DIY Orthostatic Pulse Test for Parasympathetic Overdrive-Overtraining

In this third video, Dr. Artour Rakhimov and Volker Schmitz discuss dysautonomia and the DIY test for the PNS (parasympathetic nervous system) mainly applied to professional sport overtraining, related to elite athletes in endurance or long-distance cardio sports such as running, cross country skiing, cycling, swimming, triathlon, etc. who experience parasympathetic overdrive, overtraining, overactivity or overstimulation or even parasympathetic failure.

The parasympathetic system is responsible for digestion and transitioning the body to calmer states. This is the opposite of the fight or flight aspect. In order to do this test we perform the opposite motion from the last test. First we stand and then we lay down. This is when the parasympathetic nervous system gets into action to slow our heart rate and lower our blood pressure and other bodily functions.

Example: As an example, imagine that a person standing up has 80 beats per minute. Then this person is to go into a horizontally position. At the same time their pulse is being constantly monitored and it starts to decrease. The long term value will go down to 60.

What would happen with a healthy person is that the heart rate gets down to 60 and stays there. There can be a +1 or -1 difference. When the parasympathetic system is too hyperactive, the pulse can go down to 55 or in severe cases it goes to 50-52 and then goes back to 60. The system goes to too relaxed state instead of what the body physiologically needs or deserves. This reflects a state of parasympathetic overtraining and common in cardio or endurance sports.

For more details and graphs/charts/images related to this DIY test to measure parasympathetic overdrive, see this page “DIY Orthostatic Pulse Test for Overactive PNS (Parasympathetic Nervous System)” - https://www.normalbreathing.com/s/dysautonomia-diy-overactive-parasympathetic-pns-test.php .

Some of Dr. Artour Rakhimov's friends had a heart rate in the low 30s. Also, he had friends that their heart rate would be 26 and 28 in the laying position. For these individuals their heart rate would be similar upon standing up because they did not have parasympathetic overtraining or over-activation.

In Dr. Artour Rakhimov's sport experience, for long distance or endurance athletes it is very common that they can have parasympathetic over stimulation due to prolonged overtraining (weeks or even months) at relatively low intensities. They train and compete for 5 to 6 hours a day. For these groups of people having the parasympathetic system over stimulated can be problematic. Dr. Artour Rakhimov personally experienced this about 2 to 3 times. He could not find anything about the DIY parasympathetic test in Western literature. While in the Soviet Union, it was very common for top level athletes/coaches and sport/team doctor to study and practice it.

In terms of solutions for this PNS overtraining or over-activation is to have some kind of mental stimulation-activation and rest. Also, having an active lifestyle and being involved in games. Doing this helps as opposed to practicing a monotonous walk or exercise. This would make the problem resolve relatively quickly. In most cases, 2 to 3 days would be enough to get healthy results on the DIY test.

The YouTube URL of this video is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC_7ir3Q15o /.

The URL for YouTube playlist “Dysautonomia/POTS/Sympathetic-Parasympathetic OverDrives: DIY Tests and Treatment”: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrtVGVhjonCAtbTykgf9uIzgzok8MQyZw .

The video features Volker Schmitz (Buteyko breathing practitioner from Hamburg, Germany) and Dr. Artour Rakhimov (Toronto, Canada) who was trained by medical doctors teaching the Buteyko Method in the Buteyko Moscow Clinic.

The video description was created with participation of Chris Prokop (Mississauga, Canada).

Keywords:

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