaxation. Then I read another article by someone who was saying even chewing a gum stimulates the PNS. Btw, these articles were not written by psychologists (or at least I could not verify it). Then I realized that it's been a long time since I've taken a course in neurobiology and in all honesty I can't tell which claims are truthful and which aren't. And someone was claiming that progressive muscle relaxation also works by influencing the PNS and I was not sure how exactly. So I searched for "parasympathic nervous system activation" and "progressive muscle relaxation" in google scholar but found only a handful of articles, none helpful. The only way I can think of accessing the PNS branch is either top-down, and something like meditation or hypnosis, or bottom-up through deep breathing. Yet there all kinds of claims, like yawning/sighing/laughing, eating something sweet, chewing gum, masturbation, crying, etc.

 

[Psychadelic2012]

Yet there all kinds of claims, like yawning/sighing/laughing, eating something sweet, chewing gum, masturbation, crying, etc.

I would think that any basic anatomy/physiology book would cover this topic. It's really not very complicated, as far as what activates the PNS--the whole body is involved. I don't understand the skepticism, I guess. Get yourself a book on A&P.

 

[Ollie123]

I'm somewhat confused about both the skepticism, and what exactly you are looking for from the book. Are you just looking for general info on the parasympathetic system, or details on its relationship with things like PMR, etc.? There are a lot of psychophysiology texts that cover some of this information in a pretty concise way, as well as some great review papers on ways of measuring PNS activation, manipulations that affect PNS activation, etc. However, I'm not aware of anything that specifically focuses on the PNS and the techniques you mention.

We're talking about a very large and widespread system, so its going to be associated with a lot of things that may not have obvious connections - this is why we do research🙂 A little like how the same brain region can be activated by seemingly unrelated processes.

 

[Iwillheal]

Sorry guys for the confusing nature of my post. It was late at night. There are two different things I am interested in. One would be detailed info on biology of the parasympathetic nervous system. Some books on neurobiology are just terrible in presenting complex information in a fairly straightforward way and other times they bore me to tears. I was hoping to find a book with lots of nice diagrams, pictures, and also the latest research findings on how the PNS (or ANS generally, obviously) works. The second thing I was thinking about what the relaxation response. What are the most effective ways to induce the relaxation response. For example, why do deep breathing if chewing gum is more effective? And yes, these are all research questions but I do need a solid foundation (books, seminal articles, etc) before I can get going. I've changed labs recently (long story) and just working on several potential lines of research at the same time, if this makes any sense. So I'm more "all over the place" than usual, in every sense of the word.

Thanks Jon for the book recommendation.