better health
Anxious? Fatigued? Plagued with ailments? It’s time to give your body’s command centre a reset
Health experts now acknowledge that the nervous system could hold the key to many of our health issues, including depression, skin problems and exhaustion. “The nervous system – which includes the brain, spinal cord and a complex network of nerves – is the communication system of our emotions, not only from the brain to the body, but from the body to the brain,” says Dr Linnea Passaler who is CEO of Healyournervoussystem.com and author of Heal Your Nervous System (Fair Winds Press, £12.99).
“When it’s not working properly, you may feel generally unwell and unmotivated day after day, and suffer irritable bowel syndrome and chronic fatigue.”
but Dr Linnea says that a healthy nervous system should be able to cope. “Think of a fern that bends under stressors. It quickly recovers from being bent,” she says. “A regulated nervous system should also return to a calm baseline state relatively quickly after being stressed. Dysregulated nervous systems lose their natural f lexible response, causing burnout or shutdown, where you feel exhausted, depressed, or disaffected and caught in a loop of anxiety and fatigue.”
There’s no quick fix. While lifestyle plays it’s part, Dr Linnea says how we approach stress is key. “When we suffer these problems, we start searching a treatment or a pill,” she says. “But if you have not addressed the root cause, the issue comes back with a vengeance. Or another symptom pops up to replace the old one. You are back to square one, maybe feeling even more discouraged than before.”
Be a lion, not a dog
To truly reverse the effects of a dysregulated nervous system, you need to cultivate a new mindset. “Learn to be like a lion, rather than a dog,” she suggests. “Slow down your habitual response and establishing a greater awareness of your thoughts, emotions and physical sensations. Imagine you have a bone in your hand in front of a dog. Wave the bone, then toss the bone away – see the dog chase the bone.”
Now, says Dr Linnea, imagine standing in front of a lion, with that same bone. “The lion understands that the bone is just a small piece of a much larger reality. The lion may be considering leaving the bone and making a meal of you! The bone represents a story or an emotion you are experiencing, like the thought, ‘I’m not good enough,’ or the feeling of anger. Will you, like the dog, chase after the bone? Or can you take a moment to see the bigger picture, displaying the attitude of the lion?”
Awareness can put us back in control. “When you get that awareness, you can switch from dog mind to lion mind,” she suggests. “Recognise when your nervous system becomes activated, such as increased heart ra
