Nervous System Regulation 101: Want to Feel Less Fried?

Signs Your Nervous System May Be Dysregulated

Which of these can you relate to?

💥 Constantly overwhelmed 

💥 Easily irritated or on edge

💥 Anxious for no reason

💥 Feeling “wired but tired”

💥 Overly sensitive to noises or smells

💥 Muscle tension or pain

💥 Indigestion or other gut troubles

While there may be different root causes for each person, all of these can be signs of a dysregulated nervous system. 

What does that mean?

It means that your nervous system is stuck in a state of overdrive. 

It might be caused by ongoing stress, past trauma, or pushing your body too hard for too long. 

One way to think of this is that your body is in a perpetual state of “fight or flight” driven by the sympathetic nervous system—and has trouble settling into the “rest and digest” state of the parasympathetic. 

Having a dysregulated nervous system is not a diagnosis. 

There are no medications to take. 

It is merely an underlying pattern that can be helpful to recognize so that you can take proactive steps to support a healthier nervous system response. 

Most people don’t know that nervous system dysregulation can be a root cause of inflammation…

When you think you’ve exhausted all possibilities, did you ever consider that nervous system dysregulation may be getting in the way?

Human beings are not designed to be in a constant state of stress. 

Whether you’re always rushed for time….

Stuck in a pattern of worry…

Skipping meals…

Overexercising…

Living on caffeine…

Or feeling unsafe in your surroundings.…

Your nervous system will pay the price. 

The initial physiological response to stress is activation of the sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight”). 

The secondary response is cortisol production. 

One role of cortisol is to keep inflammation in check, but when our stress response is repeatedly triggered, it can become dysregulated and allow inflammation to go unchecked.

👉🏽 That means nervous system regulation is an essential step in addressing any condition driven by chronic inflammation. 

• Slow down. 

• Rest. 

• Breathe.

These things signal the body that it is safe to heal. 🙌🏽

Having a regulated nervous system does not mean you will feel calm all the time. 

What it means is that your nervous system can respond to any given situation in a healthy way:

To be resilient. 

When your nervous system is regulated and resilient, you’re able to:

✨ experience emotions without letting them take over your life

✨ notice when you feel stressed and come back to center

✨ rest without feeling like you need to justify it

Not only that, but the nervous system connects your brain to every organ of your body. 

So with a regulated nervous system, it becomes easier to heal your:

✨ gut

✨ skin

✨ hormones

✨ metabolism

✨ mood & more

In naturopathic medicine, we are always looking for the root cause and removing obstacles getting in the way of healing. 

Nervous system dysregulation can be one of those obstacles. 

This is important.

Your nervous system is constantly responding to inputs. 

Sometimes those inputs are regulating—like listening to calming music or going for a walk in nature. 

Sometimes those inputs are dysregulating—like being yelled at or seeing fear-based news in your feed. 

There are really 2 ways to go about regulating your nervous system:

1️⃣ One way is in the moment: When you notice you are triggered, take a moment to step away and take some deep breaths. 

2️⃣ The other way is daily practice: Make it part of your routine to send signals of safety to your nervous system. 

Some practices you could choose to do are:

✨ Deep breathing (this is one of the best ways to activate the vagus nerve and reset the nervous system)

✨  Mindful movement (you can shake, stretch, dance, or do anything that releases tension from the body)

✨  Intentional rest (meaning rest on purpose—not only when you’re completely exhausted)

If you commit to just ONE of these things and make it part of your routine, I promise that your nervous system will thank you. 

Ever get to the end of the day and just crash?

Or maybe you feel “wired but tired”—as if your nervous system is ramped up and yet you have nothing left to give?

The problem *might* be that you aren’t giving your nervous system any chance to rest and reset throughout the day. 

I get it!

Society expects us to be going non-stop. 

It’s just that our bodies (and especially our nervous systems) were not built for that. 

One of the best ways to support nervous system regulation is to build in periods of intentional rest to your day. 

This can look different for different people.

You might:

✨ get up from your desk every hour to stretch

✨ set reminders to close your eyes for two minutes and breathe

✨ allow 5 extra minutes on your lunch break to sit in your car and listen to music

The point is to schedule rest breaks into your day. 

These breaks act like a reset button for your nervous system so that you won’t feel so fried at the end of the day. 

Have you tried this? 

What’s your experience? 

Your nervous system loves movement. 

That’s because the role of your nervous system is to determine if you are safe (parasympathetic, rest-and-digest mode) or in danger (sympathetic, fight-or-flight mode). 

Gentle movements signal the nervous system that you are safe, activating the vagus nerve and a parasympathetic state. 

Some of the best types of movement for this include:

☀️ Yoga

☀️ Stretching

☀️ Dancing

☀️ Walking in Nature

There are really 2 different ways to use movement to regulate your nervous system. You can use it in the moment as a reset OR include movement as part of your everyday maintenance routine. 

I recommend both!

A dysregulated nervous system can make it hard to heal your gut, hormones, metabolism, or just about any chronic condition. 

You can work on regulating your nervous system with breathwork, movement, and meditation…

But what about food?

Let’s take a look:

➡️ Protein
Protein provides amino acids that are the building blocks for neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, which are necessary for emotional regulation.

➡️ Fats

Fats are the main structural component of nerve cell membranes and therefore critical for communication throughout the nervous system. 

➡️ Sugars
Blood sugar swings trigger a physiologic stress response and activation of the sympathetic nervous system, putting your nervous system on edge. 

➡️ Alcohol
Alcohol gives an initial sensation of calm, but it also triggers production of the stress hormone cortisol, which can dysregulate the nervous system over time. 

➡️ Caffeine
Caffeine activates the sympathetic nervous system, meaning that too much caffeine or caffeine too late in the day can leave your nervous system frazzled and on edge.

The bottom line?

We cannot expect our nervous systems to stay regulated and resilient without also being conscious of what we are putting into our mouths.  

A regulated nervous system is essential for sleep, mood, hormones, metabolism, gut health, and more. 

But your nervous system cannot stay regulated without nutrition—and especially these 3 key nutrients:

1️⃣Magnesium

Magnesium is a cofactor needed to synthesize several neurotransmitters, including serotonin and GABA. It also has a calming effect on the nerves and muscles throughout the body. Good food sources are leafy greens, nuts, seeds, and chocolate!

2️⃣B Vitamins

Vitamin B6 supports production of serotonin, and vitamin B12 is needed to support the protective covering around nerve cells. Other B vitamins participate in energy metabolism, providing essential energy for nerve cells. Good food sources are animal products and fortified foods. 

3️⃣Choline

Choline is a building block for acetylcholine—the primary chemical messenger of the parasympathetic nervous system. The most common food source of choline is egg yolks. Liver is another excellent source!

Think about the foods you eat on a daily basis, and check your supplements to see if you are fueling your nervous system.

Stress triggers an increase in heart rate and blood pressure AND ALSO stress can make people gravitate towards fatty foods 🍟🍔 

But this is a bad combination because fatty foods impair the cardiovascular system’s ability to recover from stress. 

It’s kind of a double whammy. 

🌟 New research from the University of Birmingham shows that a flavanol-rich cocoa drink can protect the vascular system from stress—even after a high-fat meal.

Here’s what they found:

➡️ Flavanols help prevent the vascular changes caused by stress and fatty foods.

➡️ Participants who drank high-flavanol cocoa had a significantly better vascular response compared to those who drank low-flavanol cocoa.

➡️ Flavanols also help regulate blood pressure and protect cardiovascular health.

The cocoa drink that participants consumed in the study provided 695 mg of flavanols, and the recommended daily intake of flavanols is at least 400 - 600 mg. 

You can meet the daily intake by consuming 2 cups of green tea or a combination of tea, berries, apples, or high-quality and minimally processed cocoa ☕️🫐🍎🍫

The takeaway?

During stressful times, flavanol-rich foods can offset some of the negative effects of both stress and poor food choices. 

What’s your flavanol-rich food of choice? ✨

PMID 39552296

New Research About the Stress Diabetes Connection!?!?!?

The accepted belief has long been that obesity leads to insulin resistance and diabetes by impairing insulin signaling. 

Now a new study brings that into question. 

Here’s what to know:

➡️ Stress hormones have the opposite effect of insulin. Whereas insulin acts to lower blood sugar, stress hormones act to raise it. 

➡️ Obesity triggers overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system and the associated stress hormones. 

➡️ This study showed that elevated stress hormones in obesity counteracted insulin’s effects—even when insulin signaling still worked.

➡️ Mice genetically engineered to produce fewer stress hormones did not develop diabetes despite being obese.

This study is significant because it suggests that the underlying mechanism to explain the link between obesity and insulin resistance may be different than what we have long believed. 

Ready for the good news?

We have a lot of tools at our disposal to lower the sympathetic nervous system response and stress hormones.  

It’s called nervous system regulation ✨ 

PMID 39437790

Rachel Oppitz, ND