It’s safe to say that our nervous system has been through a lot in the last couple of years. A global pandemic and overhaul of our social lives and work environment have brought in a set of new everyday challenges. Among all these, relaxing can be hard. This could result in high-stress levels and a dysregulated nervous system.
Poor sleep schedules, chronic anxiety, depression, traumatic events, mental stressors, and relationship conflicts can all play a part in unbalancing our nerves. With this, our body finds it hard to react appropriately to certain situations. Your life can get dominated by your erratic emotional behavior. Rational thinking takes a back seat, and the emotional part of the brain gets into a high-alert zone.
You might easily get angry, upset, or numb. You might feel detached or have a desperate urge to flee a situation or appease everyone around you. This can make it seem impossible to function at work or to maintain relationships.
The good news is that you can learn to self-regulate. A medical healthcare professional can also guide you on balancing your nerves. They can help you manage the stress and frustration that comes with the impulsive and emotional functioning of the brain.
Psychological Effects of a Dysregulated Nervous System
Our modern-day lifestyle provides every opportunity for our sympathetic nervous system to break down. The part of it that is involuntary and most affected by stressful events is the autonomic nervous system. It has two types: Sympathetic and Parasympathetic.
The sympathetic nervous system comes into action when we encounter a stressful situation. The body enters a fight or flight mode. This causes the blood pressure and heart rate to increase. The pupils dilate, and our breath starts racing. We become tensed up, ready to fight or flee the situation. Our body secretes hormones like adrenaline and cortisol.
This may not only result in a build-up of stress but may also reduce white blood cells. A prolonged state of this may comprise our body’s defense mechanism. A study conducted by Yale also found that chronic stress can shrink the brain and cause inflammation. In its attempt to fight, our body might attack itself with confusion. Obesity, mood disorders, and chronic fatigue syndrome are some of the possible consequences.
The parasympathetic system assists in the healing stage. It kicks into action when we are not in a state of danger. Our breath and heart rate slows down. Digestion and hormone levels become normal. In this state, our body detoxifies, restores, and regenerates.
In a dysregulated state, the sympathetic system becomes overly dominant. The body struggles to calm down and relax. It is constantly in a state of stress and high alert. The inability of our body to enter the state of “rest and digest” impacts our physical and mental well-being.
Common Signs and Symptoms
If there is an imbalance in your nervous system, you’ll experience many symptoms. These could exhibit mental and physical signs. Following are some examples:
- Difficulty focusing and regulating emotions
- A physical expression of emotional symptoms like unexplained body pains or headache
- Trouble digesting and sleeping
- Dizziness, heart racing, and feeling out of control
- Body tension, the feeling of dread or panic that came out of nowhere
- An outburst of emotions in situations that don’t need a drastic response
Ways to Manage It
Identifying the disproportion in our nerves is the first step. Next, you want to learn how to regulate them to restore normal functioning. The ideal way is to get your body to relax. Being stressed and scared in certain scenarios is normal, but you want your body to be able to recover from those feelings. Eliciting a relaxation response that ensures a move from the sympathetic to the parasympathetic nervous system will contribute to your mental, emotional and physical well-being.
Following are some ways that can help you:
1. Practice Deep Breathing
It may sound like a straightforward method, but it’s also extremely effective. It is clinically proven that five to twenty minutes of deep breathing exercises help reduce stress. This helps in restoring the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). It further facilitates ensuring the brain that no emergency is happening.
The most common exercises are variations of box breath exercises. The basic idea is to breathe through your nose for a count of four. Then you hold it for another four seconds. The last step is to exhale it for four seconds and hold it for another four seconds. Repeating this ten times a day can help in activating PNS.
2. Close Your Eyes and Relive a Happy Experience
Visualize a happy memory. Recall a good time you had with friends and family. Maybe a picnic or a get-together that brought you joy. Close your eyes and wander in that imagery. Stay in that experience until you feel calm. Stress causes a negative frequency in your brain. Visualizing good moments of the past tackles that negative frequency with a positive. This will calm down your nervous system.
3. Think of a Few Positive Thoughts
Dysregulation of nerves can overwhelm you with negative thoughts. It’s important to not stay in them and distract yourself quickly. Positive thoughts like your favorite food, a movie you liked, and future trips can all be your getaway. It takes away the air of negativity and prevents dysregulation.
4. Try Some Easy Movements and Exercise
Exercises keep your body active and healthy. Healthy bodies tackle stress a lot better. It also helps in maintaining a balance of hormones. Regular exercise facilitates a proper sleep schedule and a good appetite.
Furthermore, if done outdoors, it offers healing through serotonin-producing sunshine and oxygen-producing plants. Low serotonin levels can cause mood swings and are often associated with depression. It can be a separate activity from your to-do list. Some physical activity that you like to do without any agenda. It can be going for a morning run, playing any team sport, or working out in the gym.
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5. Explore Nature
Nature provides solace and peace. Have you ever been on a trek or to the coast of an empty beach? Does that not make you feel calm? It is surprising, the effect nature can have on us! The oxygen-rich environment, the mineral-rich soil, slow winds, and clear sunlight. Imagining this is enough to calm your senses.
Exploring nature gives you time away from your stressful everyday life. You can leave your work deadlines and a to-do list at home. Embrace nature for what it has to offer. Make sure while you are there, you keep your phones and laptops away. Don’t let them distract you from the beauty nature has to offer. Not only is this a good way of restoring your nervous system, but it can also lay the path for your physical well-being.
6. Spend Time With Family and Friends
Remember all the times you had had with your friends when you forgot all your worries. We are not saying your problems cease to exist when you are with your close ones. We are just saying that it gives you a moment of calmness and positivity. It gives you a break from all the hustle-bustle of life.
So get in touch with your old friends. Spend time with families, and share with them your everyday happenings. Start a book club or a cricket team with like-minded people. This will become part of the day you look forward to. It will help you restart after a stressful office day. The negativity will take a backseat, and your parasympathetic nervous system will be able to take control.
7. Get in Touch With Your Spirituality
Eating healthy and being physically active is what you can do externally. But your body and mind need inward assurance as well. Connect with your inner self and develop a better understanding of yourself. This will help you in reassuring your body that it is capable of handling stressful situations and there is no need to panic. For this purpose, you can indulge in different activities like prayer, journaling, or reiki healing.
Meditation could be another such activity. As you close your eyes for meditation, you surround yourself with darkness. Darkness enables the production of melatonin in our bodies. It is one of the most potent antioxidants known. It also helps in regulating circadian rhythm and synchronizes our sleep-wake cycle. This facilitates a transition to sleep and promotes consistent, quality rest.
8. Take a Cold Shower
Cold showers are easy to activate our vagus nerve. This nerve connects our digestive system with the brain. Dysregulation in this nerve can cause digestive problems, which could lead to obesity and nutrient deficiency. It also regulates our heart rate, and an imbalance in that could affect our stress levels. Anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome(IBS), colitis, and SIBO are some of the long-term problems possible.
Seek Help From a Trusted Therapist With DocVita Today
Our brain being in fight or flight mode for the long term can adversely affect our day-to-day functioning. It can become tough to interact and participate in social life. Self-regulation can be an effective way to regulate your nervous system. But help from professionals may be necessary if the symptoms are severe.
Our trained therapists can guide you based on your personal experience and circumstances. Book an appointment with our counselors now to start your journey of balance and regulation.