What is the Relationship Between Your Nervous System and Your Mental Health?
Decoding Your Nervous System & Seeking Understanding
In 1969 Steven Porges researched and identified the links between our mental health and our sympathetic nervous system creating the polyvagal theory. Polyvagal theory identifies 3 sections of our brain and how those are impacted by the nervous system. Those three parts are described as a ladder.
When we are at the top of our ladder the brain is working from the prefrontal/ventral part of the brain, located behind the forehead. When we are in the ventral vagal state, we have access to all the other parts of the brain, so we communicate well, we feel calm, we are confident with ourselves, we have access to thoughts, moods, and emotions, and we are socially engaged and creative.
When you are triggered by, or encounter, a thought, sound, smell, event, or memory activating the sympathetic nervous system it goes into protection mode moving us into the middle/limbic part of our brain and dropping us down the ladder. On this part of the ladder, we have a flood of energy, our heart races, we feel the need to move, fight, and our bodies are activated to protect us. This can be described as nervous energy.
We drop further down our ladder into the dorsal part of our brain if we continue to feel overwhelmed, the level of danger increases, or we are triggered by trauma. This rung of the ladder causes us to freeze, collapse, be immobile, you may lose access to language and social engagement.
Understanding your nervous system and how it impacts your thoughts, emotions and behaviors gives you the power to then use actions which bring you up the ladder. Let’s say you are feeling collapsed, depressed, sad, which causes you to cry, isolate and stop eating. This can create feelings of being hopeless and helpless to make changes. Identifying why you are feeling this way allows you to engage in activities which create safety and bring you up the ladder.
Look over this list and reflect on what you might already notice when you are moving down the ladder. Spend some time this week noticing any other things on this list which indicate you are moving down the ladder or you can write what you notice in yourself.
Signs of emotional flooding
Pulse increases to over 100 bpm (can use your smartwatch to track).
The heartbeat feels harder
The breath moves into the upper chest, it feels difficult to breathe, and/or breathing becomes rapid and shallow.
The stomach feels tight or uneasy.
Controlling facial expression, the chin muscle tightens, and the jaw can feel set.
The tongue rises to the top of the mouth.
Voice register changes from chest to head.
You feel "your wall" go up or stiffening of the spine.
Crying or feeling angry.
Subtle behaviors of flooding
Long eye closure
Fluttering eyelids
Standing with hands on hips, arms pointing out
Turn body away, hips swiveled away, crossed arms
No sense of humor
Biting inside of the cheek
ouch face and lips often
Away behaviors: humming, looking away, sense of needing to go, urgent business elsewhere
Stuttering, speech disturbance, or unable to speak
Other signs you or others around you have noticed______________________
Here are some activities to move yourself up the ladder. Try these when you notice yourself moving down the ladder and identify which ones work for bringing you up.
Options to Self-Soothe
Breathe deeply and slowly into the belly
Breathe into the count of 7, exhale to the count of 11
Let your body feel heavy
Feel your feet
Watch thoughts rather than react to them. “Don’t believe everything you think!”
In response to fear or angry thoughts, ask simply “Is it true?”
Imagine tense parts of your body feeling warmed by the sun.
Take a break. Let people know that you are flooding and need 20 minutes to calm down
Exercise! Go for a walk, work out, garden . . . whatever it takes to get the blood moving. Do not rehearse the argument.
Practice butterfly taps
Listen to music or ambient sounds of nature
Remember moving up and down your ladder is a natural biological response. All nervous systems seek to keep us safe and act in ways which allow us to connect, run away from danger, fight for our lives and hide when that is the only way to be safe. Trauma can impact our nervous system, so we stay in the middle or bottom of our ladders while spending less time at the top of your ladders. I challenge you to find times when you are at the top ladder and notice what might be causing you to move down your ladder. This will give you information about your nervous system and the power to understand and make changes.
Good Luck,
Penney