The Simple Science Behind Nervous System Regulation

Jul 14

How can you heal a nervous system that you don’t understand?

Nervous system regulation can protect us from the weight of the world. But it takes patience, intention, and knowledge. Healing is much easier with deeper insight into what’s actually going on inside your body.

Many people online share tips on nervous system healing, but not the facts behind their wellness practices.

Below is a simple breakdown of the nervous system’s core functions to help readers create inner balance with the science to support it.

Nervous System Overview

The nervous system is an interconnected communication network that sends signals throughout the body to control most of its functions.

Breathing, thinking, feeling, moving, digesting, healing, and heart-beating all occur by way of the nervous system. It consists of two main parts: the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS).

The PNS detects stimuli, sends the information to the CNS to process a response, then the PNS performs the required action.

Let’s break it down a bit more:

The Central Nervous System

The brain and spinal cord make up the Central Nervous System which receives sensory information, processes the information, and responds by determining the appropriate motor output for the PNS to perform.

It’s a straightforward operation that deciphers the literal meaning of our external environment.

To simplify, remember that CNS = receive, process, respond.

The Peripheral Nervous System

Located through nerves all around the body, the Peripheral Nervous System is where things get a bit more complex. The PNS is two-way, sending and receiving signals to and from the brain and body. It's broken into two parts: somatic and autonomic.

By definition, we know that somatic is in relation to the body, whereas autonomic indicates something natural or involuntary.

Somatic Nervous System

Nerves in the somatic nervous system work to receive and convey information from the senses (like the temperature of a surface), and control voluntary movements (like writing and chewing).

It is responsible for how we physically interact with the world.

Autonomic Nervous System

Nerves in the autonomic nervous system work to receive and convey information from the organs (like the heart/lungs), and control involuntary functions (like breathing, digestion, and heart rate).

It is also divided into two parts: sympathetic and parasympathetic.

Sympathetic

The Sympathetic Nervous System manages fight or flight, or the body’s vital response to stress and danger.

These responses can impact the eyes, heart, lungs, digestive tract, liver, reproductive system, and more.

Parasympathetic

The Parasympathetic Nervous System calms the body after a stress response, controlling rest and digest. It impacts the same parts as sympathetic, but in reverse.

In addition to the organs involved, 75% of the parasympathetic nervous system is the vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve connects to the brainstem and extends through the neck, heart, and abdomen. It controls mood, immunity, digestion, breathing, blood pressure, and other involuntary functions related to relaxation.

Sympathetic and parasympathetic serve as opposite yet complementary functions that protect and relax our bodies.

Sympathetic = fight or flight

Parasympathetic = rest and digest

Finding True Regulation

When people refer to being stuck in fight-or-flight or survival mode, those aren’t figurative phrases. They are states of being after constant stress and trauma over-activates the sympathetic nervous system, and shuts down the parasympathetic nervous system.

What we covered revealed how interconnected the system is. So how can our body function properly when a part is imbalanced?

It cannot. And that’s why the wellness practices are so important.

Atop the stressors of life, dysregulation can add emotional, mental, and physical distress. We must adopt small habits to give ourselves the ease we deserve.

A regulated nervous system is not one that never gets stressed, sad, or angry. It takes longer to rile, responds to stress more healthily, and returns to equilibrium after an upsetting occurrence.

Cheers to science-backed healing!