Nervous System Regulation and Health
The nervous system is one BIG and expansive system that courses through every part of our body. But what does it have to do with our every day life and how easy or hard it is to get healthy and stay healthy? This blog post will dive deep into it all! Key topics we will dive into are:
What the nervous system is
The function of the nervous system
How nervous system determines more of our health than many of us think
How nervous system dysfunction affects our health
What causes nervous system dysfunction
Strategies and tactics for regulating the nervous system
Neurologically-focused chiropractic care
What is the Nervous System?
Before we talk about what the nervous system does, let’s talk about what exactly is the nervous system. The nervous system is really made up of different regions: the central nervous system (CNS), peripheral nervous system and the enteric nervous system. The CNS is made up of the brain and spinal cord (which is found in the spine). The peripheral nervous system is made up of the nerves that extend from the spinal cord that go to all of our organs, muscles, tissues and joints. The enteric nervous system is a special region of the nervous system that provides information and feedback to the digestive system.
Overall, the nervous system is responsible for
Processing information (from our external environment and also from our internal environment like our gut, joints, muscles, heart, lungs, etc.)
Generating higher brain functions or “executive functions” such as conscious thoughts and decision making
Processing emotions and memories
All of this with the goal of generating an appropriate physical and emotional response to whatever is going on around us or within us.
Within the nervous system we have what’s called the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS gets its name from its function: it regulates automatic or involuntary bodily functions such as heart rate, digestion, respiratory rate, and blood pressure. To do so it has two main divisions called the sympathetic nervous system, which triggers "fight or flight" responses, and the parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes "rest and digest" activities. It controls functions without conscious thought or effort and impacts affecting every organ system in the body.
The central nervous system (CNS) and the autonomic nervous system (ANS) can be compared to a car's control system. The CNS is like the driver, making decisions and sending commands. The ANS is like the car's automatic features, such as cruise control and automatic braking, which carry out the driver's commands without further input or information. The CNS decides when to speed up, slow down, or turn, while the ANS handles the details of increasing fuel flow, applying the brakes, and maintaining engine performance to ensure a smooth ride.
This is the part of the nervous system we want to dive into more because it is the part that can be the most dysfunctional and exacerbate many other health conditions.
Sympathetic Nervous System vs. Parasympathetic Nervous System
The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) have opposing functions that work hand in hand to create “homeostasis” in the body which means the body maintains a self-regulating and healthy state. How do they do that?
Simply put, the sympathetic nervous system acts like the gas pedal in a car, accelerating your body's responses for action (fight or flight). It prepares the body for stressful or emergency situations. You will have experienced your sympathetic nervous system ramping up if you’ve ever experienced:
Increased Heart Rate: You may feel your heart pounding or racing.
Elevated Blood Pressure: You might experience hypertension or pre-hypertension.
Digestive Issues: Problems like constipation, indigestion, or diarrhea due to inhibited digestive functions.
Anxiety and Restlessness: Feelings of nervousness or anxiety
Sleep Disturbances: Difficulty falling or staying asleep.
Fatigue: Despite feeling wired, you may also feel exhausted.
The parasympathetic nervous system acts like the brake pedal, slowing things down and promoting relaxation (rest and digest). The PNS controls what how our body responds and regulates itself during ordinary situations. A special nerve named the vagus nerve (also known as cranial nerve ten or CN X) makes up 75% of the parasympathetic nervous system.
Think of the sympathetic nervous system like an alarm system. When it is activated, like when there's a threat, it immediately and automatically goes into protection mode and survival mode and prepares your body to respond quickly. The parasympathetic nervous system on the other hand is like the reset button to the alarm system. It calms everything down once the threat has passed and allows everything to come back to proper base line.
It is important to understand that in the short term when the sympathetic nervous system is ramped up it has anti-inflammatory effects, positive immune boosting benefits and potentially a life-saving impact on our health.
What is even more important to understand about the sympathetic nervous system is that it is constantly active, even in non-stressful situations. This means it is always running, it just depends on what your nervous system’s baseline on how ramped up the sympathetic nervous system is.
Is your sympathetic nervous system idling at 1/10 or 8/10? Is your sympathetic nervous system always revved up and on high alert, so much so that you may find yourself worrying about even the smallest things or you may get angry at insignificant issues? Is it so amped up that you find yourself frequently getting sick or taking a long time to recover from an injury? Do you experience chronic pain so much that it creates frustration? Do you find yourself getting upset and angry at the smallest triggers and don’t know why?
If so, it is a sign your sympathetic nervous system is overworking and overpowering the other half of the autonomic nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system. This is called “dysautonomia” of dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system.
It is when our nervous system is in a chronic state of sympathetic dominance that our health takes a turn for the worse and can have long lasting effects on our health. If we are constantly idling at this will really affect how your body responds to everything - allergens, bacteria, viruses, stressful situations, inflammatory foods, injuries, emotional stress, physical stress, etc.
And this is where the nervous system plays a critical role in our health.
A Dysfunctional Nervous System Creates Health Problems
How do we know our nervous system is not working properly? And how can we tell if there is neurological dysfunction? Here are some of the most common signs and symptoms we see in our office at Sprout Family Chiropractic in Kearny Mesa, San Diego.
Adults experience:
Chronic Pain: Persistent pain, such as headaches or migraines, or lower back pain and neck pain.
Numbness and Tingling: Sensations of pins and needles, especially in the arms or legs .
Muscle Weakness: Seizures, difficulty in muscle coordination and strength.
Autonomic Dysfunction: Issues with blood pressure, heart rate, and digestion.
Cognitive Impairment: Memory problems, difficulty concentrating, and confusion.
Emotional Symptoms: Anxiety, depression, and mood swings.
Sleep Disorders: Insomnia or excessive sleepiness.
Our adult patients report that these symptoms commonly affect their work life and personal life.
Kids experience:
Developmental Delays: Slower milestones in motor skills, speech, or learning.
Behavioral Changes: Increased irritability, hyperactivity, mood swings, difficulty making friends.
Sensory Processing Issues: Hypersensitivity or hyposensitivity to touch, sound, or light (i.e. sensory processing disorders)
Motor Problems: Poor posture, poor coordination, muscle weakness, or tremors.
Autonomic Dysfunctions: Digestive problems, abnormal heart rate, urinary urgency and frequency as well as temperature regulation issues.
Sleep Disturbances: Difficulty falling asleep, frequent waking, or excessive sleepiness.
Attention and Focus Problems: ADHD, difficulty focusing, falling behind in school
These challenges are most commonly noticed when a kid enters schools.
Infants and babies experience:
Developmental Delays: Slower progression in motor skills like crawling or walking.
Poor Muscle Tone: Either too floppy (hypotonia) or too stiff (hypertonia).
Feeding Difficulties: Trouble sucking, swallowing, or frequent vomiting.
Sensory Issues: Overreacting or underreacting to sounds, touch, or light.
Sleep Problems: Difficulty falling or staying asleep.
Irritability: Excessive crying or fussiness (”colic”).
Autonomic Symptoms: Unusual sweating, poor temperature regulation, or irregular heart rate.
These symptoms can affect an infant’s growth, development, and overall well-being.
Many of our patients at Sprout Family Chiropractic have the same question when we explain the symptoms they are experiencing is due, at least in part, to nervous system dysregulation and dysfunction. They ask, “What exactly causes the nervous system dysfunction?”
What Causes Nervous System Dysfunction
In our clinical experience the most common cause of nervous system dysfunction is stress and tension on the nervous system. We call this “subluxation” which causes interference with nerve signaling to certain regions of the body or a particular system of the body. Subluxation has three main components.
Three Main Components of Subluxation:
Misalignment: The spine or other joints are not correctly aligned
Fixation and Tension: This misalignment leads to altered muscle tone and tension, affecting proprioception and coordination.
Neurological Interference and Imbalance: This causes an imbalance in and dysregulation of the nervous system that shifts the body in a more fight or flight state (i.e. sympathetic dominant state)
There are many causes of subluxations but they really fit into 4 different categories that we call the “3 T’s.”
Causes of Subluxation:
Trauma (physical stress): Physical injuries, such as falls, accidents, and birth trauma
Toxins (toxic load or toxic stress): Exposure to environmental toxins or poor diet such as highly-processed foods
Thoughts (emotional stress): Psychological stress, mentally traumatic experiences
How Do I Know If My Nervous System is Dysregulated?
In our office we use specialized nervous system scans called INSiGHT scans to detect patterns of subluxation. When a patient comes into Sprout Family Chiropractic experiencing any of the signs of nervous system dysfunction, we want to measure how the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous systems are working and how well, or not well, is the brain talking to the body. Neuro-scans like the ones seen below show us exactly where the stuck stress and tension is.
In our chiropractic practice we find the vagus nerve, the special parasympathetic nerve we mentioned earlier, to be highly sensitive to subluxation because where it comes out of the brainstem. The vagus nerve begins right where the back of the skull meets our neck, also known as the upper cervical region. This upper neck area is susceptible to subluxation because it is one of the most mobile areas of the spine and consequently one of the least protected areas.
To read more on our INSiGHT scan check out this blog.
Chronic Stress and Immunity
Before we go over 10 easy ways to regulate your nervous system let’s discuss why being in a constant state of stress can be detrimental to our health, particularly on our immune system.
As we mentioned above, “acute stress” or stress that lasts a short amount of time, like a matter of minutes, has immune boosting effects where the body actually goes into a protective state. Unfortunately, what we see in our office at Sprout Family Chiropractic is people are more often dealing with chronic stress, not acute stress. And chronic stress has been shown to be detrimental to our immunity and suppress key cells and immune fighting processes that help keep us health. And over time the immune system can get worn out trying to operate in a suppressed state which can lead to:
Activation of of dormant viruses that cause other sickness and illness
Accumulated stress hormones that shift your nervous system into a sympathetic dominant state (think bottom left and bottom right of the heart rate variability graph you saw above)
Increased inflammatory markers that can lead to increase susceptibility of infect, auto-immune diseases and cancer
Shorter telomere length which means the increased disease and tissue deterioration
What does all this mean? When we experience long lasting stress, whether that be emotional/psychological stress, physical stress or chemical stress (i.e. subluxation) our body responds in the same way - it increases the activity of sympathetic nervous system so much so our nervous system gets worn out and exhausted to the point of nervous system dysregulation.
So, what can you do to help get rid of subluxation and regulate your nervous system for better health and wellness for better immune system function?
How to Regulate Your Nervous System
There are many ways to try to train your nervous system to better regulate itself. Here are 9 ways to regulate your nervous system by reducing or managing stress that anyone can do.
Deep Breathing Exercises: Practicing deep, diaphragmatic breathing to activate the parasympathetic nervous system and promote relaxation is one of the easiest ways to bring a more calm energy to the nervous system. One of our favorite techniques is box breathing.
Regular Physical Activity: incorporating regular exercise into your daily routines is an effective way to take the foot off the “gas pedal” and help manage stress, decrease muscular tension and increase endorphins or “happy” feeling chemicals in the body. We love to go on walks outside on trails or at the beach with our golden retriever Mia.
Mindfulness and Meditation: use simple mindfulness practices and meditation into in daily routine helps to reducing anxiety about the past or future and bring attention to the present moment which can help the nervous system come down from a revved up state to a more calm state. We personally use the Headspace app and love to practice mindfulness in the morning to set the tone for the day but you can also find a bunch of free videos like this one that guides you through an easy 5 minute meditation session you can do anywhere.
Healthy Diet: Eating a balanced diet that fuels not only your muscles and heart but also your nervous system is extremely important for overall nervous system health. We always turn to the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean Fifteen” for which vegetables and fruits to get organic or not, based on the produce that were most contaminated with pesticides and the items that had the lowest amounts of pesticide residues. Also avoiding excessive caffeine and sugar, which can overstimulate the nervous system, helps to better regulate the nervous system.
Adequate Sleep: We all need different amounts of sleep to feel recharged and rested. Typically 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night allows your nervous system to recover and function optimally. The intensity of stressors from your job and personal life will determine how much sleep your nervous system needs to recover. We recommend everyone read Matthew Walkers, “Why We Sleep” for an in depth look at the importance of sleep and well, why we sleep!
Hydration: Dehydration can affect brain function and mood which is why drinking plenty of water throughout the day helps keep your nervous system hydrated. Remember caffeinated drinks, alcohol and sodas are dehydrating.
Limit Screen Time: Reduce exposure to screens, especially before bedtime, to prevent overstimulation and support better sleep hygiene. We typically recommend putting down devices with screen 3 hours before bed, to reduce the blue light screens emit, which can interrupt your circadian rhythm and ability to get quality sleep.
Make Social Connections: Finding your community, creating strong social connections supports emotional well-being. Remember, one of the causes subluxation is emotional stress so finding positive social interactions can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, and reduce stress.
Creative Outlets: Creativity can be a powerful way to relax and balance your nervous system, so engaging in a creative activity you enjoy like drawing, painting, playing an instrument, or writing can be extremely beneficial and fun!
Therapeutic Techniques: Many people find massage and acupuncture help relieve physical tension and help them feel more relaxed.
Natural, Drug-Free Nervous System Reset
If you feel like you’ve tried everything to help better regulate your nervous system and nothing is helping (or you see improvement but the benefits are only short lived), neurologically-focused chiropractic care is your answer.
Babies under neurologically-focused chiropractic care at Sprout Family Chiropractic have experienced:
Improved sleep quality which means better growth and development
Less sickness and illness like colds, flus and infections which means less urgent care visits and less pediatrician visits
Relief from colic and reflux from increased comfortable
Support for neurodevelopment which means stronger neural connections (brain connections) and easier time picking up new skills
Better digestive health resolving constipation and promoting regular bowel movements
Enhanced mobility and physical Development by ensuring the spine and joints are functioning properly for primitive reflex integration and motor milestones
Improved breastfeeding, nursing and latch by decreasing the tension in the face, neck and jaw
Reduction of birth trauma effects through gentle adjustments to allow the nervous system to get of a state of stress, to let off the “gas pedal” and move into the “rest and digest” state that a baby should be in
Kids under neurologically-focused chiropractic care at Sprout Family Chiropractic have experienced:
Reduction in ear infections from improved drainage in the ears which means decreased use of antibiotics
Enhanced immune system function by clearing inflammation and restoring proper communication in the neuro-immune system
Improved behavior and attitude because the nervous system is no longer stuck in “fight or flight”
Better supported physical development and growth from proper spinal alignment and reinforcing correct posture which is especially important during the critical developmental stages
Reduced stress and anxiety which means children have an easier time focusing in school, practicing the sports they love and living a more enjoyable, care-free childhood
Enhanced support for neuro-divergence especially for symptoms that are commonly seen in conditions like autism or sensory processing disorders
Adults under neurologically-focused chiropractic care at Sprout Family Chiropractic have experienced:
Back pain and neck pain relief by improving mobility and decreasing muscular tension
Alleviating headache pain by increasing blood flow to the brain
Improved sleep quality by reducing stress allowing for more restful and restorative sleep.
Reduced anxiety and depression by promoting a balanced nervous system and promoting better stress management
Enhanced athletic performance through improved flexibility, reduced pain, and less susceptibility to injury
Injury Rehabilitation can support the recovery process from sports injuries or workout injuries and other physical traumas
Natural and drug-free pain management which means reducing the need for medications and their potential side effects
How does Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care Help San Diego Families?
One of the doctors, Dr. Nicole or Dr. Rachel, at Sprout Family Chiropractic will perform a comprehensive health evaluation. This includes a review of the yours or your child’s medical history, chiropractic examination, and postural analysis. We then measure the health of your nervous system using special imaging called INSiGHT Scanning Technology. INSiGHT scans include thermal scans, surface electromyography (sEMG), and heart rate variability (HRV) scans which are used to measure the function and stress levels of the nervous system. Depending on the age we run one, two or all three of these scans on patients which provide you and us a detailed picture of how well the nervous system is functioning and identify areas of dysfunction.
Our team of doctors review and analyze the scan results to determine the specific issues affecting the nervous system. Dr. Nicole and Dr. Rachel then develop a tailored care plan that includes specific neuro-spinal adjustments designed to correct subluxations. These neurologically-focused chiropractic adjustments are gentle and precise, focusing on the areas identified as problematic by our exam, scans and analysis. With every chiropractic adjustment proper communication is restored between the brain and nervous system and the body. This leads to improved regulation of all bodily functions which leads to all the amazing positive benefits of chiropractic care we discussed above
Almost every family under care see an immediate difference and positive affect after just one adjustment and are excited to start their care plan because they are committed to long-lasting health.
Health Care For the Entire Family
Understanding the nervous system and its impact on your child’s and your family’s health is crucial for overall well-being. By recognizing the signs of nervous system dysfunction and seeking neurologically-focused chiropractic care for support, you can help your family thrive. Dr. Nicole and Dr. Rachel at Sprout Family Chiropractic in San Diego offers a safe and effective way to address these issues, ensuring your child’s nervous system functions optimally.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539845/#:~:text=The autonomic nervous system is,sympathetic%2C parasympathetic%2C and enteric.