Nervous System Dysregulation Explained

So often in my work, I talk about “regulating the nervous system.” I love teaching tools and strategies to manage stress and cope with a dysregulated nervous system. But what does that even mean?

We all have an autonomic nervous system that manages involuntary physiological processes in our bodies — things like heart rate, breathing, and digestion. Basically, the things that keep us alive.

The autonomic nervous system has two main divisions: the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.

The sympathetic nervous system controls certain responses in our body that serve to protect us. You may have heard of the fight, flight, or freeze responses — involuntary responses to threats to our survival. (More on this below.)

The parasympathetic nervous system calms things down and restores our bodies to a state of “rest and digest,” where we can function normally again.

When our nervous system is dysregulated, it means we're in a state of imbalance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems — often with the sympathetic system staying overactive for a prolonged period of time (think chronic stress or anxiety).

When we remain in that dysregulated state for too long, we can start to experience physical, psychological, and cognitive effects.

More on the fight, flight, or freeze responses:

The human brain is divided into different sections:

The frontal lobes, or the “thinking brain,” handle thinking, reasoning, problem-solving, and verbal expression.

The limbic system, often called the “mammalian brain,” handles non-verbal emotions and experiences.

The brainstem, the “reptilian brain,” manages the autonomic nervous system and functions like heart rate and breathing.

When we're in a state of distress, panic, or intense fear, the sympathetic nervous system activates, sending a rush of adrenaline to increase heart rate and respiration and tense our muscles in preparation to defend ourselves. Hearing sharpens and pain perception decreases.

The prefrontal cortex — the part involved in thinking, reasoning, problem-solving, verbal expression, and memory — goes “off-line” so the reptilian brain can work instinctively, in overdrive, to protect us.

In life-or-death situations, our bodies need to be ready to protect us by fighting (in self-defense), fleeing the situation (flight), or freezing. (Animals in the wild often freeze and “play dead” to avoid attack — if they appear dead, predators may move on to another target, preferring fresh meat via a more recent kill. 🤢 Our wiring is the same: in some instances, when we become overwhelmed, we simply freeze.)

This brain wiring served us well in prehistoric times. Think back to our cavemen ancestors:

Imagine a caveman out in the woods, searching for food. When he's approached by a threat — say, a hungry lion — his frontal lobes go off-line so his brain can focus entirely on running away or fighting to survive.

This served us well when we were frequently faced with dire situations. In modern, everyday life, these life-or-death moments are much less common; however, our brain wiring hasn't changed much since the Stone Age.

Our sympathetic nervous system can still be triggered by everyday stress and feelings of overwhelm, which is why it's so important that we learn ways to activate the parasympathetic response and bring our nervous system back into balance.

See more here.

Want to learn ways to activate the parasympathetic nervous system to down-regulate and achieve more balance?

Join my mail list here or check out my Empowered Motherhood course, where I share lots of strategies to rewire your brain to become more calm, confident, and in-control.