NERVOUS SYSTEM
Autonomous Nervous System
We are wired for survival and inherently capable of withstanding, managing and adjusting to environmental challenges. Traumatic events are not exceptional they are part of everyday life.
The Healthy Nervous System
When the autonomic nervous system is balanced it has ongoing cycles of charge and discharge, within a functional range (the individual can function adaptively) and a full spectrum of resiliency (the system finds its way back to balance). When a person’s nervous system is balanced.
Normal Nervous System
The person is embodied and present (spirit, mind, heart and body are on line)
Their responses are fluid and resilient
The person is available for connection and emotionally stable
The person with experience that they have options and choices
The person has the capacity for healthy relationship balancing Self and Other.
The Sympathetic Nervous System
The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) readies us for action. It is engaged when we are alert, excited, physically active, is ready to meet an emergency or deal with threat through the fight flight responses. Some of the signs of SNS are:
Increased heart rate
Blood shifts away from the gastro-intestinal tract to our muscles
Blood is drained from the skin
Dilates pupils to enable increased focus of eyes.
The Parasympathetic Nervous System
The PNS helps us decrease activation, rest, unwind, reorganise and regenerate.
Some of the signs of PNS are:
Decrease heart rate and blood pressure
Warm skin and tone as blood flow is redirected to the skin
Digestion and healing
Slow deep breathing
Decreased muscle tension
The Disregulated Nervous System
When the SNS is over activated and unable to match the threat the Dorsal Vagal System is switched on in order to shut down the activation.
Some signs of the Dorsal Vagal shut down are:
Difficulty speaking, disconnected language
Person seems collapsed
Breathing is restricted
Eyes unfocused
Skin pale
Sensations of numbness
Rigid or tense
Sense of absence, blankness, paralysis.