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the 30 second eye exercise worked for me, thanks for sharing! will try out the limb exercise (which makes sense, people often "relax" each bodypart as they're falling asleep)
looks like deep breathing (~6-8 breaths/min) helps engage the parasympathetic nervous system too https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5709795/
Good observations! There is a lot of research that corroborates and/or verifies pretty much everything that you have stated. Attempting to consciously slow both the breath and heart rate, as well as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques like the "body scan", are very effective ways of relaxing an overstimulated sympathetic nervous system and engaging the parasympathetic system.
There are also many "physical" tools and approaches that can assist with this process (such as brainwave entrainment, biofeedback devices, vagus nerve stimulation, reducing caffine/nicotine intake, etc.).
In reference to the "default mode network", I assume you are referring to Gary Weber's work (e.g.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX1IFUDNtto)? Challenging the validity of one's negative thinking through "thought records" and "reality testing" is done extensively throughout various forms of modern psychotherapy too, especially CBT.
By changing our mental-emotional state we can affect the literal structure and functioning of the body, and vice versa. I look forward to more social awareness about this fact as fields like "psychoneuroimmunology" are further developed. Thank you for sharing!