Let's Talk About the Nervous System

Let's Talk About the Nervous System

What it is, how to understand it and how to influence it.

Stress has become such a normal part of modern life that many of us don't stop to question how it's actually affecting our bodies—until we are forced to. We know we feel wired, exhausted, tense, or overwhelmed, but we rarely understand why.

At the root of stress is your nervous system, and understanding how it works can completely change how you relate to pain, fatigue, sleep, digestion, mood, and overall well-being.

Why Stress Isn't the Problem (Being Stuck Is)

Stress itself isn't bad. In fact, it's essential for survival.

Stress is what allows us to:

• Respond to danger
• Wake up and get moving
• Think quickly
• Perform well at work
• Meet deadlines and achieve goals

The ability to access stress, specifically the sympathetic nervous system, is what makes many people effective, driven, and capable.

The problem arises when the stress response:

• Stays on too long
• Goes unchecked
• Never gets turned off

That's when stress shifts from helpful to harmful.

A Quick Overview of the Nervous System

To understand stress, we first need to understand how the nervous system is organized.

Your nervous system has two main parts:

• Central Nervous System: This includes the brain and spinal cord.
• Peripheral Nervous System: This includes everything else and is divided into:
  • The somatic nervous system
  • The autonomic nervous system

Somatic vs Autonomic (Conscious vs Automatic)

The somatic nervous system is the part you consciously control. It allows you to move muscles and sense the world around you. If you decide to move your big toe or feel the ground under your foot, that's somatic signaling. The message travels down and back up nerves like the sciatic nerve.

The autonomic nervous system, on the other hand, works mostly behind the scenes. You do have some influence over it, but its primary job is simple and non-negotiable: Keep you alive.

This system regulates heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestion, and hormones (all of which make up your stress response).

The Two Branches of the Autonomic Nervous System

The autonomic nervous system has two main branches that work in opposition:

• Sympathetic nervous system (stress, action, survival)
• Parasympathetic nervous system (rest, digestion, recovery)

A healthy nervous system moves fluidly between these two states. Problems arise when that movement gets stuck.

The Sympathetic Nervous System: The Fire Hydrant

When you encounter a threat, or even something your body perceives as a threat, your sympathetic nervous system turns on fast.

Your body can't really tell the difference between:

• A saber-toothed tiger
• A work email
• A stressful conversation
• Social media overload

The initial response involves rapid spikes in norepinephrine and adrenaline. These hormones act like a fire hydrant, flooding the system quickly and forcefully.

They:

• Increase heart rate and blood pressure
• Dilate pupils to improve vision
• Slow digestion
• Redirect blood to muscles
• Increase muscle tension
• Heighten alertness and anxiety

This response is designed to help you fight or flee.

Cortisol and Sustained Stress

After the initial surge, cortisol often joins in. Cortisol helps sustain energy over time and dampens the immediate adrenaline response, allowing you to function in prolonged stress.

This can be useful in short bursts.

But when cortisol stays elevated—sometimes called a "cortisol storm"—it can contribute to issues like poor sleep, persistent tension, increased pain sensitivity, and difficulty with weight regulation. In survival mode, the body prioritizes storing and conserving energy because it doesn't know when the next "threat" or meal is coming.

The Parasympathetic Nervous System: Pumping the Brakes

The parasympathetic nervous system exists to counterbalance the sympathetic response. If the sympathetic system is the gas pedal, the parasympathetic system is the brakes.

Its primary neurotransmitter is acetylcholine, and it's closely connected to:

• The vagus nerve
• Oxytocin
• Serotonin
• Melatonin

When parasympathetic activity increases:

• Heart rate slows
• Breathing becomes deeper and steadier
• Digestion improves
• Muscles relax
• Hormonal balance improves
• Sleep becomes possible

You cannot fully recover from stress without access to this system.

What It Means to "Complete the Stress Cycle"

Here's the key idea:

When the sympathetic system turns on, the parasympathetic system must be actively turned on to turn it off. Otherwise, your body doesn't know the threat is over.

This is what's referred to as completing the stress cycle. Essentially, communicating to your nervous system that you are no longer in danger and that it's safe to shift into recovery.

Why Modern Life Disrupts the Stress Cycle

The stress response evolved in a world where stressors were:

• Infrequent
• Intense
• Short-lived

You encountered a threat, survived it, then returned to safety. The connection, rest, touch, food, and sleep that followed naturally completed the cycle.

Today, stressors are:

• Constant
• Low-grade
• Layered on top of one another

Emails, notifications, family demands, work pressure, and constant information input keep the nervous system in a near-continuous state of activation. We rarely pause long enough to tell our bodies, "I'm safe now." Without that signal, the stress response simply keeps running.

Communicating Safety to the Body

Completing the stress cycle is ultimately about communicating safety to your nervous system.

This doesn't happen through logic or positive thinking alone. It happens through the body via movement, breath, touch, sensory input, connection, and rest. In the modern world, we often have to do this intentionally.

Learning how to work with your nervous system, instead of fighting it is one of the most powerful steps you can take toward improved resilience, reduced pain, and better overall health.