Nervous System Regulation 101
The nervous system is having a moment online right now, with tons of claims that everything from the way you hold your arms when you sleep to your mindless hair twirling habit are signs your nervous system is dysregulated. But why does having a dysregulated nervous system even matter and how does it impact your health? Instead of having a vague understanding on what it means to have a regulated nervous system, let’s get clear on how you can support your nervous system for better mental health.
Today in Part 1 of the Nervous System Regulation series, we’ll get clear on what your nervous system *actually* does and how it’s supposed to function in the body, explore what a “dysregulated nervous system” looks like, and why it can be problematic when trying to take care of your mental health.
WHAT IS THE NERVOUS SYSTEM?
Think of your nervous system like your body’s personal computer processing system. The nervous system oversees all the communication between nerve cells in the body, sending out signals in the form of neurons to communicate to other organs in the body. There are two main branches of the nervous system called the parasympathetic (PNS) and sympathetic (SNS) nervous system. You might have heard these referred to as your rest and digest or fight or flight systems, because the PNS is responsible for helping your body relax so you can properly digest your food and the SNS helps activate your body for a potential threat.
Fight or flight mode or sympathetic activation is when your body sends out signals that the body needs to take action. The classic example of a stressor is if you’re running from a tiger, but in our modern world this could be someone cutting you off in traffic or even a Slack work notification. These signals will cause your heart rate to speed up, your liver will release glucose or sugar and your adrenals will release adrenaline, so you have energy for a fight. These signals are your body’s way of telling you, “we need to be on alert now.”
When your parasympathetic or rest and digest system is activated, calming signals are sent out to the organs in the body. Your heart rate slows, the gallbladder is stimulated to release bile to help you breakdown your food, and your pupils will constrict. It’s your body’s way of telling your organs, “it’s okay to relax now.”
“When your parasympathetic nervous system is activated,
your body is telling you “it’s okay to relax now.”
In recent years there has been more research done on the vagus nerve and Polyvagal Theory has introduced the concept that there is a third response your nervous system can default to beyond fight or flight or rest and digest and it's called the freeze response.
If you’ve ever been in a stressful situation and felt an intense need to sleep, had heavy brain fog, or you tend to shut down and feel emotionally disconnected from others when your mental health is struggling, your dorsal vagal response or freeze response may be overactive. Think of it as the opposite of the fight or flight response where instead of being activated, you’re immobilized as if your system is overwhelmed and shutting down. The freeze response is common for individuals who have undergone trauma or suffer from PTSD as the body has been in a stressed state for long periods of time.
IDEAL NERVOUS SYSTEM FUNCTION
When your nervous system is regulated properly it can identify and sound the alarm when your fight or flight needs to be activated and then when the threat has passed it’s able to switch off the alarm so the body can go back to rest and digest mode. You’re able to get quality sleep, digest your food properly, and focus on your work because your nervous system is not on alert to every little stressor.
Unfortunately, in our busy modern world it has become all too easy to become dysregulated where your body is stuck in fight or flight mode or freeze mode and can’t get into relaxation mode. Instead of identifying “real” threats, your nervous system is pinging messages to stay on alert from small stressors or inconveniences like a long to-do list, someone honking their horn, or a crowded grocery store. Stressful? Yes, but not worthy of an all-systems-go level of attack.
When you chronically live in fight or flight mode this can show up in the body in many ways such as high levels of anxiety, insomnia, and poor digestion.
THE VAGUS NERVE
All of these processes are happening automatically, so how can you help your nervous system stay regulated? The main nerve in charge of getting your body to relax is called the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the longest nerve in the body that starts in the brain and goes all the way down to the gut. When you have a “gut feeling” or get butterflies in your tummy, you can thank your vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is what helps connects all your organs and impacts their functioning.
Nervous system regulation work largely focuses on strengthening your vagal tone, because if you’re able to influence the longest nerve in the body that impacts your internal organs you are able to improve function of not just but your stress response but also your digestive health, immune system, and hormonal health. You can help your vagus nerve learn to correctly identify threat vs not a threat through methods such as breathwork, stimulation techniques, and nervine herbs which will be discussed more in Parts 3 and 4.
Understanding how the nervous system is supposed to function is the first step towards getting your body out of constant fight or flight mode. In Part 2, we’ll dive deeper into the causes of nervous system dysregulation and what conditions and symptoms can happen from chronic dysregulation. Part 3 and 4 will cover ways to keep your nervous system regulated so you can finally stop living in chronic stress and anxiety and actually learn to relax. You are not stuck living in fight, flight, or freeze mode. You can train your nervous system to function properly and take control of your mental health. I’ll see you in Part 2!
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REFERENCES
Polyvagal Theory by Finley Smith
Vinkers CH, Kuzminskaite E, Lamers F, Giltay EJ, Penninx BWJH. An integrated approach to understand biological stress system dysregulation across depressive and anxiety disorders. J Affect Disord. 2021 Mar 15;283:139-146. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.01.051. Epub 2021 Jan 27. PMID: 33549878.