If you’ve landed here, you’re likely seeking answers to persistent unpleasant symptoms, or maybe you just have that relentless nagging feeling that something isn’t right. You KNOW you just shouldn’t feel this way. We get it. We’ve been there. And if, like us, you’ve explored every other avenue imaginable, you might be now wondering if the answer lies in a dysregulated nervous system. Let’s delve into that possibility. 

In this guide, we’ll break down what it really means to have a dysregulated nervous system, along with the effects, signs, and symptoms that come with it. By the end, you’ll have the tools and resources you need to start your journey back to nervous system resilience. Let’s get started!

What is The Nervous System?

Before we plunge into the depths of nervous system dysregulation, let’s have a quick high school biology recap. No snoozing at the back – we’ll try to make this enjoyable.

The nervous system acts as your body’s command center. It’s responsible for an array of (crucial) functions, from processing sensory information to governing voluntary and involuntary actions. Everything from breathing (I think we’d agree that’s pretty crucial), to delighting in the latest flavor of Ben and Jerry’s (again, pretty crucial).[*]

The nervous system branches into two fundamental divisions: the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The CNS primarily consists of the brain and spinal cord, while the PNS extends throughout the body via nerves. The PNS is further divided into the somatic and autonomic nervous systems. Still with us? Good.

The Autonomic Nervous System

Our main focus today is on the autonomic nervous system (ANS), the unsung hero that manages the behind-the-scenes tasks. The ANS has two primary branches: the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.

Sympathetic State:

This is the body’s “fight or flight” mode. Picture yourself taking a leisurely swim when you happen upon Ursula the sea witch – Triton’s still on the throne and she’s having a bad day. Your heart races, your muscles tense, and you’re primed for action. The sympathetic system ramps up energy production, dilates your pupils, and makes you more alert than a squirrel on an espresso binge.

Parasympathetic State:

In contrast, this is the “rest and digest” mode. Envision a serene evening by the fireplace with the charming Prince Eric – your heart rate slows, your digestion operates smoothly, your body focuses on repair and rejuvenation. All the while you’re mesmerized by his lustrous locks.

A healthy nervous system thrives when it can move flexibly between these two states.

A frazzled nervous system however gets trapped in a sympathetic loop, keeping you in a near-constant state of fight or flight – even once Ursula has retreated to her lair. If stressors continue, this state can become your baseline, resulting in a dysregulated nervous system.

What Should a Healthy Nervous System Feel Like?

A healthy nervous system is adaptable and responsive. You remain alert when needed, relaxed when appropriate, and bounce back quickly from stressors. Think of it as having a trusty GPS for the journey of your life. If you misread the route (like my husband does, frequently), you will be swiftly guided back on track.

Signs of Nervous System Regulation

So how do you know when your nervous system is on track? Healthy nervous system regulation looks like:

• Emotional Resilience and Regulation You face challenges with flexibility, bouncing back from setbacks without tipping into anxiety or depression.[*]
• Balanced Energy Levels: Your energy ebbs and flows naturally throughout the day, and you’re not perpetually wired or overwhelmingly exhausted.
• Restorative Sleep: You effortlessly slip into dreamland and wake feeling refreshed.
• Effortless Digestion: Meals are enjoyable – not a source of digestive dread – and you rarely encounter gastrointestinal discomfort.
• Steady Heartbeat: Your heart rate has a steady, healthy rhythm. It’s not racing or crawling.
• Adaptability to Change: You can handle unexpected changes or disruptions to your routine without significant distress or feeling overwhelmed.
• Clear Thinking and Focus: Your mind feels sharp, and you can concentrate on tasks without constant distractions or feelings of brain fog.
• Positive Social Interactions: You’re comfortable in social settings, feeling connected and cool around others, without overwhelming anxiety or irritability.
• Body Awareness and Comfort: You feel pretty comfortable in your body, with minimal tension or discomfort, and you can easily notice and address signs of physical stress.
• Healthy Impulse Control: You can manage impulses, whether it’s eating, speaking, or other actions, with a mindful and considered approach rather than acting reflexively.
• Sense of Safety and Security: There’s an underlying sense of safety and security in your environment, and you’re not constantly scanning for threats or feeling on edge.
• Pleasure in Activities: You find joy in daily activities and hobbies, and can engage fully without feeling disconnected or numb.

Nervous System Dysregulation: A Loss of Equilibrium

If a healthy nervous system is one that is flexible and resilient, what happens when the balance is disrupted? We become dysregulated. A dysregulated nervous system is one that has lost its ability to respond and recover appropriately from stressors, keeping us stuck in a fight, flight or freeze loop.[*]

Signs and Symptoms of a Dysregulated Nervous System

So, what exactly does a dysregulated nervous system look like? It may manifest differently depending on the individual, but here are some of the more common signs and symptoms[*]: 

• Chronic Stress: You perpetually feel as if you’re in a state of emergency, with cortisol levels through the roof.
• Anxiety and Panic Attacks: Sudden surges of sympathetic dominance, resulting in heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and overwhelming fear.
• Digestive Woes: Frequent bloating, IBS, constipation, or diarrhea, caused by excessive sympathetic activity.
• Insomnia: Nights spent tossing and turning, unable to switch off an overactive sympathetic system.
• Persistent Fatigue: Ongoing exhaustion that is not relieved by rest.[*]
• Mood Fluctuations: Emotional rollercoaster rides that seemingly occur without warning.
• Autoimmune Disorders: Nervous system dysregulation may compromise your immune system and lead to chronic inflammation. This may result in, or exacerbate, existing autoimmune diseases like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.[*]
• Social and Emotional Struggles: You might find it difficult to maintain healthy social interactions and experience irritability, emotional outbursts, or even social withdrawal. 
• Chronic Pain: Dysregulated nervous systems can increase your perception of pain.

Wondering if your symptoms might be linked to a dysregulated nervous system? Go through this checklist and see how often these things show up for you:

• Persistent Anxiety or Worry
• Frequent Digestive Discomfort
• Difficulty Falling or Staying Asleep
• Unexplained Physical Pain or Discomfort
• Feeling Easily Overwhelmed by Sensory Input

If you’re nodding along to most of these, it might be worth exploring if nervous system dysregulation is part of the picture.

What Causes a Sensitive Nervous System?

There are many factors that may contribute to developing a dysregulated and sensitive nervous system. Some usual suspects that could be at play, include:

• Chronic Stress: When life feels like a never-ending to-do list, your body stays on high alert, stuck in fight-or-flight mode like it’s bracing for the next crisis. Over time, this constant state of stress can wear your system down, making it tough to shift back into relaxation mode.

• Trauma: Whether it’s a one-time shock (like a car accident) or ongoing distress (like chronic emotional abuse), trauma can leave a lasting mark on your nervous system. It tweaks your baseline, making you extra sensitive to stress long after the original experience has passed.

• Infections and Illnesses: Autoimmune conditions or chronic viral infections can mess with your nervous system directly, causing things like brain fog, relentless fatigue, and heightened pain sensitivity.[*][*]

• Toxins: Environmental nasties like mold, heavy metals, or chemicals can stir up inflammation and stress in your body, throwing your nervous system off balance and making it harder to find your calm.

• Hormonal Conditions: Hormonal imbalances, like those seen in thyroid disorders, can directly impact your nervous system. Fluctuating hormone levels can lead to mood swings, anxiety, and other symptoms that keep your system off balance.

• Lifestyle Factors: Not enough sleep, a diet that’s more fries than fresh, or skipping out on exercise can all chip away at your nervous system’s resilience. Too much sugar, for example, can send you on a rollercoaster of energy spikes and crashes, leaving your system frazzled.[*]

Burnout: When you’re running on empty and pushing through exhaustion, burnout can leave your nervous system frayed. It’s like having your stress stuck in overdrive with no off-ramp in sight.

Being an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person): If you’re already wired to feel everything deeply, it doesn’t take much to tip the scales into overwhelm and overload. Without the right care and nurturing, that sensitive wiring can lead to frequent dysregulation.

Neurodevelopmental Conditions: Living with conditions like ADHD or autism mean you may struggle with cognition, communication, behavioural challenges, motor skills and sensory processing.[*] This can make you more prone to dysregulation, especially in a world that’s not always built with your needs in mind.

Genetics: Some may have a genetic predisposition to nervous system dysregulation[*]

It’s important to note that the nervous system does not function in isolation. It interacts with other systems, such as the endocrine system (which regulates hormones) and the immune system. Dysregulation in one system can trigger dysregulation in others, causing overlapping symptoms.

Understanding the Effects of a Dysregulated Nervous System

A dysregulated nervous system may be more than a minor pain in the ass; it can impact every waking moment of daily life. Its ability to upset your mental and physical health can have many knock-on effects, including how you:

• Show up in your personal relationships
• Relate with those around you
• Perform at work
• Take care of yourself
• Parent
• Achieve your goals

For me this looked like always being on edge, like I couldn’t let my guard down, even when I was doing things I loved, like traveling or watching my favorite band. Social interactions felt draining, and I struggled to find a work environment that didn’t feel overwhelming. I was in a constant state of hypervigilance, and it was hard to really enjoy anything. Once I connected the dots, I realized my nervous system was stuck in overdrive, and that explained so much—like my never-ending gut problems and the tension I felt everywhere. It wasn’t just in my head; what I felt physically was connected too.

How to Heal a Dysregulated Nervous System

Learning how to heal a dysregulated nervous system requires:

• Patience
• The right tools, processes, and protocols
• Education
• A willingness to address your own patterns
• Guidance from those who know how 

With these things in place, you can make significant progress.

How to Regulate Nervous System Dysfunction

Wondering how to regulate nervous system dysfunction? It starts with finding practices to calm an exaggerated sympathetic response while encouraging a healthy parasympathetic response. There are tons of practices to explore, but here are a few of our favorites to get you started:

• Wearable Devices: such as the Apollo Neuro can be a great way to start regulating your nervous system with ease

• Diet and Nutrition: A balanced diet rich in antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids may help in calming inflammation and supporting your nervous system

• Calming Practices: Finding practices that you can easily drop into your daily routine is the foundation of nervous system regulation. Find practices that resonate with you, such as tracking unhelpful thoughts, or mindfulness meditation. 
• Regular Exercise: Physical activity releases feel-good hormones, which can help regulate mood and stress levels. Hatha yoga is a nice, gentle option for those looking for something low-intensity.
• Sleep Hygiene: Creating a regular sleep schedule and soothing sleep environment may significantly benefit your parasympathetic system, helping you get better sleep. 
• Addressing Relationships: Our relationships can contribute to nervous system dysregulation – in BIG ways. Surrounding yourself with authentic, loving people who inspire and uplift you goes a long way to regulating your nervous system.

Need more inspo? Check out this guide for 57 easy ways to start regulating your nervous system.

Why Do Nervous System Regulation Techniques Work?

So, why do we recommend these nervous system regulation techniques? It’s not just because they sound good—they’re backed by some solid science. Here’s how and why these practices actually help:

Physiological Changes: When you dive into techniques like deep breathing or mindfulness, you’re not just calming your mind; you’re working directly with your body’s wiring. For example, deep breathing isn’t just about taking in more air—it stimulates the vagus nerve, which is like hitting the “chill” button on your system.[*]

Evidence and Research: There’s also some cool research behind this. Studies have shown that practices like mindfulness meditation can bump up your heart rate variability (HRV). Think of HRV as a measure of your nervous system’s flexibility and resilience. A higher HRV means your system can handle stress better, bounce back quicker, and keep you feeling balanced. So when you’re doing these techniques, you’re not just temporarily calming yourself—you’re actually building a more resilient nervous system over time.[*]

These physiological changes are the reason why the techniques we suggest aren’t just fluff; they’re practical tools that help your body learn to regulate itself better. Understanding the “why” behind these practices can make it easier to commit to them, knowing that each breath, mindful moment, or gentle movement is helping your nervous system find its way back to balance.

Regulating Your Nervous System with a Practitioner

After a lot of trial and error in my own nervous system journey, I can confidently say that working with a practitioner hugely accelerated my healing. Sometimes, even with all the gadgets, gizmos, and education, something still doesn’t quite fit, and you hit a wall. Finding the right practitioner for you can bring many benefits, such as:

• Community Support – in the form of Facebook groups, forums, etc.
• A More Structured Process – sometimes a step-by-step plan is better than just diving in unsupervised.
• A More Bespoke Approach – what calms one nervous system might aggravate another. A trained practitioner can design a tailored approach that suits YOU.
• Delivery of Education – sometimes we can read the same information over, and over again, but it just takes somebody else to deliver it in a way that really sticks.
• Emotional Support – co-regulating with someone who ‘just gets it’ can be a huge part of the puzzle.

Types of Practitioners

A variety of professionals can assist in regulating the nervous system:

• Therapists: Specializing in modalities like somatic experiencing, IFS or EMDR can help process trauma and rewire stress responses.
• Coaches: Wellness or nervous system coaches provide personalized guidance on lifestyle changes and practical techniques. We love the Safe and Sound Protocol for this.
• Bodyworkers: Practitioners such as chiropractors, acupuncturists, or massage therapists can help release physical tension that contributes to dysregulation.

Check out our directory of trusted experts to start regulating your nervous system with a qualified practitioner.

FAQs

Q: Can nervous system dysregulation be cured?
A: It’s not a simple yes or no. There’s no magic switch, but the good news is that a lot of people see major improvements by making lifestyle changes, getting the right support, and sticking to regular practices that help regulate their system. It’s about progress, not perfection.

Q: How long does it take to see improvement?
A: It really depends. For some, it’s a matter of weeks; for others, it might take months. It all comes down to things like how severe your symptoms are, how consistently you’re using the techniques, and what’s driving the dysregulation in the first place. Patience and consistency are key.

Q: Do I need professional help, or can I do this on my own?
A: You can definitely make progress on your own with the right tools and dedication. But if you’re feeling stuck or overwhelmed, working with a professional can give you a clearer path and tailored support. Sometimes, having someone guide you through the process makes all the difference.

Q: What if I try something and it doesn’t work?
A: That’s totally normal. Not every technique works for everyone, and that’s okay. Think of it as an experiment—if one approach doesn’t feel right, it’s just information guiding you to try something else. The goal is to find what resonates with you and helps you feel more balanced.

Q: How do I know which techniques to start with?
A: Start with what feels doable and appealing to you. This shouldn’t be about adding more stress to your life. If deep breathing sounds manageable, begin there. If you’re curious about mindfulness or gentle movement, give those a shot. It’s less about picking the “perfect” technique and more about starting somewhere and adjusting as you go. Trust your instincts; your body often knows what it needs.

Q: Can regulating my nervous system help with my physical symptoms, like gut issues or headaches?
A: Absolutely. A dysregulated nervous system can play a big role in physical symptoms, from digestive problems to tension headaches. As you work on regulation, you might notice these physical symptoms easing up, too. It’s all connected, and small shifts can make a big difference across the board.

How Can We Support You?

When it comes to healing nervous system dysregulation, we understand two things better than most practitioners:

1. EVERYTHING MATTERS: Healing isn’t just about one magic fix; it’s about dialing in all aspects of your life—diet, lifestyle, relationships, structural issues, and more. We know that every part of your life can impact your nervous system, and we’re here to help you make sense of it all.
2. One-Size Does Not Fit All: There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to nervous system regulation. You need a personalized toolbox that suits your unique needs and lifestyle. Whether it’s finding the right practitioners, protocols, devices, supplements, or diets, Regulate Co is your ultimate resource on all things nervous system-related. We provide in-depth resources, expert recommendations, and practical tools to help you build your nervous system support stack.

Key Takeaways

So you survived my biology lesson and now understand the basics of nervous system dysregulation.

If there’s one thing you take away from this article it should be understanding that nervous system dysregulation can be complex, but with the right tools, it is possible to restore a healthy, resilient nervous system.

You are not alone on this journey. We are here to guide you to the right tools and practitioners for you!