“Nervous system dysregulation is the root cause of anxiety, burnout, overwhelm, and many chronic conditions,” Dr. Linnea.  At the end of the day, anxiety is a dysfunction of the nervous system.  It is the body’s response to perceived fear in a heightened, and sustained way.  This has always been a chicken or egg thing for me because any issue with the nervous system sets the groundwork for the above mentioned issues, however, if we find ourselves in burnout, overwhelm, or if we suffer a chronic condition, the nervous system will adapt to that stimuli and create anxiety.  Regardless of which came first, any issue with the nervous system has a huge impact on the entire body system.  Nothing in the body operates in isolation.  To be clear, we all have moments of overwhelm and we may even verge on burnout.  The difference is when these become sustained/chronic.  As I said, the body is highly adaptive and if the mind thinks we are in constant danger of some kind because we are constantly sending stress signals to the brain, the brain will change its pattern and stay on high alert all the time—this is the complete opposite of where we want to be.      

The body truly doesn’t like anything away from homeostasis (internal balance), and that goes for our nervous system as well.  If the body isn’t able to get back to baseline, we will feel overwhelmed and anxious.  The more sensitive we are, the more chances we have to develop dysregulation because we aren’t trained to deal with that type of stimuli and our cells literally can’t keep up with that type of processing.  Amazingly, we are still trained that this is our fault.  We blame our bodies for doing exactly what they are biologically meant to do to keep us safe.  The fact that we become dysregulated in a society with the level of pressure, distraction, disconnection, and tension we face on a daily basis is truly not a surprise.  More people suffer from this than we let on.  Think about the low-level anxiety cases we see, those who need to have a drink a night after work to calm down, or those who stress eat or watch too much TV.  Those behaviors are all coping mechanisms as well.  So, to that point, while the cause may not be our fault, the cure is our responsibility.  We have an obligation to recognize our patterns and that the response needs to be changed.

For me the idea that it was my responsibility and that I could change things gave me some hope.  For a while I had thought my overwhelm/anxiety baseline was the norm.  I knew it didn’t feel right but I genuinely believed that I couldn’t do anything about it.  I considered it my personality/my make-up.  I didn’t realize it was a dysregulation, I thought I was just wired more sensitively—like someone who has a stronger response to caffeine than others.  It didn’t dawn on me until much later that a hair-trigger response to a potential slight was too much—and also that it took a lot of energy.  Understanding that this response to all of the stimuli in the world can be adjusted gives those who deal with anxiety, burnout, and overwhelm a sense of power.  Ultimately when we feel these things that put us in a dysregulated state, we are out of control.  We are subject to whatever we feel in the moment and no one is meant to run that range of emotion for an extended period of time. When we feel dysregulated, when we are looking to others or outside things to make us feel better, pause.  Breathe.  Ask if this is how we want to feel.  If not, take the steps to move closer to how we do want to feel.  As that becomes the norm, we will have a better sense of baseline and we can respond to dysregulation faster.  Body awareness is key.