Regulating Your Nervous System
- September 30, 2024
Understanding how our nervous system works and recognizing our responses to stress can help us manage symptoms of anxiety and stress so that we can maintain a calm mind and body and reduce the impact of stress on our health.
The Autonomic Nervous System
The Autonomic Nervous System is composed of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). It is called autonomic because it controls many of the body’s involuntary functions, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and digestion. While the SNS prepares the body for “fight or flight” responses during stressful situations, the PNS is responsible for “rest and digest” activities, promoting relaxation, recovery, and conservation of energy.
Responses of Sympathetic Nervous System
The “fight, flight, freeze, fawn” responses are four primary reactions to stress or perceived threats. When a threat is perceived, the amygdala in the brain processes this information and signals the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus then activates the sympathetic nervous system, leading to the release of adrenaline from the adrenal glands.
Fight: The body prepares to confront and combat the threat by increasing heart rate, muscle tension, adrenaline release, and heightened alertness. This is where we might have a confrontation.
Flight: The body prepares to escape or flee from the threat, with similar physical changes as fight except the behaviours are running away, avoiding confrontation, hanging up on the person, and seeking safety.
Freeze: The body becomes immobile, often to avoid detection or as a result of overwhelming fear. Physical symptoms might include decreased heart rate, muscle paralysis, a sense of numbness or dissociation. We might be unable to move or
speak, feel trapped or “frozen,” or stare blankly, even though under calmer circumstances, we would know what to do.
Fawn: The body attempts to appease or placate the threat, often as a survival mechanism. Symptoms include increased heart rate and anxiety, activation of social and submissive behaviors such as people-pleasing, overly accommodating behavior, seeking to win the approval of others to avoid conflict.
Awareness of these responses and understanding their purpose is the first step in regulating your nervous system when under stress. It is important to know that these responses have evolved to enhance survival.
Understanding Anxiety
Chronic activation of the stress response can lead to anxiety. Anxiety and panic attacks are a disproportionate stress response, meaning there is too much adrenalin for what the situation warrants. If you are just sitting at a stop light and your body is pumping out enough adrenalin to face a sabretooth tiger, that is going to feel really bad.
The stress response is our body’s attempt to keep us safe. Knowing this, we can be kinder to ourselves when our stress response kicks in. Try expressing gratitude to your body for keeping you safe. With hand on your heart, gently say, thank you body for alerting me to danger, but I am safe.
Stress Effects in the Brain
The brain can be divided into the upstairs and the downstairs brain. The upstairs brain is our cortex, or our grey matter, and is where our rational and logical thought occurs. Our downstairs brain is our reptilian brain, also called our limbic system and includes the amygdala which is responsible for our emotional response.
When we are faced with a perceived threat, our downstairs brain is activated into fight or flight and we are able to react quickly and use our impulses and instincts. We are not longer using our upstairs brain or our logical thought.
In stressful situations, like an argument with another person, our downstairs brain can flood with adrenalin and our “lid can flip”. Make a fist and curl your fingers down over your thumb. Your fingers are your cortex and your thumb is your limbic
system. Now flip your fingers up, this is a flipped lid. (Thanks to psychologist Jody Carrington for this analogy).
When our lid flips, we are no longer able to be rational. Emotions can run high and we are not able to find a solution for ourselves, nor are we responsive to solutions from others. The best way to bring down a flipped lid is connection and compassion. Imagine how different it would feel if you someone said to you (or you say to yourself), “Why are you getting so upset? Just figure it out!” vs. “Wow, you are really upset. That’s okay. Let’s take some deep breaths and when you are calmer, we’ll figure it out.”
Vagus Nerve Stimulation
The vagus nerve, plays a crucial role in the parasympathetic nervous system. The vagus nerve originates in brain and innervates various organs, including the heart, lungs, stomach, intestines, and other parts of the digestive tract, regulating heart rate, breathing and digestive functions.
Certain activities can naturally stimulate the vagus nerve, enhancing parasympathetic activity and promoting relaxation:
- Deep and Slow Breathing
- Practices with breathwork such as Yoga and Meditation
- Singing, Humming and Chanting
- Gargling
- Splashing cold water on the face, cold showers and cold plunges
Calming our Nervous System
In addition to vagus nerve stimulation there are other effective ways to calm your nervous system.
Deep Breathing: Slow, deep breaths can activate the PNS, promoting relaxation. Meditation:
- Mindfulness Meditation: Focusing on the present moment without judgment can help reduce SNS activation and enhance PNS activity. ● Body Scan Meditation: Paying attention to different parts of the body sequentially can promote relaxation and awareness.
- Progressive Muscle Relaxation: Tensing and then slowly relaxing each muscle group can reduce physical tension and promote relaxation.
Exercise: Activities like walking, jogging, yoga, and tai chi can help regulate the ANS by reducing stress hormones and increasing endorphins.
Social Connection: Engaging with supportive friends and family can activate the PNS and reduce stress. This is the science behind our Wild Collective group health program.
Nature: Activities like walking in a park or forest bathing can lower cortisol levels and promote relaxation.
Sensory Techniques: use the senses to stay connected to the present moment. Examples include grounding techniques (holding an object and focusing on its texture) and weighted blankets to activate the PNS.
Craniosacral Therapy, Chiropractic, Counselling and ART
Grassroots offers craniosacral therapy and chiropractic medicine, and our practitioners are focused on nervous system balance. Additionally, we offer counselling services and ART therapy which can help remove stress and trauma from the nervous system.
Understanding your nervous system and strategies to help support it is an essential component of health and wellbeing.