If you’ve been researching how to calm your nervous system quickly or how to calm your nervous system instantly, you’ve probably seen the same basic tips repeated.
Most people think that learning how to calm your nervous system involves taking a bubble bath or pushing through stress. However, this doesn’t get to the bottom of a dysregulated nervous system.
If you want to know how to calm your nervous system, this article will go through understanding how your nervous system functions and we’ll discuss:
- What is your nervous system and what is it responsible for?
- What is your nervous system trying to communicate?
- How to calm your nervous system
By increasing your understanding of how to calm your nervous system, you’ll soon be able to feel the benefits of greater emotional regulation and resilience, better sleep quality and digestion.
What Is Your Nervous System?
Understanding how to calm your nervous system means taking a closer look at the way it functions. Your nervous system is the electrical and chemical control system for your entire body and has two major components:
- The central nervous system (brain and spinal cord)
- The peripheral nervous system (all the nerves branching through your body)
This complex network and system looks after your thoughts, movement, sensations, emotions, memories, digestion and healing. Learning that it’s an intelligent and protective web is the first step in understanding how to heal your nervous system.
What is the Nervous System Responsible For?
Before thinking about how to calm your nervous system, let’s take a look at what it’s responsible for and what dysregulation can look like.
Firstly, here are the main functions that your nervous system is responsible for:
- Heart rate
- Breathing
- Stress response
- Focus and decision making
- Digestion and immune function
- Energy levels
More than that, your nervous system helps you interpret the world around you and when it becomes dysregulated, the symptoms can be felt almost immediately.
Dysregulated Nervous System
Answering the question of how to calm your nervous system, starts with understanding the triggers.
Your nervous system can become overactive when it receives more threat signals than safety signals. Factors that impact the nervous system often include:
- Chronic stress
- Emotional overload
- Trauma
- Overstimulation
- Poor sleep
- Excessive screen time
- Suppressed emotions
- Inflammation or illness
When your body feels overwhelmed by these factors, it may trigger flight, fight or freeze mode. As your body responds to ‘danger’, acute fight mode symptoms may include racing thoughts, shallow breathing, panic or irritability. Conversely, freeze mode may trigger symptoms of numbness, fatigue, procrastination, brain fog or dissociation.
While these symptoms may be helpful in real danger, when it comes to long term health, reducing triggers and understanding how to calm your nervous system is crucial.
How to Calm Your Nervous System
Breathwork
Breathwork is a helpful tool and a key part of how to calm your nervous system naturally. You can do it anywhere and any time which makes it both convenient and effective. Additionally, breathwork goes deeper than what most people think and there is more to it than just breathing in and out.
Combining deep belly breathing with box breathing can take your breathwork to a whole new level.
Here’s what to try:
- Placing a hand on your belly and inhaling and exhaling deeply and mindfully
- Inhaling for 4 seconds, holding for 4 seconds, exhaling for 4 seconds
- Turning this into inhaling for 4 seconds, holding for 7 seconds and exhaling for 8 seconds
Moving Your Spine
Your spine is one long bundle of nerve pathways and when it’s stiff, your body may think you’re preparing for danger. To use movement and practice how to calm your nervous system, we need to think about gentle spine movements. Slow, fluid movement of your spine can help to release any tension you’re holding and is a key step in how to calm your nervous system.
Gentle swaying or cat-cow motions can help to loosen your spine. For something a little more intense, try qigong, tai chi or stretching exercises.
Vagus Nerve Stimulation
When thinking of how to calm your nervous system, the vagus nerve should come to mind. Stimulating the vagus nerve (the main nerve of the parasympathetic system) helps you activate your parasympathetic system. While the sympathetic system is in charge of fight or flight mode, your parasympathetic system helps your body relax and recover.
Small and simple actions can stimulate the vagus nerve including:
- Humming, chanting or singing to create calming vibrations
- A gentle neck massage
- Slow and long exhalations to lower heart rate
Sensory Soothing
Exploring how to calm your nervous system often includes sensory experiences. Engaging in soothing sensory activities and experiences can help your body feel safe and promote a calm nervous system.
Here are some activities your nervous system will love:
- Taking a warm bath or shower to decompress
- Listening to soft, calming music, nature sounds or meditative music – 432 Hz and 528 Hz have been linked to stress reduction and healing
- Using aromatherapy to light up your senses – don’t forget to use pure essential oils without fillers
Sleep and Circadian Hygiene
Good sleep isn’t just beneficial for healing and balancing your blood sugar and blood pressure. It’s also at the heart of how to calm your nervous system. Maintaining consistent sleep patterns and honoring your circadian rhythm can make all the difference.
Sleep hygiene tips to follow:
- Keep sleep times regular and aim for an 11pm bedtime at the latest
- Avoid screens for 1-2 hours before bed or after it gets dark
- Get morning sunlight to set your internal clock
Learning How to Calm Your Nervous System at Oak Park
Learning how to calm your nervous system isn’t just wellness advice – it’s the way your body can find its way back to safety. It’s important to remember that your body isn’t trying to sabotage you with symptoms of numbness, procrastination and brain fog – it’s trying to protect you.
If you have noticed yourself dealing with stress overload and are unable to step away from feelings of overwhelm, it may be time to take action.
Synergy Integrative Health and Wellness is here to help you explore the best ways on how to calm your nervous system. Working one-on-one with our integrative health expert can create long lasting emotional resilience, without the need for trial and error. For emotional stability and a regulated body, book in a consultation today!