Erin O'Hara: naturopath and wellness expert on how to rebalance a dysregulated nervous system

If you have ever felt constantly 'on edge,' emotionally exhausted or stuck in survival mode, you might be dealing with a dysregulated nervous system.

Extra stresses can dysregulate the nervous system, leading to feeling stuck in fight-or-flight mode.

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara reveals how to get ahead of it. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News talks'b.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It is time to talk wellness and I'm joined by
Erin O'Hara. Good morning, Good morning. I really like today's topic.
We're going to talk about what to do if you
feel like you're just constantly on edge, if you're emotionally exhausted,
you sort of feel like you were stuck in survival mode.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Yeah. I think so many people feel like this in
modern day life, trying to run around all day taking
the kids from to to frow and also running a job,
and running around doing so much thing, so many things,
and trying to do everything. And I think when you
live in that state of high stress all the time,
it's hard on your nervous system. And the thing with
the autonomic nervous system, it's like the control center of

(00:53):
the body, So we really need to keep it in
this balance and it has an ability to oversee involuntary
processes like heart rate, your digestion, your breathing, and it's
all about regulates between the two branches. So we have
the sympathetic nervous system, which is your fidal flight, which
is really helpful in a time of acute stress when

(01:16):
you really need to leap into action to get something done. Obviously,
we don't want to stay in that stage or the
parasympathetic nervous system, which is our rest and digest which
really helps to calm down. So when we've had those
moments of acute stress, we can then calm down and
rEFInd the balance. And that's how this autonomic nervous system
works is it's always about finding homeostatus, of finding that balance.

(01:40):
When we're in chronic stress. What happens is this on
button stays switched on and we stay in this sympathetic
nervous system where we're in fid or flight all the time,
which means we've got high cortisol levels, adrenaline rushing around
the body, and we feel like we're rushing around on
adrenaline all the time, which then makes it really hard
to wind down.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Well, as you say, you might not feel like it's
adrenaline at the time. It just feels stress. It just
feels on edge the whole time, doesn't it.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
Yeah, filling on edge all the time might mean that
you start finding that you've got a little bit of
anxiety in the background. Or maybe it's that you find
it really hard to fall asleep, which shows that you're
really in sympathetic nervous system if you just can't shut off,
your brain can't feel relaxed when you're going to be
it feeling more irritable than you usually would or snappy
and reactive. Also rapid heartbeat, digestive issues, constant fatigue, difficulty concentrating.

(02:35):
These can be all signs that we're stuck in that
sympathetic nervous system where we've got a disregulated nervous system. Now,
ways we can bring it back into balance, Like you
can do some instant reset sort of tools, and one
that's really good is taking a pause, taking two breaths
in and then a really slow excel out is a

(02:56):
really good way to kind of create through the nose
out through the mouth, and through the nose out through
the mouth. Nice little reset. Also noticing three things that
you can see without labeling them as good or bad,
so just looking around, kind of resetting where where your
mind is at, feeling noticing two physical sensations, so like
standing on the ground and bum sitting on the seat,

(03:17):
so you're actually connecting to your physical body. And then
also creating a statement that kind of brings you back
into that mindset of being in the moment. So these
are good things to do in the moment of feeling
extreme stress. But actually when it comes to kind of
getting the nervous system back regulator is what you're doing
every day. So things like prioritizing sleep. Sleep is like

(03:38):
the magic for resetting the nervous system, keeping up with
some regular movement, because even though when we're exercising special
if we're doing something hard like running, we're in sympathetic state,
but it helps us to actually come back into parasympathetic
state and downregulate the nervous system as well. Singing, humming, chanting,

(03:59):
these sorts of things are great for the vagus nerves,
so they help to stimulate the vagus nerve which can
help to bring us back into sympathetic nervous system. So
kind of finding your thing that you love to do,
and then breathing and meditation always helpful, but always a
little bit harder when.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
You're really stressed.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
If you're really anxious to stress, the worst thing that
someone can say.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
To you is just breathe, Just breath. I know it's
not going to haen it's not going to happen. So
it might be that you instead.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
Do you know, breathing technique. There may be a big
hum and then you go out for a little bit
of a walk and you reset yourself that way.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
I love it, Thank you so much here and appreciate
all the advice.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.