Last week I posted a blog about our Parasympathetic Nervous System and several ways that we can learn to engage it. If the PNS is known as the “brake” system, the Sympathetic Nervous System is known as the “gas.” Now, this week, let’s tune in further and learn more about this gas system. You’re out for a walk and a neighbor’s dog barks at you. You are trying to take a left turn and another car runs the red light causing you to slam on your brakes. You have a job interview. You are running a mile. These are all real-life examples that can activate your SNS. The SNS is the part of our autonomic nervous system that is involved in our stress response. It is activated when we are approached with danger, stress, or engaged in physical activity.  

• Danger

Our Sympathetic Nervous system is responsible for our survival responses of Fight and Flight. Whenever we are approached with a potential danger, our SNS fires and responds accordingly, with either our flight or fight response (when they are available… sometimes we end up engaging in our freeze or fawn survival responses, but those are for a later post). This survival response is meant to be time-limited. Fight the danger or flee from the danger. And then discharge all that energy that got produced in our bodies to successfully survive that experience. However, as we will see with the next point, sometimes the SNS gets activated during stressful, non-life threatening situations, as well.

• Stress

It is important to highlight the idea of an acute stress response. Our bodies are created to respond to danger quickly and also to then release all those chemicals that got produced during the stress response, as stated above. However, Chronic activation of the stress response has been found to be associated with impaired health (https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response). You can google chronic stress and health and come up with pages upon pages of responses. It goes to show how problematic being in this SNS system for long periods of time can be.

Interestingly enough, our SNS can be kicked on in times of imagined danger, as well.  Our bodies will respond as though that danger is actually happening and won’t necessarily know the difference. For instance, think of that time you have imagined the worst-case scenario happening and even just within your mind creating some story, your body responded accordingly (ahem, has anyone traveled in a plane? My mind STILL cannot wrap its head around how flight works and it comes up with some pretty “incredible” stories as a result).

• Physical Activity

            Our Sympathetic Nervous System is also active when we are engaging in physical activity, which could also be thought of as an “acute stressor” (in more ways than one. Ha!). Think about the last time that you climbed a flight of stairs or went for a jog. Remember how your breathing rate changed, your heart beat started to increase, and maybe you even started to sweat? That is part of the SNS response to the “stress” of physical exercise. However, the important point here is we have the context of exercising as the reason for our bodily shifts. If our bodies just started to have these responses outside of physical exertion, we might also then experience fear as a result. Here, we know that our heart rate and breathing rate has increased because we are exercising, so we don’t panic that “something is wrong.” 

So, let’s take this all together. Our SNS’s main purpose is to keep us safe (either in the sense of being approached by danger or in exercise.) And if able (will get into this in a later blog about our FOUR survival responses) it does this when we are approached with life-threatening danger. However, somewhat confusingly it also responds this way to the very perception that something bad might happen. So cool, right? Well… maybe not at the moment it is happening, but it is awesome to think what a reciprocal connection and impact our mind and body have on each other.  And in terms of a treatment perspective, it is hopeful to know that we can have an impact on these responses, simply by being aware, slowing down, tracking our activation, and maybe even using one of the tools I named in last week’s post.

This week, let’s see if you can listen to your body, notice sensations as just sensations (unless, of course you come across a rattlesnake, then by all means get out of the way!) and track your body’s abilities to respond and restore. This is the exact work of somatic therapy and why Embody + Mind exists. To help us become more self-aware, less fearful of our natural responses, less self-critical, and more curious. Tune in next week where I will go further into an exploration of our FOUR survival responses (Fight, Flight, Freeze & Fawn).

With warmth + gratitude,

Tesa