You are probably not alone – even if you are not going through trauma recovery – just switching on Breakfast TV can make us feel extremely anxious.
There are ways we can learn how to calm ourselves and this is by learning how to regulate our nervous system and return to a sense of calm. This is something we are going to look at in our next workshop in two weeks which we are preparing for and excited about.
We can do this by learning how to:
Create Safety in our mind: changing how we perceive situations through a “Top Down Approach”
Create Safety in our body: changing our bodies physical response to situations through a “Bottom Up Approach”
Top-Down Regulation: Creating Safety In The Brain
The anxiety response arises when there is overwhelm in the brain. The brain sends a message to the brain stem that there is a threat, and the brain stem responds by sending stress hormones through the central nervous system in your body to prepare you for danger. One way to short-circuit that is by essentially forcing blood flow and electrical activity away from the amygdala (which is the back of the brain and the alarm system) and back towards the parts of our brain responsible for rational thought and executive function which is the front of the brain – the thinking part.
What you are doing here is essentially passing the ball back up from your amygdala to your prefrontal cortex. You’re forcing executive function the thinking part back on. In turn, this slows the production of stress hormones, which allows your body to relax.
There are many ways to do this. Here are two very simple examples:
- Name all of the blue (then green, then yellow) things that you see in the room you are in.
- Play a puzzle game eg Candy Crush on your phone.
Both things require that you distract yourself from the alarm and focus on things that are happening right this very moment. This then helps calm down the overwhelming feelings in the back brain.
Bottom-Up Regulation: Sending Messages From The Body To The Brain
The system can also be short-circuited in the other direction by sending a message from the body back up to the brain that everything is OK. The key to this is the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the longest nerve in your whole body, and it runs from your brain stem through your whole body and touches most of your internal organs. The vagus nerve is critical in the process of sending stress hormones through your body. Because of this, it is also critical in regulating your heart rate, blood pressure, and digestive system. Here are re three simple ways to regulate your vagus nerve and bring a sense of calm:
Deep, slow breathing: When you take a deep breath into your belly, you push against a spot where the vagus nerve has many nerve endings. This essentially sends the message back up to the brain stem that things are actually fine, and you can calm down because you wouldn’t be taking deep, slow belly breaths if you were under attack. It also stimulates the parasympathetic system, which is what makes it possible for us to relax.
Cold exposure: This lowers the sympathetic response—that’s the fight-or-flight reaction—and at the same time stimulates your vagus nerve and parasympathetic (rest) response. Splash your face with cold water, wash your hands with cold water, or take a cold shower.
Singing: Interestingly, the vagus nerve has lots of nerve endings at the back of your throat. Singing activates these muscles, which then, in turn, activates the vagus nerve.
The more you practice regulation, the better you get at intervening and bringing your stress response back down. Over time, you show your body that the world is safe, that it’s OK to relax. These are easy exercises you can practice – often when you are on the go.
(Source: Rethinking Trauma: Understanding Anxiety as Adaptation www.psychologytoday.com by Mary Catherine McDonald PHD Updated July 26, 2023)