5 Signs your Nervous System is Spooked
It’s spooky season, but you might be moving through the world in a chronic state of being “spooked,” with a Nervous System primed to perceive even neutral stimuli as stress-inducing.
It’s been shown that when you live in a predominantly sympathetic (fight/flight) state, you’re more likely to perceive threat in your environment, whereas from a parasympathetic state, you’ll sense more safety in your surroundings.
To use a technological analogy, if your body is the hardware, then your Nervous System is the software. Most of us have software that’s desperately in need of an update and that’s well overdue for a factory reset. It may also need to have old viruses and programs cleared out, or it will run out of space in its operating capacity. Now that’s scary.
Here are some signs your Nervous System may be Spooked:
Your body holds a lot of tension or has chronic pain. The Nervous System and fascial system come from the same embryological origin, meaning when the Nervous System is activated, the fascia tightens to guard or protect. It’s as though your body is bracing for impact (and it kinda is).
You tend to disengage, especially at the end of the day. The need to disconnect (whether through Netflix, doom-scrolling, or otherwise) demonstrates that your system is at capacity and doesn’t have the space to stay present, especially after working hard all day with minimal resourcing to support that level of output.
You observe yourself making snap judgments. To be critical of your environment or seeking for something to be “wrong” is only adaptive up to a point. If you’re becoming overly critical, it may be a sign you’re dysregulated and perceiving more stressful stimuli as a result.
You catch yourself holding your breath/breathing shallow. If you notice your breath is filling into your chest more than your belly, your body is preparing you to fight/flee. This limits access to higher cognitive functions while diminishing oxygenation to your tissues.
You seek out experiences that match the state you’re in. As they say in homeopathy, “like begets like.” That may mean you seek heavy heart-pumping workouts and intense wellness practices (like ice baths and holotropic breathwork – AKA you live in Austin). These practices are great, as long as you also take warm baths and long, slow deep breaths in between!
Did any of these apply to you? If so, you may need to give your system a factory reset. To cleanse yourself of old programs that are stuck in your body, book an appointment. We’ll evaluate your Nervous System to determine where it can be optimized to raise your operating capacity! That way you can live from an open, engaged, and connected Nervous System – which is your sacred birthright. You were never made to merely survive, and your unrealized potential is the scariest thing of all…