Figure 2.

Model of Allostatic Mind Body States

Note. Specific physiological states are plotted on a Y-axis of autonomic nervous system (ANS) dominance, where equal dominance is set at 0 (black line) on the Y-axis. Sympathetic nervous system (SNS) dominant states are represented with circles placed above the X-axis and parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) dominant states are represented with circles below the axis. The X-axis represents the degree to which restorative biological processes are engaged, with allostatic states further to the right indicating greater restoration. Acute stress is shown as the high SNS dominant state (red circle). The moderate threat (orange circle) is SNS dominant though less so than acute stress (orange circle). Rest is when SNS and PNS activity are equally balanced (yellow circle). Deep rest is defined by PNS dominance (blue circle). The grey shaded area indicates that when PNS is dominant, enhanced cellular restoration begins. The dotted line represents our hypothesized average daily arousal levels for typical adults in the Western modernized world of working age. Of note, positive arousal states, such as extreme excitement or joy, can induce subtle short-term arousal that may be similar to an SNS dominant state, and positive physiological stressors (hormetic stress) can create short-term acute stress followed by recovery states that may be restorative (these are not shown in the figure). See the online article for the color version of this figure.