Your nervous system is the body’s communication and protection system, constantly scanning, responding, and regulating how you think, feel, rest, heal and move through the world.

In the coming weeks, we will explore the entire human nervous system in hopes of providing information that will give you understanding of the nervous system, as well as teach simple and effective ways to regulate your nervous system from state to state, so that you may find more balance and wellbeing in your everyday life.

The nervous system is made up of two primary divisions that then break off into a few smaller parts.

The Central Nervous System (CNS) — the processing center of the body. Includes the brain and the spinal cord.
The Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)— the nerves, nerve nodes, nerve endings and the vagus nerve.
The PNS breaks into two systems:
1. Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) — The ANS system further splits into two parts:
  1. Sympathetic Nervous System — Survival state. “Fight, Flight, Fawn, Freeze”
  2. Parasympathetic Nervous System — Rest and Digest state.
2. Somatic Nervous System — The SNS system further splits into two parts:
  1. Sensory Input — the process by which your brain receives and interprets physical sensations from your body.
  2. Motor Output — voluntary skeletal and muscle contraction in response to received Sensory Input.

In this summer series, we will be diving into more detail of each of the divisions of the nervous system and discuss ways to decipher the signs, as well as provide tools for better nervous system regulation.

But for now, the heart rate and breath are a great indicators of what state your body might be in… Below are two great infographics from the resources center to get you started on what to do when feeling dysregulated or overwhelmed.