We have all heard that we need to regulate and manage our nervous system. But what exactly does that mean and what exactly and how can we use our nervous system to help us find out highest level and self.
The nervous system is the body’s response system to our environment along with involuntary controlling our breathing, heart rate, and other bodily functions. The nervous system does this so our brain can focus on the world around us and allow us not to think about blinking or breathing, it just happens. But the other thing the nervous system does is it tells our body of danger or perceived threats to us or our surroundings. For humans entire existence the nervous system has acted as an intuition and gut feeling check telling us when a situation, or event, or person feels off.
Our body sends us signals that many of us ignore, telling us that there may be danger in what we are doing. In these scenarios our heart rate increases, we get tunnel visioned, we feel tension - our body enters into fight or flight mode becoming mobilized and ready to act. If this state becomes more extreme we enter an immobilized or collapsed state. This state is the feeling of being stuck, low energy, and dissociated; someone may just be going through the motions on the day to day basis while in this extreme dorsal state.
Whereas when we feel safe, we feel a connection to others and self and we are able to perceive and decipher the world around us easier. The body enters its default system, lower heart rate and deep nasal breathing allow us to rest and digest. Additionally, maintaining a regulated nervous system increases health and the immune system, the quality of our sleep, and our general overall health. While this state sounds ideal and that it just happens naturally, there are actually things we can do to regulate our system and enter this sacred state with our nervous system.
There are a couple of metrics to use as a proxy to determining the regulation of our nervous system. One of those is a metric called Heart Rate Variability or HRV. While measuring heart rate we generally want a lower heart rate to determine better health, HRV wants to be higher. HRV is a way to measure the time between our heart’s heartbeats. The heart doesn’t beat in consistent intervals and measuring the length between these intervals and cycles can be used to show how quickly or slowly the heart gets back to a normal frequency after a workout, stressful event, or waking up from bed. Big changes to our HRV may show that our body feels unsafe and is out of regulation and we need to find a way to calm back down so we can feel safe again.
So how do we regulate our nervous system? How can we self-regulate our nervous system beyond what our body already does on a daily basis? I’ve talked about mental skills before (Visualization, Meditation, and Breathwork), and all of these skills can be used to help us regulate our nervous system. Our body usually reacts with fear in unfamiliar situations, so a visualization practice can help us become familiar with the unknown and better prepared to handle one of these situations if they come up. Meditation is a way of slowing down and bringing awareness back into the body, allowing us to become present in the body and away from the racing thoughts of the mind. While breathwork techniques can help slow down the heart rate and focus back to the present moment. These are all very beneficial tools.
Additionally there are other methods we can use, such as cold showers and cold exposure. Cold showers and exposure are a recent phenomenon but they are very important for recovery and for regulating our nervous system. Cold exposure has numerous health benefits such as increased metabolism, reduced inflammation and sore muscles. Additionally, there are nervous system benefits such as improved sleep, focus, and heightened immune response. Lastly and maybe most importantly cold exposure activates the Vagus Nerve. The vagus nerve connects the brainstem to the body and receives all the feedback from our body to our brain. The activation of the Vagus Nerve can trigger that rest and digest activity I mentioned earlier and allow us to calm down and focus on our environment.
Lastly, we have somatic healing. Which is heightened awareness of out body to find the underlying trigger to our triggered nervous system. We know that an accelerated heart rate and rapid breathing is a sign of dysregulation but how can we regulate back to balance and safety? Sometimes we need to slowly add movement to the body, getting out in nature is super beneficial for this, or stimulating our body maybe by touching our fingertips or rubbing our palms. But we need to do something that allows our body to feel safe again and come back home to itself. Somatic healing is just a simple technique, much like breathwork or meditation to bring awareness back to the present and get ourselves out of our own heads.
So at the end of the day why does this regulation matter? A regulated nervous system means that you feel safe. And if you feel safe then you can achieve your dreams and understand the energy and effort you can put into things. If you are in an unregulated state and overwork yourself your body is never going to be able to catch up. But if you are able to find a regulated state and then put in the right amount of energy and effort correlated to your current state you can continue to find your personal edge and achieve your highest self. The regulation of your nervous system allows you to exude and embody everything you want in life and to actually manifest the life you deserve.
Opening up about my struggles. The isolating, the lonliness, the fear. Hoping to help anyone struggling so they know they are not along
Opening on how to change to conversation around mental health and helping others find their spark
