Nervous System: Reporting for Duty

For as long as I can remember, I have been an anxious person. To cope with that anxiety, I developed some mechanisms to help alleviate it. They weren’t always the healthiest options and often revolved around avoiding or distracting myself from my emotional experience. However, like what you may be experiencing, they worked by giving me a sense of control and “faux” regulation. I didn’t understand the brain/body connection and often couldn’t even access how my body was responding and what it was trying to tell me.

At the time, I was doing the best I could with what I had access to, and I believe that is true for all of us. If you’re reading this, I am guessing you are curious about the mind/body connection and want to feel more regulated and connected with your body. The good news? I can help!

Are You Easily Dysregulated?

Maybe you find that you are easily “dysregulated” or use coping mechanisms you don’t really love. Beginning to understand your body, its cues, and how to respond to them is crucial in our mental health journey.

Hear me when I say that being regulated all the time is NOT the goal. The goal of understanding our nervous system is that we can bring ourselves back into regulation, safety, and connection.

First, let's dig into the sciencey facts about the nervous system.

Your Nervous System: The Body’s Command Station

Your nervous system is your body’s “command station.” It regulates all your body’s systems and allows you to experience your environment. It is a vast network of nerves that sends electrical signals to and from other cells, glands, and muscles all over your body. These nerves receive information from the world around you, interpret it, and control your responses.

Your nervous system is broken up into two main parts: the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system.

• Central Nervous System (CNS): Made up of your brain and spine. Your brain uses your nerves to send messages to the rest of your body.
• Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): Consists of many nerves that branch out from your CNS all over your body. This system relays information from your brain and spinal cord to your organs, arms, legs, fingers, and toes. It contains both your:
• Somatic Nervous System: Guides your voluntary movements, such as walking.
• Autonomic Nervous System: Controls the activities you do without thinking about them.

OK… So What Does It DO Though?

Your nervous system guides almost everything you do, think, say, or feel. It controls complicated processes like movement, thought, and memory. It also plays an essential role in the things your body does without thinking, such as breathing, blushing, and blinking.

Your Nervous System Affects Every Aspect of Your Health, Including:

• Thoughts, memory, learning, and feelings
• Movements, such as balance and coordination
• Senses, including how your brain interprets what you see, hear, taste, touch, and feel
• Sleep, healing, and aging
• Heartbeat and breathing patterns
• Response to stressful situations
• Digestion, as well as how hungry and thirsty you feel
• Body processes, such as puberty

Basically, the primary jobs of our nervous system are to:

• Keep us safe
• Protect us from bodily harm

A healthy nervous system does a good job of this by assessing situations and helping us make judgments and decisions. Many of these processes happen outside of our conscious awareness.

When the Nervous System Misfires

In an ideal situation, our nervous system perceives a threat accurately, helps us respond appropriately, and then returns to a place of safety once it understands that we are no longer in harm's way. However, sometimes our nervous system doesn’t perceive the intensity of a threat correctly. It might see situations as more threatening than they are, especially when we have experienced trauma and have a nervous system that is more sensitive to threat.

Want to Learn More?

Check out my Understanding Your Nervous System Guide for the nitty gritty on Nervous System 101 along with some helpful worksheets and lessons to learn more about your triggers, glimmers, mapping, and learning how to regulate your nervous system.

Remember, the goal isn’t to always be regulated but to be able to detect when we are feeling triggered, understand what triggered us, and learn to return to a place of regulation. Take it slow, you're doing great!

Want more support? I am accepting therapy clients in Charlotte, NC as well as virtually in NC and SC.

I also offer virtual and in person groups for individuals in NC and SC, so make sure you check those out too!

Are you a therapist? I offer supervision and consulting for therapists as well as The Therapist Toolbox Resource Library for other providers. 

I share practical ideas and techniques over on Instagram at @sometimesatherapist.