How Slowing Down Supports Nervous System Health and Lasting Recovery

Slowing down to live at the rhythm of your own nervous system takes intentional and consistent effort. When cultural norms push you to go faster and do more, prioritising and practising what feeds self-regulation and true recovery is an act of REBELLION.

The cultural pressure to be busy, work hard and achieve more may lead to an internalised belief that you should over-ride your neuro-biological needs and rely on coping habits that don't actually discharge stress activation, or provide true recovery for your nervous system.

These strategies temporarily soothe feelings of distress, fill emotional emptiness and can give a sense of control in times of uncertainty. Maybe you know the feeling of being pulled towards using caffeine, stimulants, sugar or other things that artificially mobilise your energy, so you can over-ride your limits and get more done.

Maybe you've fallen into habits after weeks of being under too much stress. If you're unable to switch off you may find you're only able to relax at the end of the day by numbing out with alcohol and comfort food. Or you distract yourself with excess social media, television or time online.

Maybe fear and uncertainty drive you to become perfectionistic. You're under stress so you push yourself to go harder, faster, multitask, strive and you hear your internal critic loudly telling you you're being ridiculous for feeling stressed, and that THIS is the way to take control of your life.

Although these coping habits are individual, many workplace, education systems and social institutions have values that may encourage you to default to them so you can "push" more. They may unconsciously influence you to dissociate from your body, override your needs, and move towards nervous system dysregulation.

Reflection:

• What rhythms have you internalised?

•  That you should artificially mobilise energy so that you're more productive?

•  That "numbing out" is how your nervous system recovers?

•  That slowing down robs you of your ambition?

•  Do you listen to your true neuro-biological needs to stop, rest or be away from a screen?

Your nervous system absorbs the message from your environment, the people you're around in person, and those you follow online. They can move you subconsciously away from your healthy baseline, and over time you may drift towards nervous system dysregulation. Dysregulation means stuck on high (anxious. irritable, can't switch off), or stuck on low (flat, depressed, no motivation, burnt out).

Yes, there are times where you need to mobilise energy and deal with stressful things and this is healthy if you get to recover fully. It's when stress activation is always on and you feel the pull towards short-term coping habits that your nervous system needs recovery and support.

This is how you shift the cycle from dysregulation to nervous system re-regulation and recover your innate resilience and psychological and physical well-being.