What Is The Nervous System And Why Is The Whole Internet Talking About It?

If you’ve spent any time on Instagram or TikTok — especially within the mental health and wellness bubble — you will most likely have come across many posts that mention the nervous system or nervous system regulation. Oftentimes, those posts promote ways for you to regulate your nervous system or teach you which things can bring your nervous system out of balance and what you should therefore avoid.

However, they often fall short of properly explaining what the nervous system actually is and what it has to do with your mental (and physical) health.

Let’s talk about it.

What Is The Nervous System?

🧠 the science part

When you read or hear about the Nervous System online, it usually refers to the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). The ANS is our brain’s most elementary survival system. It is divided into two branches: The sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system, which both regulate arousal throughout the body.

The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) uses chemicals like adrenaline to fuel the body and brain to take action. The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) uses acetylcholine to help body functions like digestion, wound healing and sleep and dream cycles. Both branches are equally important. When we’re at our best those two systems work closely together and keep us in an optimal state of activation.

This cooperation between the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous System happens with every breath you take. When you inhale you stimulate the sympathetic nervous system which results in an increased heartbeat. When you exhale you stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system which decreases how fast the heart beats. This is why many breathing exercises have you focus on increasing your exhale to get to a relaxed state. This whole process is measured by your heart rate variability (HRV) which is a measure of your basic well-being.

Ok, but why does all this matter?

💜 the practical part

When you are well balanced — meaning your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system kick in at just the right times — you should have good control over how you react in situations such as frustrations or disappointments. You are able to take a moment to reflect, evaluate the situation and react rationally and calmly.

However, if your nervous system is imbalanced you tend to be more impulsive, defensive and (passive-)aggressive. Having a dysregulated nervous system also makes you a lot more prone to a variety of physical illnesses such as heart disease, reduced immunity and long-term mental health problems.

A dysregulated nervous system can show up as:

Irritability or a short fuse
Low mood or hopelessness
Persistent anxiety, restlessness, or racing thoughts
Sleep issues (trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking wired)
Ongoing fatigue or exhaustion
“Freeze” responses when overwhelmed (going blank, shutting down, people-pleasing)
Body cues: muscle tension, headaches, stomach/GI issues, rapid heartbeat
Brain fog, trouble focusing, or being easily startled

So We Should Regulate Our Nervous System. But How?

Nervous system regulation means helping your body shift into an overall state of safety while also being able to move between states of activation as needed. This is where somatic practices come into play: Simple, body-based tools you can use in your everyday life. Common options include grounding through the senses, breathing with a slightly longer exhale, gentle movement or stretching, humming/soft vocalizing, steady routines around sleep, daylight, and meals etc. Yoga has been shown to be especially valuable for nervous system regulation and emotional processing, combining multiple somatic skills in one practice. Read more about it in this related post: How Movement Heals.

Working with an informed counselor can help you find the tools that works best for you.

Personal Thoughts

I’m very glad there’s more conversation about the nervous system and somatic practices. For decades, cognitive-behavioral approaches* have been the gold standard in many areas of care. And while those approaches show a robust evidence base, they give less attention to the physical body and how it stores emotions and experiences.

In der traditionellen KVT geht es darum, dysfunktionale Denkmuster zu erkennen, neue Verhaltensweisen zu integrieren und alltagstaugliche Skills aufzubauen. Viele moderne Varianten der KVT (s.B. ACT, achtsamkeitsbasierte KVT) beziehen Körperwahrnehmungen und Emotionsregulation bereits vereinzelt mit ein.

At some point we cannot keep intellectualizing our feelings but have to find ways to work with them. This is where somatic therapy approaches come into play. Somatic approaches look at the mind and body as a whole. Simple somatic skills can not only help you in acute moments of distress but also support you in working through old wounds and stored emotions.

That being said, cognitive-behavioral approaches and somatic approaches fit well together: Calming the body can make cognitive work easier, and reshaping thoughts and behaviors can keep the body from sliding back into old alarm patterns.

Is there anything problematic about the nervous system trend?

Striving for a “regulated” nervous system is helpful, but it shouldn’t run your life. You do not want to get into a state of avoidance towards the world just because certain situations could briefly “disrupt“ your nervous system. You don’t want to stop doing things that make you feel uncomfortable because you don’t want your heartbeat to increase or for you to experience any kind of stress. Stress has a bad rep, but it’s not stress per se that is “bad“ for you, it’s the chronic, unrelieved kind that causes long-term problems. Short bursts of stress can actually be extremly useful for your body and for personal growth. The issue isn’t feeling discomfort in the moment, it’s when emotions stay stuck and unprocessed for months or years.

So instead of avoiding uncomfortable situations altogether, let yourself feel the feeling fully, and then help your body come back to feeling safe.

Nervous system work isn’t about avoiding difficult emotions, it’s about moving through them with your body, and then guiding yourself back to safety.