Ditch Stress

We all feel stressed or anxious from time to time and this is totally natural. However, when stress is high or chronic, it can have a huge impact on your body, and particularly on your autonomic nervous system. This is the part of your body that is responsible for regulating your breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and digestion.

Here we will go into the details of how this system works, as well as how to regulate your nervous system, which will assist you in managing stress, while increasing your well being and creating a more balanced life.

How does the autonomic nervous system work?

The nervous system is the control center of your body. It is responsible for everything from your heartbeat, your digestion, even the way you feel! One component that is particularly important when it comes to your emotional well being is your autonomic nervous system. It can be divided into two main parts: the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. Both of these systems employ hormones to help prepare us for what our brain perceives our needs to be.

Specifically, when the brain perceives a threat, the sympathetic nervous system, also known as our “fight or flight” response, gets activated. The symptoms are things like sweaty palms, and a racing heart, are the body’s way of preparing you for a stressful situation. The parasympathetic system, also known as the “rest and digest” mode, gets activated when our brains perceive that the stressful situation has subsided and it’s a good time to relax, so we can calm down and recover.

Both sides of this system are critical for our survival, however balance is key. We want both the sympathetic and parasympathetic to send out hormone signals in equal measure so that they can diffuse each other and help us to feel in control. If the sympathetic nervous system sends out too many stress hormones, we become fearful and anxious. If the parasympathetic nervous system pushes too many relaxation hormones we can feel apathetic and flat

Our larger nervous system, the Central Nervous System, is important because it keeps almost every aspect of your body working efficiently. The central nervous system is made up of the brain and spinal cord. Both the brain and the spinal cord are protected by bone: the brain by the skull and the spinal cord by vertebrae. 

The brain controls most of the functions of the body, including movement, awareness, speech, thinking, and the 5 senses. It also controls things we’re less aware of — like breathing, heart rate, hormones, and body temperature. The brain sends messages back and forth with the body. These messages travel through the spinal cord.

Our Autonomic Nervous System, which is a component of the CNS, is critical to our emotional health. When you encounter a stressful situation, your sympathetic nervous system jumps in to help you react appropriately by springing you into action. Then, when the stressful situation has subsided, your parasympathetic nervous system steps in to help you take a step back and relax. Ideally we need to maining a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. This allows our bodies to better respond appropriately to different situations, which leads to better mental and physical health.

How stress impacts your nervous system 

Whether it’s personal challenges at home or tight deadlines at work, stress can come from anywhere in your life. The sympathetic nervous system is activated when you’re stressed, in danger or physically active. What happens inside our bodies when we feel stressed?

When you are feeling stressed, your body has a natural response that helps to prepare you to manage the station and the feeling. This is when you might notice your palms getting sweaty, your heart rate increasing, your muscles tensing, or your palms getting sweaty. Its effects include increasing your heart rate and breathing ability, improving your eyesight, heightening alertness, and slowing down processes like digestion.

These are all signs that the sympathetic system is getting ready to either face down the threat or challenge, or escape from it, hence “fight or flight”. This reaction occurs when hormones are released in your body that urge you to either stay and fight it out or run and flee the danger. If the body perceives itself in danger, the sympathetic system works to keep you alive.

Your sympathetic nervous system(SNS) uses chemicals called neurotransmitters to communicate with the rest of the body. The SNS signals the adrenal glands to release hormones called adrenalin (epinephrine) and cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone produced by the two adrenal glands, which are located on top of each kidney. Maintaining a balance of cortisol is essential for health.

The Acute Stress Response – Fight or Flight

The term fight or flight response (also called hyperarousal or the acute stress response) was coined by Walter Cannon, an American physiologist, after realizing that there were a series of automatic and unconscious fast-acting reactions that occur inside the body to assemble resources to manage a threat.

In the years since his research, psychologists and physiologists have further developed and refined Canon’s work, coming to a more fulsome understanding of how people react to threats. This has led to defining what is now called fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. In this definition two more reactions are noted: freeze and fawn.

So to recap, fight is your body’s way of responding to a perceived threat aggressively. Flight is when your body urges you to run away from a threat. Freeze is your body’s inability to act or move against a threat. Fawn is when your body’s stress response is to work to please someone else in an attempt to avoid conflict.

When you feel threatened, your body rapidly responds to imminent danger. The underlying goal of springing into fight, flight, freeze, and fawn response are to end, decrease or evade danger and return to a relaxed, calm state.

Chronic Stress and Long Term Sympathetic Arousal 

This is great news in the short term, we need these processes to keep us alive and thriving! However, if your body is always in a state of high alert, it can start to cause problems. Our bodies just aren’t designed to be constantly under stress. When the sympathetic system is working overtime and our bodies are constantly flooded with adrenaline and cortisol, we can end up facing health issues.

In the short term, this looks like feeling tired, irritable, or having trouble sleeping. However, chronic stress and anxiety can strain your SNS. Over time, with the sympathetic nervous system being continually activated, can lead to having more serious health problems, like high blood pressure, heart issues, metabolic issues and weakened immune function.

Sign and Causes of a Dysregulated Nervous System

Typically in response to chronic stress, your body’s way of responding to certain situations can get out of sync. Nervous system dysregulation is this off-balance state, in which your body’s arousal and activation levels are out of sorts. This can make it hard to manage emotions and behaviour. 

There are many common signs that your nervous system might be off track or dysregulated. Recognizing these signs and understanding the causes is the first step in taking charge of your nervous system health. With this awareness you can restore the balance, and invite your parasympathetic nervous system to activate and promote steady breathing, relaxation, better digestion and lower blood pressure.

Some common signs of dysregulation include restlessness, anxiety, trouble sleeping, feeling on edge or being easily startled. Some people might experience muscle tension, headaches or digestive problems. It can cause an individual to respond to external stimuli in a way that doesn’t match reality. They may tend to feel overwhelmed or easily triggered by everyday situations.

Some signs to look out for that you may be experiencing a dysregulated nervous system:

Emotional rollercoaster: Extreme mood swings or can’t control your emotions

Poor impulse control: Struggles to make decisions or control impulses

Physical symptoms: Constant fatigue, headaches, persistent muscle pain or tension, digestive issues 

Cognitive issues: poor memory, difficulty concentrating or focusing 

Sleep struggles: Troubles falling or staying asleep

Reactivity: Overreaction to situations or hyper-sensitivity to certain stimuli

Fearful emotional states: Restlessness, anxiety and panic attacks, being easily startled

Over time, this can lead to more than just episodes of nervous dysregulation, but additional physical, mental and emotional health issues.

Some of the stressors that can disrupt nervous system balance and create dysregulation are:

Chronic Stress: When stress continues over a longer period of time

Traumatic events: Stressful, frightening or distressing events that are difficult to cope with or out of our control

Burnout: A state of complete mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion. 

Unhealthy diet: Lots of ultra processed foods, not enough whole foods

Poor sleep habits: Not getting sufficient sleep

Not taking time to rest and relax: Lack of rejuvenating and restful activities that activate the parasympathetic nervous system

Chronic stress, experiencing stressors over a prolonged period of time, can result in a long-term drain on the body. As the autonomic nervous system continues to trigger physical reactions, this causes wear-and-tear on the body. It’s less what chronic stress does to the nervous system, but the effect of the continuous activation of the nervous system on other bodily systems that becomes problematic.

A dysregulated nervous system can predispose a person to physical disorders or diseases such as asthma, allergies, diabetes, headaches, fibromyalgia, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal problems, rheumatoid arthritis, and even cancer. It can also predispose to mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety.

In future articles, we will delve into practical habits and techniques to help you regulate your nervous system, manage stress more effectively, and build resilience. By implementing these strategies, you can enhance your well-being, achieve a more balanced life, and improve both your mental and physical health.

Thank you for joining us on this journey through Nervous System 101. Stay tuned for more insights and tips on managing stress and achieving optimal health. Remember, a balanced nervous system is the foundation of a calm, centered, and resilient life.