The nervous system is the ‘master controller’. Your nervous system has 2 modes of operating. One mode of operation is sympathetic which has been termed ‘fight, flight or freeze’. This is where we operate when we are presented with a stressor (ie.) emotional trauma, physical trauma, or imminent threat. This mode of operating is meant to only function for short (acute) periods of time. What is happening today? Many of us are ‘stuck’ in this mode. There is no on/off switch to the nervous system. So many of us are chronically stuck in this ‘stressed out’ mode of our nervous system. As time goes on we may not ‘feel’ stressed but our body is physiologically stressed out.
What does this look like? Insomnia (trouble falling asleep or staying asleep), unrelenting fatigue, inability to lose weight, hair loss, anxiety, belly fat, irritable, worsening PMS symptoms, easily get sick and are unable to recover like you used to. You lose your resiliency, develop chronic muscle tension, exercise intolerance, and may experience poor recovery from exercise.
Our other mode of operating is called the Parasympathetic NS. This has also been called your ‘rest and digest’ or newly ‘feed and breed’. It is mainly responsible for activities that occur when the body is at rest. So physiological processes that require the parasympathetic mode include digestion, salivation, sexual arousal, urination, defecation. There are so many who suffer from digestive issues, infertility, and low libido. We are facing an epidemic of chronic stress that is tipping the scales toward solely operating in the sympathetic mode. If we don’t address the nervous system then all other treatments will only be a temporary ‘fix’.
