June 17, 2025 • 24 mins
Your body isn't broken—your nervous system might just be stuck in survival mode.
Most of us recognize the symptoms: constant anxiety, emotional numbness, digestive issues, chronic fatigue, and that feeling of being perpetually on edge. What many don't realize is that these aren't separate problems or character flaws—they're classic signs of nervous system dysregulation.
This episode dives deep into why so many people feel burned out in 2025. Dr. Enrico Dolcecore explains how our bodies get trapped in primitive "squirrel mode," constantly scanning for threats instead of resting in balance. Drawing on 20 years of clinical experience and cutting-edge neuroscience, he breaks down exactly what's happening when your nervous system falls out of homeostasis—and why addressing this root cause can transform your health in ways medication alone cannot.
You'll discover the surprising connection between childhood experiences and adult health, why modern life creates perfect conditions for dysregulation, and how simple daily practices can dramatically shift your nervous tone. From breathing techniques and cold exposure to the powerful effect of human connection, Dr. Dolcecore offers a comprehensive toolkit for regulation that goes beyond quick fixes.
What sets this conversation apart is its accessibility—you'll understand complex neurological concepts through relatable examples, learn to recognize your own dysregulation patterns, and walk away with a customizable five-minute daily routine that can begin shifting your nervous system immediately.
Whether you're struggling with anxiety, dealing with unexplained physical symptoms, or simply feeling overwhelmed by life's demands, this episode provides the scientific context and practical solutions to help you reclaim balance. Your nervous system is designed to heal—learn how to give it what it needs to thrive.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Today we're talking about the real root of why so
many people feel burned out,anxious, stuck in stress or
emotionally flat Nervous systemdysregulation.
I've seen this not just inpatients, but even in myself as
a doctor, parent and human beingtrying to navigate life in 2025
.
By the end of this episode,you'll understand what's going
(00:25):
on inside your body, how to knowif your nervous system is off
track and, most importantly, howto heal and rebalance it.
Naturally, I'm Dr EnricoDolcecori.
Thanks for joining us onanother episode of Living a Full
Life.
This week, we're going throughnervous system dysregulation and
it's been amazing over my 20year journey as a chiropractor,
(00:46):
listening more so now than everbefore people coming in more
than younger adults coming insaying my nervous system's off.
I'm scouring the internettrying to see where this shift
in mentality has come from,because in my 20 years and in
chiropractic, 135 years we'vebeen trying to say this to the
population forever, saying yournervous system needs to be in
(01:07):
balance or else you're not goingto function optimally.
And it's so cool to see thisnow in society being said all
the time.
So let's dive into this more so.
But what is nervous systemdysregulation?
The nervous system is yourcentral and peripheral nervous
system.
That makes up all the nerve,nervous and intricates.
Central and peripheral nervoussystem.
That makes up all the nervousintricates of the entire human
(01:27):
body.
The central nervous system isyour brain and spinal cord.
Think of the spinal cord as thetail to the brain.
Both the brain and spinal cordare encased in bone.
Your skull and spinal columnare completely encased in bone
like an armor protecting thatcentral nervous system.
Then the peripheral nerves areeverything that come out of the
spinal cord and the cranialnerves in the skull that come
(01:48):
out and go to all of the pointsof the body organs, cells,
tissues.
They all get nervous sense,nervous intervention from the
nervous system.
So that's your central andperipheral nervous system.
The autonomic nervous systemthe automatic some people call
it is the sympathetic fight orflight and the parasympathetic
rest and digest systems that youmay have heard of before.
(02:09):
Those two need to work inunison or in harmony, or,
scientifically, homeostasis, inorder to proliferate and to
communicate properly.
That's the whole point of theautonomic nervous system.
(02:31):
So dysregulation means it's notjust about anxiety, it's about
being stuck in survival mode.
When we start to get away fromhomeostasis, the body goes into
what's called a primitivesurvival mode.
We go to our midbrains insteadof using our forebrains and we
live in the midbrain andhindbrain in our primitive state
, which is survival.
Think of a squirrel.
That's what I tell people.
All mammals have the samemidbrain and we all share it,
(02:53):
from a squirrel all the way toan elephant, and us as well.
We all have this part of thebrain and it's the primitive
brain.
We literally go intosympathetic mode and it's
survival mode.
It's like go get the nuts, digup some worms and get back to
the tree and back to our houseso we don't get eaten by a
predator.
That's the survival mode andliving in that is stressful for
(03:13):
sure, and it can lead to chronicoverreaction of sympathetic or
under activation ofparasympathetic.
So in a 2023 article ofFrontier in Neuroscience, it
noted that chronic stressreshapes autonomic tone,
contributing to cardiovascular,digestive and immune disorders.
(03:35):
We've been saying this forever.
I can't believe the research isright there in front of my nose
.
Not being in academia anymoreas a student, it's fun to go
back and look at the researchnow as a clinician and be like
this is amazing that it's at theforefront of research.
It's the forefront ofdiscussion and I think that's
why the younger adults arehearing it more than we did as
(03:56):
older adults and it's veryinteresting and I think it's
pushing them down the rightjourney of healing the overall
body.
It's fantastic being aware ofnervous system dysregulation.
So really let's discuss how ithappens.
The roots of dysregulation Earlylife stress or trauma.
(04:16):
They're called ACEs or adversechildhood experiences are linked
to lifelong dysregulation.
So there's an ACE study fromthe CDC and Kaiser Permanente 10
types of childhood traumaassociated with physical and
mental illness later in life,and they go on and list of not
just physical trauma but mental,emotional gaslighting and a
(04:42):
list of things that can happenin childhood that dysregulate us
and make us not adapt properlyto society or societal normals
later in life, later in ourchildhood, and this can lead to
adult dysregulation of thenervous system.
So modern life stressors arethings like overstimulating
(05:03):
environments, screens, music,news, multitasking, constant
stimulation, if you think aboutit.
I thought about music the otherday.
Man, my kids are just, they'reat the age they all sing all the
time.
I'm like man.
There is music all the time.
There's like no peace and I canfeel my nervous system just not
being able to calm down.
It's constantly going on.
We turn off the radio, turn offthe TV, we turn off the screens
(05:23):
and they're singing.
It's great, I love hearing themsing, but that constant
stimulation.
I was just thinking of all thestimuli and then I started
thinking about music.
We have it going on all thetime.
I walk into my office, spotifyis going on.
I get in my car, the radio's on.
It's just constant stimulationof noise.
That's just one example.
Overwork, undersleep and poorboundaries Wow, that's a basket
(05:46):
full of stuff right there.
Right, these things are modernstressors that definitely throw
us off balance.
Then we got toxins, inflammationand gut-brain access issues
where poor diet, mold exposure,chronic infections, gut
inflammation increases,cytokines that affect the vagus
nerve and back and forth, and weget caught in these negative
(06:08):
cycles of constantoverstimulation over stress.
And we were just really lackingco-regulation.
We regulate with others.
Isolation equals dysregulation.
2020 really threw things off.
I feel like there's been amajor pivot since 2020.
There had to be.
It was such a culture shock, itwas such a world event for
everyone living through it thatafterwards, not only are we on
(06:31):
guard with some dysregulation,but we're also aware of
different things that we used tobe from before Seeing that
decrease in traffic, seeing thatdecrease in being able to go
everywhere we wanted.
It was almost like a nervoussystem reset, minus the news and
fear of that a virus would killeveryone.
Right, that was kind ofstressful as well.
(06:52):
So a 2022 nature study showsinflammation directly impacts
brain regions that regulateautonomic function and emotional
processing.
So this dysregulation issomething that, if we take a
little bit of awareness and putit towards this, we can get a
(07:13):
really good control of how wefunction.
And if we can control how wefunction, we can immediately
start to feel better.
And if we start to feel better,we can heal better.
And that's the whole point oftrying to get back to balance
with our nervous systems.
So some symptoms ofdysregulation can be numerous
and I don't think we have enoughtime on this podcast to go
(07:34):
through all the symptoms, butlet's break it down into three
or four categories we're goingto go into physical, emotional,
cognitive and behavioral.
I think this is going to coverpretty much everything.
The physical issues are thethings we see all the time
Digestive issues, chronicfatigue, tension, heart
palpitations.
These are very common secondarythings I hear in my practice.
(07:54):
The primary things I hear aremusculoskeletal back issues.
That's the number one thing wehear about pain in the back.
They know who to call had a ladyyesterday saying you know, I
dropped something on my foot.
I didn't know if I could talkto you about it, but my back's
hurting.
I'm like, absolutely, let's seewhat's going on with the foot.
Did some class four laser on it, did some active release.
She immediately started to walkbetter for the first time in
(08:16):
six weeks.
And she said I didn't know Icould talk about my foot.
And I said well, listen,everything's connected.
You can talk about anything.
It can give us clues back tothe underlying source of the
problem.
So always talk about how youfeel, about everything.
I'm not the best psychiatrist,I'm not the best physical
therapist, I'm not the bestoccupational therapist, I'm not
the best myofascial releasespecialist for the mouth, but if
(08:39):
you bring up these things andwe can help, we'll help.
If not, we can refer out andget you the help that you need.
So it's really important tolook at the body as a whole.
So physical issues we see thisvery commonly, I think digestive
issues, chronic fatigue andtension are.
Virtually everyone has this andit's because of nervous system
dysregulation, it's because ofstress.
We blame stress, but instead ofblaming work or what we think
(09:05):
the stress is coming from, weneed to hone in on our nervous
system.
We need to be able.
Why am I not able to adapt tothe stresses from work?
Let's say you work in a desk joband you meet quarterly ends
that you have to do everyquarter and you know every
quarter near the end of thatmonth.
Just it ramps up.
(09:26):
Your weeks turn from 40 hours aweek to 60 hours a week to
catch up, to get this done,because on the 30th of March,
the 30th of June, we need to getthis stuff done.
It's a cyclical stress thatthat goes on and you can
pinpoint that.
As you pinpoint that, you canthen use things in your life to
try and regulate your nervoussystem a little bit more.
Knowing that the hours aregoing up instead of being a
(09:50):
result of the hours of going up.
Make sense there, instead ofjust saying, okay, work's going
to get stressful, therefore I'mgoing to suffer the stress.
We can be in prep for that, tobe ready, making sure that
night's routines change.
You're going to bed an hourearlier.
You're doing things differentto help modify and regulate your
nervous system during that time.
Eat different.
(10:11):
Eat an anti inflammatory dietduring those times of the year,
whatever those things may be.
That's the physical.
Emotional is irritability,anxiety, panic and emotional
numbness.
When our nervous system getsreally out of balance, this is
where panic starts to come in.
So irritability and anxiety arenormal symptoms that most
(10:32):
people feel once they're out ofbalance and they're starting to
sense that they're out ofbalance, whether it's conscious
or not we start to get irritable, we kind of punch back, we get
angry, we get a little bitanxious that anxiety can
transmit other types ofbehaviors.
But it's when we get into panic, when we start to actually
panic and have that higher heartrate, higher blood pressure,
(10:55):
it's where we're reaching apoint of maybe no return on the
nervous system falling out ofway, out of control.
So we get this emotionalnumbness there.
These are common things.
Put your hand up if you've hadany of these symptoms that I'm
bringing up right now.
Right, all of your hands shouldbe going up.
Cognitively, we get brain fog,forgetfulness, obsessive
(11:16):
thinking.
We start to obsessively thinkon the stressors which create
more anxiety, which create moreirritability, which create more
panic.
It's this cognitive change andone of the best tools you can
use is the cognitive control.
You can control your thoughts,and that's sometimes what people
need a little bit more work onis when things start to get
stressful and we start to repeatthe negative stuff, saying oh
(11:38):
my gosh, this is going to be dueby this time, this finance is
going to be due at this time.
I don't know if we're going tohave enough money.
Whatever it is that's stressingus.
Changing the tone in ourthoughts can play a huge role in
the overall effect of ournervous system and our overall
health.
Saying hey, god's got this isone way.
Another way is being grateful,positive affirmation, saying hey
(12:02):
, no matter how hard this gets,I've gotten this far.
Everything's been provided forme.
I'm pretty grateful for thatand chances are it's going to
work out on the next step aswell.
And then using all kinds oftools.
And then we have behavioral too.
We talk about physical,emotional, cognitive and now
behavioral overworking,shutdowns, social withdrawal,
(12:24):
addictive tendencies.
I'm going to put my hand up forthat.
When I get irritable, anxious,I start to overwork and shut
down.
As I overwork and shut down, itcreates panic and the panic
leads well, the chronic fatiguecomes before that.
Then it can lead to digestiveissues and everything.
I've been through this.
I think we all have trying toraise families, trying to run
(12:46):
businesses, trying to run ourwork, whatever it may be.
We've all got through there andthe only way out of it is what
we're talking about today withtrying to regulate the nervous
system.
This isn't a personality flaw,any of this stuff.
It's a nervous system patternand it can be changed.
So how do we regulate thisnervous system?
We have to think of this as atop-down approach.
(13:07):
The nervous system is top-down.
It goes from the brain all theway to the body.
Right Breath work Box breathing,psychological sigh taking and
pausing during the day, even formoments, can make a big change
in how we regulate because youcan influence normal patterns
like your down, your breathing,taking big, deep breaths in and
(13:39):
breathing out.
We have two breathing podcaststhat you can go back.
Just go in the search bar, saybreathing under the full life
living a full life podcast, andyou'll see them pop right up to
the top.
Listen to those.
They're great breathingpodcasts on how to do breath
work and it can really helpregulate in the moment.
So if you're working at theoffice or at your desk, you know
(14:01):
eight to 10 hours a day.
This is a great one to just addin randomly throughout your
shifts.
You can do as much as you like,but it's 15 seconds to just
stop and breathe.
Mindfulness, positiveaffirmations focus on present
sensations.
Affirmations focus on presentsensations.
Reduce default mode networkactivity so you don't fall into
(14:22):
that overstimulation or panic oranxiety, but just being mindful
of some of the things that wejust said.
And then cognitive reframingreduce that perception.
That's the thing.
Reduce the perception.
Mindfulness-based stressreduction reduces amygdala
volume and this is from Harvardfrom 2021.
It's called MBSRmindfulness-based stress
(14:46):
reduction.
Look up into that and how youcan just reduce the amygdala
volume.
And your amygdala is your fearcenter of your brain that when
it gets overstimulated, you fallinto a chronic fear state and
fear creates high blood pressure, high heart rate, all these
things.
Because what are you fearing?
It's definitely not the billsthat are being due on Friday.
It's definitely not theworkload.
(15:08):
We perceive that that's ourreality currently, but our
amygdala is stuck in 4000 BC.
It's worried some panther orsomething's coming around the
corner to eat them.
Right, that's where we're stuckin.
It's a pretty stressful life tolive thinking every moment that
you're about to be eaten by thelion.
Pretty crazy to be in thatstate of nervous system, so we
(15:33):
want to use as many tools as wecan to change that state.
Then there's the bottom-upapproach, the body-to-brain
approach, things we can do toour body or for our body to help
regulate our brain.
Chiropractic care, believe itor not, in the research, shows
to be at the very top.
For the first time in my life,when we search things, it's
(15:54):
always the Mayo Clinic, theCleveland Clinic, medical
medical, medical medicalprocedures, maybe some drugs,
then physical therapy.
Then physical therapy comes inthe movement, the rehab, and
very rarely does chiropracticget talked.
And then, when I went down thisrabbit hole over the last month
about nervous system regulation, chiropractic research is
(16:16):
sprinkled all throughout it,just because I guess, being 130
years saying the same thing overand over again, it's trickling
in and falling to the top of thesearch results.
And we found a reference studyin 2022 in the Journal of
Clinical Chiropractic ofPediatrics showed significant
parasympathetic activation postadjustments for both kids and
(16:36):
adults.
And we can use this.
And because so manychiropractors are measuring HRV
and vagal tone, the research isall there.
So chiropractic adjustmentsimmediately within seconds after
being adjusted, uh, showsignificant parasympathetic
activation.
So if we're very sympatheticand stressed, it can pull us
back to that homeostasis bystimulating the parasympathetic
(17:00):
and getting betterparasympathetic response meaning
gut and digestion, which isvery cool in the literature.
Cold exposure, like cold showers, cold plunges, if you're brave
enough, trigger the vagus nerveand they work very well for some
people.
Uh, some high performingathletes, some high performing
(17:20):
um entrepreneurs that you knowwork crazy hour a hundred hours
a week.
Uh, have shown that when theybring these things into even
daily or five times a week, whenthey hop in there for even
three minutes, uh, it does makea change in their nervous system
regulation and they can feel it, they trust it, they believe it
and they incorporate that intotheir lifestyle and it's made a
(17:40):
big change for them, which isgreat.
So that can work for you too.
But simple things like walking,yoga, pilates all these mindful
movement exercises areabsolutely wonderful for
regulation.
What about co-regulation andsafe connection?
We can actually use each other,other humans, to help
(18:02):
co-regulate our nervous systems.
Our nervous systems, actually,the human brain actually thrives
on human connection.
It's a part of it that it'salmost like a cheat code.
You can use other people tohelp regulate your nervous
systems.
There's a great podcast on theblue zones we did over a year
ago and we were looking atpeople that live to 100 or more
years of age in Japan, sardinia,greece, california, all the
(18:26):
blue areas around the world, andthey were trying to look for
overlap and commonalities, eventhough these are very different
cultures around the world.
They're trying to figure out.
Diet was the the number one.
Diet was the big thingPlant-based seeds, a little bit
of meat, plant-based diet, lowinflammation.
But guess what?
The second biggest thing wasHuman connection.
They were all part of a villageor connection of people that
(18:51):
was required on a daily basis tobe with other people.
Unfortunately, us here,especially North America and in
the Western world, we can godays without other people, which
is crazy, which is absolutelycrazy.
So hugging someone, petting adog, being with calm people can
actually regulate your nervoussystem.
Being around abrasive people,loud people and dangerous people
(19:15):
can do the opposite, and ifwe're constantly around them, we
wonder why our nervous systemscan never regulate.
So abuse, trauma, all thesethings and being around that
daily can be very, very toxic toour nervous systems.
The polyvagal theory states thesame thing Safety, facial
(19:36):
expressions, tone of voice canhelp regulate us.
Listening to someone's voicethat you enjoy podcasts can be
great.
Pop one of those in thatsomeone, a narrator that you
love listening to those can begreat.
And then lifestyle andsupplements Omega-3s, magnesium,
adaptogens like ashwagandha,rhodiola these things can help
(19:58):
the nervous system.
Make sure you talk to someonebefore adding all this stuff in,
but omega-3s and magnesium arepretty safe to take and most
people are depleted in themanyway, so taking them is only
going to help regulate sleep andreduce inflammation.
I'm a big fan of omega-3s thatshould be daily and magnesium
every night before you go to bed.
That can really help as well.
Prioritize sleep before you goto bed that can really help as
(20:19):
well.
Prioritize sleep circadianrhythm and eat real food.
This isn't about doingeverything.
It's about starting withsomething consistent.
Choose the things that you needto try and help regulate your
nervous system and go from there.
So here's just a dailyregulation routine and I think
this is something maybe youwrite down or just hit the pause
button and these are three,four, five things that you can
(20:39):
do on a daily routine every dayto help just naturally regulate
your nervous system.
Five minutes of deep breathingin the morning, just taking a
moment as you're pouring yourcoffee, to stop and deep breathe
, big breaths in hold.
That's the key.
Hold and slowly release anddoing that for one, two, three,
(21:00):
four, five minutes.
Whatever you can do, walkoutside in natural light.
This is huge for some of youthat work indoors or from home.
You know how important this is.
One minute of cold exposurethis could just be at the end of
your shower, just reducing thetemperature as cold as you can
handle or close to as cold as itcan get, and just spending 60
(21:22):
seconds finishing your showerlike that, just giving that
vagal response.
A little bit of time, 10minutes of connection Even a
smile or eye contact, is great,but just sitting for 10 minutes
talking to your spouse, talkingto your kids, talking to people
that you love and trust.
Trying to find that 10 minutesevery day is really important.
And set a two-minute reset alarmmidday for body awareness, just
(21:44):
sometime in the middle of theday, just before your lunch
break, after your lunch breakmid-afternoon.
Just a two-minute alarm thatgoes off on your phone where you
just stand up, walk away, go tothe bathroom, whatever it is,
and just reset Body.
How am I feeling right now?
How's my breath?
Check my pulse Is it high, isit low?
You can look at your watchesnow.
It tells you everything andjust go from there.
(22:08):
Regulation is not a one-timeevent.
You just don't do this for oneday.
It's a lifestyle, it's a rhythm.
You have to keep your body inits rhythm because everything
around us throws us off.
Okay, you're not broken.
You're living a tonal-basedclinic that does activator
(22:44):
torque release upper cervicalthese nervous system-based
techniques that can actuallychiropractic.
Just chiropractic is a nervoussystem technique that can just
help you.
So find a good one in your area.
If you need any help, reach outto us and thank you for
listening.
Share this episode with peoplethat maybe you've been thinking
about and are don't know aboutnervous system regulation.
Think that this stuff doesn'texist.
Uh, I can think of so many ofmy family members that I'm
(23:05):
sending this to because it'sit's flu.
Flu, it's new age, it's uh, butit's really not.
The research about our nervoussystem has been around for
hundreds of years and how itfunctions, and we're just
learning more and more and more.
And as more and more peoplelive in stress, they're just
speaking out about it.
They're just like listen, I'mconstantly anxious.
This isn't right.
I don't want to live like thisfor 90 years.
(23:26):
What the heck's going on?
What can I do to help myself?
And I think that is so healthyand that's amazing.
So let's create a series onthis.
We'll talk about the nervoussystem over the next few.
Today we're talking about the real root of why so
many people feel burned out,anxious, stuck in stress or
emotionally flat Nervous systemdysregulation.
I've seen this not just inpatients, but even in myself as
a doctor, parent and human beingtrying to navigate life in 2025
.
By the end of this episode,you'll understand what's going
(00:25):
on inside your body, how to knowif your nervous system is off
track and, most importantly, howto heal and rebalance it.
Naturally, I'm Dr EnricoDolcecori.
Thanks for joining us onanother episode of Living a Full
Life.
This week, we're going throughnervous system dysregulation and
it's been amazing over my 20year journey as a chiropractor,
(00:46):
listening more so now than everbefore people coming in more
than younger adults coming insaying my nervous system's off.
I'm scouring the internettrying to see where this shift
in mentality has come from,because in my 20 years and in
chiropractic, 135 years we'vebeen trying to say this to the
population forever, saying yournervous system needs to be in
(01:07):
balance or else you're not goingto function optimally.
And it's so cool to see thisnow in society being said all
the time.
So let's dive into this more so.
But what is nervous systemdysregulation?
The nervous system is yourcentral and peripheral nervous
system.
That makes up all the nerve,nervous and intricates.
Central and peripheral nervoussystem.
That makes up all the nervousintricates of the entire human
(01:27):
body.
The central nervous system isyour brain and spinal cord.
Think of the spinal cord as thetail to the brain.
Both the brain and spinal cordare encased in bone.
Your skull and spinal columnare completely encased in bone
like an armor protecting thatcentral nervous system.
Then the peripheral nerves areeverything that come out of the
spinal cord and the cranialnerves in the skull that come
(01:48):
out and go to all of the pointsof the body organs, cells,
tissues.
They all get nervous sense,nervous intervention from the
nervous system.
So that's your central andperipheral nervous system.
The autonomic nervous systemthe automatic some people call
it is the sympathetic fight orflight and the parasympathetic
rest and digest systems that youmay have heard of before.
(02:09):
Those two need to work inunison or in harmony, or,
scientifically, homeostasis, inorder to proliferate and to
communicate properly.
That's the whole point of theautonomic nervous system.
(02:31):
So dysregulation means it's notjust about anxiety, it's about
being stuck in survival mode.
When we start to get away fromhomeostasis, the body goes into
what's called a primitivesurvival mode.
We go to our midbrains insteadof using our forebrains and we
live in the midbrain andhindbrain in our primitive state
, which is survival.
Think of a squirrel.
That's what I tell people.
All mammals have the samemidbrain and we all share it,
(02:53):
from a squirrel all the way toan elephant, and us as well.
We all have this part of thebrain and it's the primitive
brain.
We literally go intosympathetic mode and it's
survival mode.
It's like go get the nuts, digup some worms and get back to
the tree and back to our houseso we don't get eaten by a
predator.
That's the survival mode andliving in that is stressful for
(03:13):
sure, and it can lead to chronicoverreaction of sympathetic or
under activation ofparasympathetic.
So in a 2023 article ofFrontier in Neuroscience, it
noted that chronic stressreshapes autonomic tone,
contributing to cardiovascular,digestive and immune disorders.
(03:35):
We've been saying this forever.
I can't believe the research isright there in front of my nose
.
Not being in academia anymoreas a student, it's fun to go
back and look at the researchnow as a clinician and be like
this is amazing that it's at theforefront of research.
It's the forefront ofdiscussion and I think that's
why the younger adults arehearing it more than we did as
(03:56):
older adults and it's veryinteresting and I think it's
pushing them down the rightjourney of healing the overall
body.
It's fantastic being aware ofnervous system dysregulation.
So really let's discuss how ithappens.
The roots of dysregulation Earlylife stress or trauma.
(04:16):
They're called ACEs or adversechildhood experiences are linked
to lifelong dysregulation.
So there's an ACE study fromthe CDC and Kaiser Permanente 10
types of childhood traumaassociated with physical and
mental illness later in life,and they go on and list of not
just physical trauma but mental,emotional gaslighting and a
(04:42):
list of things that can happenin childhood that dysregulate us
and make us not adapt properlyto society or societal normals
later in life, later in ourchildhood, and this can lead to
adult dysregulation of thenervous system.
So modern life stressors arethings like overstimulating
(05:03):
environments, screens, music,news, multitasking, constant
stimulation, if you think aboutit.
I thought about music the otherday.
Man, my kids are just, they'reat the age they all sing all the
time.
I'm like man.
There is music all the time.
There's like no peace and I canfeel my nervous system just not
being able to calm down.
It's constantly going on.
We turn off the radio, turn offthe TV, we turn off the screens
(05:23):
and they're singing.
It's great, I love hearing themsing, but that constant
stimulation.
I was just thinking of all thestimuli and then I started
thinking about music.
We have it going on all thetime.
I walk into my office, spotifyis going on.
I get in my car, the radio's on.
It's just constant stimulationof noise.
That's just one example.
Overwork, undersleep and poorboundaries Wow, that's a basket
(05:46):
full of stuff right there.
Right, these things are modernstressors that definitely throw
us off balance.
Then we got toxins, inflammationand gut-brain access issues
where poor diet, mold exposure,chronic infections, gut
inflammation increases,cytokines that affect the vagus
nerve and back and forth, and weget caught in these negative
(06:08):
cycles of constantoverstimulation over stress.
And we were just really lackingco-regulation.
We regulate with others.
Isolation equals dysregulation.
2020 really threw things off.
I feel like there's been amajor pivot since 2020.
There had to be.
It was such a culture shock, itwas such a world event for
everyone living through it thatafterwards, not only are we on
(06:31):
guard with some dysregulation,but we're also aware of
different things that we used tobe from before Seeing that
decrease in traffic, seeing thatdecrease in being able to go
everywhere we wanted.
It was almost like a nervoussystem reset, minus the news and
fear of that a virus would killeveryone.
Right, that was kind ofstressful as well.
(06:52):
So a 2022 nature study showsinflammation directly impacts
brain regions that regulateautonomic function and emotional
processing.
So this dysregulation issomething that, if we take a
little bit of awareness and putit towards this, we can get a
(07:13):
really good control of how wefunction.
And if we can control how wefunction, we can immediately
start to feel better.
And if we start to feel better,we can heal better.
And that's the whole point oftrying to get back to balance
with our nervous systems.
So some symptoms ofdysregulation can be numerous
and I don't think we have enoughtime on this podcast to go
(07:34):
through all the symptoms, butlet's break it down into three
or four categories we're goingto go into physical, emotional,
cognitive and behavioral.
I think this is going to coverpretty much everything.
The physical issues are thethings we see all the time
Digestive issues, chronicfatigue, tension, heart
palpitations.
These are very common secondarythings I hear in my practice.
(07:54):
The primary things I hear aremusculoskeletal back issues.
That's the number one thing wehear about pain in the back.
They know who to call had a ladyyesterday saying you know, I
dropped something on my foot.
I didn't know if I could talkto you about it, but my back's
hurting.
I'm like, absolutely, let's seewhat's going on with the foot.
Did some class four laser on it, did some active release.
She immediately started to walkbetter for the first time in
(08:16):
six weeks.
And she said I didn't know Icould talk about my foot.
And I said well, listen,everything's connected.
You can talk about anything.
It can give us clues back tothe underlying source of the
problem.
So always talk about how youfeel, about everything.
I'm not the best psychiatrist,I'm not the best physical
therapist, I'm not the bestoccupational therapist, I'm not
the best myofascial releasespecialist for the mouth, but if
(08:39):
you bring up these things andwe can help, we'll help.
If not, we can refer out andget you the help that you need.
So it's really important tolook at the body as a whole.
So physical issues we see thisvery commonly, I think digestive
issues, chronic fatigue andtension are.
Virtually everyone has this andit's because of nervous system
dysregulation, it's because ofstress.
We blame stress, but instead ofblaming work or what we think
(09:05):
the stress is coming from, weneed to hone in on our nervous
system.
We need to be able.
Why am I not able to adapt tothe stresses from work?
Let's say you work in a desk joband you meet quarterly ends
that you have to do everyquarter and you know every
quarter near the end of thatmonth.
Just it ramps up.
(09:26):
Your weeks turn from 40 hours aweek to 60 hours a week to
catch up, to get this done,because on the 30th of March,
the 30th of June, we need to getthis stuff done.
It's a cyclical stress thatthat goes on and you can
pinpoint that.
As you pinpoint that, you canthen use things in your life to
try and regulate your nervoussystem a little bit more.
Knowing that the hours aregoing up instead of being a
(09:50):
result of the hours of going up.
Make sense there, instead ofjust saying, okay, work's going
to get stressful, therefore I'mgoing to suffer the stress.
We can be in prep for that, tobe ready, making sure that
night's routines change.
You're going to bed an hourearlier.
You're doing things differentto help modify and regulate your
nervous system during that time.
Eat different.
(10:11):
Eat an anti inflammatory dietduring those times of the year,
whatever those things may be.
That's the physical.
Emotional is irritability,anxiety, panic and emotional
numbness.
When our nervous system getsreally out of balance, this is
where panic starts to come in.
So irritability and anxiety arenormal symptoms that most
(10:32):
people feel once they're out ofbalance and they're starting to
sense that they're out ofbalance, whether it's conscious
or not we start to get irritable, we kind of punch back, we get
angry, we get a little bitanxious that anxiety can
transmit other types ofbehaviors.
But it's when we get into panic, when we start to actually
panic and have that higher heartrate, higher blood pressure,
(10:55):
it's where we're reaching apoint of maybe no return on the
nervous system falling out ofway, out of control.
So we get this emotionalnumbness there.
These are common things.
Put your hand up if you've hadany of these symptoms that I'm
bringing up right now.
Right, all of your hands shouldbe going up.
Cognitively, we get brain fog,forgetfulness, obsessive
(11:16):
thinking.
We start to obsessively thinkon the stressors which create
more anxiety, which create moreirritability, which create more
panic.
It's this cognitive change andone of the best tools you can
use is the cognitive control.
You can control your thoughts,and that's sometimes what people
need a little bit more work onis when things start to get
stressful and we start to repeatthe negative stuff, saying oh
(11:38):
my gosh, this is going to be dueby this time, this finance is
going to be due at this time.
I don't know if we're going tohave enough money.
Whatever it is that's stressingus.
Changing the tone in ourthoughts can play a huge role in
the overall effect of ournervous system and our overall
health.
Saying hey, god's got this isone way.
Another way is being grateful,positive affirmation, saying hey
(12:02):
, no matter how hard this gets,I've gotten this far.
Everything's been provided forme.
I'm pretty grateful for thatand chances are it's going to
work out on the next step aswell.
And then using all kinds oftools.
And then we have behavioral too.
We talk about physical,emotional, cognitive and now
behavioral overworking,shutdowns, social withdrawal,
(12:24):
addictive tendencies.
I'm going to put my hand up forthat.
When I get irritable, anxious,I start to overwork and shut
down.
As I overwork and shut down, itcreates panic and the panic
leads well, the chronic fatiguecomes before that.
Then it can lead to digestiveissues and everything.
I've been through this.
I think we all have trying toraise families, trying to run
(12:46):
businesses, trying to run ourwork, whatever it may be.
We've all got through there andthe only way out of it is what
we're talking about today withtrying to regulate the nervous
system.
This isn't a personality flaw,any of this stuff.
It's a nervous system patternand it can be changed.
So how do we regulate thisnervous system?
We have to think of this as atop-down approach.
(13:07):
The nervous system is top-down.
It goes from the brain all theway to the body.
Right Breath work Box breathing,psychological sigh taking and
pausing during the day, even formoments, can make a big change
in how we regulate because youcan influence normal patterns
like your down, your breathing,taking big, deep breaths in and
(13:39):
breathing out.
We have two breathing podcaststhat you can go back.
Just go in the search bar, saybreathing under the full life
living a full life podcast, andyou'll see them pop right up to
the top.
Listen to those.
They're great breathingpodcasts on how to do breath
work and it can really helpregulate in the moment.
So if you're working at theoffice or at your desk, you know
(14:01):
eight to 10 hours a day.
This is a great one to just addin randomly throughout your
shifts.
You can do as much as you like,but it's 15 seconds to just
stop and breathe.
Mindfulness, positiveaffirmations focus on present
sensations.
Affirmations focus on presentsensations.
Reduce default mode networkactivity so you don't fall into
(14:22):
that overstimulation or panic oranxiety, but just being mindful
of some of the things that wejust said.
And then cognitive reframingreduce that perception.
That's the thing.
Reduce the perception.
Mindfulness-based stressreduction reduces amygdala
volume and this is from Harvardfrom 2021.
It's called MBSRmindfulness-based stress
(14:46):
reduction.
Look up into that and how youcan just reduce the amygdala
volume.
And your amygdala is your fearcenter of your brain that when
it gets overstimulated, you fallinto a chronic fear state and
fear creates high blood pressure, high heart rate, all these
things.
Because what are you fearing?
It's definitely not the billsthat are being due on Friday.
It's definitely not theworkload.
(15:08):
We perceive that that's ourreality currently, but our
amygdala is stuck in 4000 BC.
It's worried some panther orsomething's coming around the
corner to eat them.
Right, that's where we're stuckin.
It's a pretty stressful life tolive thinking every moment that
you're about to be eaten by thelion.
Pretty crazy to be in thatstate of nervous system, so we
(15:33):
want to use as many tools as wecan to change that state.
Then there's the bottom-upapproach, the body-to-brain
approach, things we can do toour body or for our body to help
regulate our brain.
Chiropractic care, believe itor not, in the research, shows
to be at the very top.
For the first time in my life,when we search things, it's
(15:54):
always the Mayo Clinic, theCleveland Clinic, medical
medical, medical medicalprocedures, maybe some drugs,
then physical therapy.
Then physical therapy comes inthe movement, the rehab, and
very rarely does chiropracticget talked.
And then, when I went down thisrabbit hole over the last month
about nervous system regulation, chiropractic research is
(16:16):
sprinkled all throughout it,just because I guess, being 130
years saying the same thing overand over again, it's trickling
in and falling to the top of thesearch results.
And we found a reference studyin 2022 in the Journal of
Clinical Chiropractic ofPediatrics showed significant
parasympathetic activation postadjustments for both kids and
(16:36):
adults.
And we can use this.
And because so manychiropractors are measuring HRV
and vagal tone, the research isall there.
So chiropractic adjustmentsimmediately within seconds after
being adjusted, uh, showsignificant parasympathetic
activation.
So if we're very sympatheticand stressed, it can pull us
back to that homeostasis bystimulating the parasympathetic
(17:00):
and getting betterparasympathetic response meaning
gut and digestion, which isvery cool in the literature.
Cold exposure, like cold showers, cold plunges, if you're brave
enough, trigger the vagus nerveand they work very well for some
people.
Uh, some high performingathletes, some high performing
(17:20):
um entrepreneurs that you knowwork crazy hour a hundred hours
a week.
Uh, have shown that when theybring these things into even
daily or five times a week, whenthey hop in there for even
three minutes, uh, it does makea change in their nervous system
regulation and they can feel it, they trust it, they believe it
and they incorporate that intotheir lifestyle and it's made a
(17:40):
big change for them, which isgreat.
So that can work for you too.
But simple things like walking,yoga, pilates all these mindful
movement exercises areabsolutely wonderful for
regulation.
What about co-regulation andsafe connection?
We can actually use each other,other humans, to help
(18:02):
co-regulate our nervous systems.
Our nervous systems, actually,the human brain actually thrives
on human connection.
It's a part of it that it'salmost like a cheat code.
You can use other people tohelp regulate your nervous
systems.
There's a great podcast on theblue zones we did over a year
ago and we were looking atpeople that live to 100 or more
years of age in Japan, sardinia,greece, california, all the
(18:26):
blue areas around the world, andthey were trying to look for
overlap and commonalities, eventhough these are very different
cultures around the world.
They're trying to figure out.
Diet was the the number one.
Diet was the big thingPlant-based seeds, a little bit
of meat, plant-based diet, lowinflammation.
But guess what?
The second biggest thing wasHuman connection.
They were all part of a villageor connection of people that
(18:51):
was required on a daily basis tobe with other people.
Unfortunately, us here,especially North America and in
the Western world, we can godays without other people, which
is crazy, which is absolutelycrazy.
So hugging someone, petting adog, being with calm people can
actually regulate your nervoussystem.
Being around abrasive people,loud people and dangerous people
(19:15):
can do the opposite, and ifwe're constantly around them, we
wonder why our nervous systemscan never regulate.
So abuse, trauma, all thesethings and being around that
daily can be very, very toxic toour nervous systems.
The polyvagal theory states thesame thing Safety, facial
(19:36):
expressions, tone of voice canhelp regulate us.
Listening to someone's voicethat you enjoy podcasts can be
great.
Pop one of those in thatsomeone, a narrator that you
love listening to those can begreat.
And then lifestyle andsupplements Omega-3s, magnesium,
adaptogens like ashwagandha,rhodiola these things can help
(19:58):
the nervous system.
Make sure you talk to someonebefore adding all this stuff in,
but omega-3s and magnesium arepretty safe to take and most
people are depleted in themanyway, so taking them is only
going to help regulate sleep andreduce inflammation.
I'm a big fan of omega-3s thatshould be daily and magnesium
every night before you go to bed.
That can really help as well.
Prioritize sleep before you goto bed that can really help as
(20:19):
well.
Prioritize sleep circadianrhythm and eat real food.
This isn't about doingeverything.
It's about starting withsomething consistent.
Choose the things that you needto try and help regulate your
nervous system and go from there.
So here's just a dailyregulation routine and I think
this is something maybe youwrite down or just hit the pause
button and these are three,four, five things that you can
(20:39):
do on a daily routine every dayto help just naturally regulate
your nervous system.
Five minutes of deep breathingin the morning, just taking a
moment as you're pouring yourcoffee, to stop and deep breathe
, big breaths in hold.
That's the key.
Hold and slowly release anddoing that for one, two, three,
(21:00):
four, five minutes.
Whatever you can do, walkoutside in natural light.
This is huge for some of youthat work indoors or from home.
You know how important this is.
One minute of cold exposurethis could just be at the end of
your shower, just reducing thetemperature as cold as you can
handle or close to as cold as itcan get, and just spending 60
(21:22):
seconds finishing your showerlike that, just giving that
vagal response.
A little bit of time, 10minutes of connection Even a
smile or eye contact, is great,but just sitting for 10 minutes
talking to your spouse, talkingto your kids, talking to people
that you love and trust.
Trying to find that 10 minutesevery day is really important.
And set a two-minute reset alarmmidday for body awareness, just
(21:44):
sometime in the middle of theday, just before your lunch
break, after your lunch breakmid-afternoon.
Just a two-minute alarm thatgoes off on your phone where you
just stand up, walk away, go tothe bathroom, whatever it is,
and just reset Body.
How am I feeling right now?
How's my breath?
Check my pulse Is it high, isit low?
You can look at your watchesnow.
It tells you everything andjust go from there.
(22:08):
Regulation is not a one-timeevent.
You just don't do this for oneday.
It's a lifestyle, it's a rhythm.
You have to keep your body inits rhythm because everything
around us throws us off.
Okay, you're not broken.
You're living a tonal-basedclinic that does activator
(22:44):
torque release upper cervicalthese nervous system-based
techniques that can actuallychiropractic.
Just chiropractic is a nervoussystem technique that can just
help you.
So find a good one in your area.
If you need any help, reach outto us and thank you for
listening.
Share this episode with peoplethat maybe you've been thinking
about and are don't know aboutnervous system regulation.
Think that this stuff doesn'texist.
Uh, I can think of so many ofmy family members that I'm
(23:05):
sending this to because it'sit's flu.
Flu, it's new age, it's uh, butit's really not.
The research about our nervoussystem has been around for
hundreds of years and how itfunctions, and we're just
learning more and more and more.
And as more and more peoplelive in stress, they're just
speaking out about it.
They're just like listen, I'mconstantly anxious.
This isn't right.
I don't want to live like thisfor 90 years.
(23:26):
What the heck's going on?
What can I do to help myself?
And I think that is so healthyand that's amazing.
So let's create a series onthis.
We'll talk about the nervoussystem over the next few.
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