#38 The nervous system: The overloaded machine that regulates everything
Not understanding your nervous system is like driving without knowing how to brake..
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The biological root of what you feel
We live in the age of anxiety. Rates of depression, burnout, and sleep disorders are skyrocketing. Exhausted parents, disconnected young adults, overwhelmed professionals.
Mental health is no longer just a personal issue — it’s a collective signal.
But before we look for solutions, we need to understand the system.
Not the political system. Not the economic system.
The nervous system.
Because everything you feel — stress, sadness, anger, pleasure, connection — starts there. And if we don’t understand how it works, we’re basically flying blind in our own bodies.
(We wrote about about systemic anxiety in an older post)
The most complex system in the Human Body
Your nervous system contains over 86 billion neurons, connected by axons that, if laid end to end, would circle the Earth four times. Every thought, action, or feeling arises from this invisible network.
At its core is the autonomic nervous system, which manages unconscious functions like breathing, heart rate, and digestion. It operates in two modes:
The sympathetic system, which activates when it senses a threat. It speeds up your heart rate, halts digestion, tenses muscles — preparing you to fight or flee.
The parasympathetic system, which kicks in when you feel safe. It slows your heart rate, supports digestion, allows rest, and fosters social connection.
The key is balance. The ability to shift fluidly between these two states — from alert to calm — is called self-regulation. And it’s the foundation of both mental and physical health.
Anxiety is not a bug. It’s a feature
Your nervous system was built for a very different world — one full of short-term, visible threats: a predator in the bushes, a sudden storm, a nearby conflict. Your body would react, burn the energy, and return to calm. Quick response. Quick recovery.
To survive in that world, it evolved with a clear bias: assume the worst.
If the grass rustled, better to think “predator” than “lunch.”
False alarms were fine. Real threats, fatal.
This pessimism wasn’t a flaw — it was a feature. And it was powered by the sympathetic system, always ready to activate, just in case.
But fast-forward to today, and your nervous system is still operating under the same assumptions…
Except now, the “threats” are different:
An unanswered email
A passive-aggressive message
A looming deadline, a drop in followers, a job interview, a first date
These aren’t life-or-death situations. Most errors today are reversible. But your system doesn't know that. It still treats every uncertainty as potential danger. And since most modern threats are chronic, low-grade, and unresolvable in the moment, your sympathetic system stays on.
The result? A body stuck in alert.
A mind on edge.
A parasympathetic system that barely gets to show up.
You're not weak. You're not broken.
You're just using ancient wiring to navigate a modern world.
Calm is not a mindset. It’s a habit
If we’re stuck in sympathetic mode, the way out isn’t to “think positive” or “try harder.”
It’s to deliberately activate the parasympathetic system. And science gives us practical ways to do just that:
Breathe slowly. Exhale longer than you inhale.
This stimulates the vagus nerve, slows your heart, and reduces cortisol. The body can shift in minutes.Move your body. Even just 10 minutes.
Exercise helps you complete the stress cycle. First, it activates the system in a healthy way — then it allows it to reset.Seek nature and silence.
Just 20 minutes a day in a green environment reduces cortisol and supports heart rate variability.Connect for real.
A hug, eye contact, a meaningful conversation. These are not just emotional needs — they’re biological regulators.Prioritize sleep. Seriously.
Good sleep is the body’s natural reset. Without it, self-regulation is nearly impossible.And this: retrain your perception of danger.
Not every error is life-threatening. Not every decision is final.
When your system acts like it’s under threat, ask yourself:
What’s the worst that could realistically happen?
Cultivating that distance is how you deactivate false alarms.
Not by being naïve — but by realizing that today’s world can absorb far more failure than your biology expects.
Listen
The tension. The anxiety. The racing thoughts.
These aren’t malfunctions.
They’re warnings — signs that your system is stuck in survival mode, trying to protect you from a danger that may no longer exist.
Your job isn’t to fight these signals.
It’s to listen to them.
Not with fear, but with understanding.
Because only when you recognize what your nervous system is reacting to… can you start helping it return to safety.
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