Understanding the Nervous System
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is amazing! Its job is to keep us alive, and it does that by regulating our state depending on the cues of safety it takes in around us. Through a process called neuroception, our ANS is constantly gathering information to decide if we are in safety or danger in order to physiologically respond appropriately by one of three states: ventral vagal, sympathetic, or dorsal vagal freeze.
​
The ventral vagal, or parasympathetic state, also known as the rest, digest and healing state, is where we are calm, socially engaged, connected, creative, curious, present and grounded. Our nervous system is regulated, we have plenty of energy, and we feel healthy and alive.
When we experience a trigger, our body responds with a startle response. The body releases adrenaline to give us energy to take action. Our senses become heightened to fully take in everything around us and assess for danger. Our nervous system shifts into the sympathetic state, also known as fight or flight. This is a high energy, dysregulated survival state. We can feel anxious, stressed, angry, restless, activated, and hypervigilant. Because of the high energy demand of the sympathetic state, our nervous system cannot stay here permanently, which leads us into the third state of the nervous system.
​
The dorsal vagal save, also known as freeze or overwhelm, is the third state of the nervous system. This is a low energy, dysregulated trauma state. We feel exhausted, heavy, depressed, shut down, and may have chronic pain or autoimmune disease. When things have been too much too fast or too little for too long, our body goes into the dorsal vagal freeze to keep us alive. Whenever there is any thwarted movement – such as literally running out of energy or any type of real or perceived restraint – our body goes into this survival response. This is a trauma state but note that it does not take a traumatic event for our nervous system to experience trauma in the body.
​
A key player in determining the state of our nervous system is our vagus nerve. The 10th cranial nerve, the vagus (meaning wandering) starts at the brainstem, splits into ventral and dorsal branches, and runs all the way down into the lower pelvic region. It’s the longest nerve in our body and is responsible for providing feedback from our lower region back up to our brain. You may have heard about the gut-brain connection, but did you know that only between 20-30% of information goes from our brain to our gut? The remaining 70-80% of information is relayed up from the vagus nerve to the brain. That’s a LOT of information and cues of safety or danger! Sometimes it can be too much (remember too much too fast which can put us into the trauma state?), and our bodies develop coping mechanisms to shut off the input coming from the vagus nerve. One coping strategy many are familiar with is bracing patterns such as raising the shoulders. When shoulders are hunched up (think stress!) it cuts off some of the vagus nerve feedback and thus can help keep things more manageable for our system.
​
Something important to notice in this discussion so far: everything takes place physiologically. Our bodies are designed to keep us safe and adapt without any conscious input on our part. This is an important point to understand because we cannot THINK our way out of a state of the nervous system. We cannot will ourselves to have more energy if we are in a dorsal vagal freeze or just simply think our way to feeling less stressed if our body is in the sympathetic. These are normal physiological responses to the state of our nervous system. As the saying goes, “The issue is in the tissues”. Our body responds the way it is designed to, to keep us safe and alive.
​
Another important thing to remember is that our nervous system does its job of keeping us alive by trying to stay regulated. Regulation is survival, and therefore our nervous system seeks to be regulated at all cost. If a system is dysregulated, it will be seeking a means to regulate itself. That means may not be healthy or the best choice for us, but the coping mechanism could be the best we can do at the time. Remember, it’s nervous system regulation at all cost, even the cost of unhealthy coping mechanisms. It’s a matter of survival for our nervous system.
​
Think of this example. Have you ever faced a difficult circumstance that you didn’t know how to handle? You sleep poorly, unable to shut off your thoughts, and feel tired when getting up in the morning. Did you stop and assess that maybe your nervous system was in a state of overwhelm and wonder how you could best support it? Or did you just go grab a double shot latte to give you the boost of energy you need to get through your day? Or think of a time you had a big argument with a family member or friend. Did you stop and consider that your anger and agitation were because your nervous system was in the sympathetic state, or did you just go grab your food, drink, or drug of choice to emotionally eat, drink or numb your way back to feeling calm again? It’s nervous system regulation at all cost.
​
What if there was a better, healthier way, to restore calm in our system? The good news is, there is! We can work with our body to help shift the state of our nervous system towards ventral vagal, and that’s where I, as your Nervous System Wholeness Coach, can help! We can use IASIS Microcurrent Neurofeedback (MCN), somatic exercises, neurodevelopmental movements, and the far infrared sauna to provide inputs of safety to your nervous system and thus gently help shift it back into ventral vagal where you can be fully present and engaged with life. I look forward to working with you!