Why are we focused on the Nervous System?

By Kyel Godfrey-Ryan

Think of the nervous system as the central command center for the body. When it’s organized, everything runs smoothly, no matter what comes your way. When it's balanced, you're balanced. When it’s disorganized, everything falls apart. The term for disorganization when it comes to the nervous system is dysregulation.

The first thing to keep in mind is that most humans experience a degree of nervous system dysregulation at moments. This can occur when changing time zones, after an injury or a prolonged illness. You can have a new baby or puppy and all of a sudden your sleep patterns are skewed, which will lead to dysregulation. Crunch times at work or school or the craziness that life can bring, often leads to nervous system dysregulation. 

Existing in a pristine bubble of optimal inputs and control is not only unrealistic, I would argue, is the opposite goal for living the biggest, fullest life possible.

Life comes with ups and downs that will affect you on a physical, emotional and even spiritual level. This is part of the process of being a human being. Another aspect of being a human being is being able to process and grow through those ups and downs and a healthy nervous system is primary for that. Extended periods of nervous system dysregulation can quickly become dysfunctional and have negative downstream effects that impact your physical and mental health. 

How do you know if your nervous system is dysregulated or dysfunctional?

If you are experiencing issues with sleep, immune function, consistent energy that allows you to meet the goals of each day, digestion, focus, feelings of anxiousness or consistent brain fog, then you most likely are experiencing dysregulation or dysfunction with the nervous system. If you have issues recovering from a workout, a fight with a friend or an inconvenience in your day, these are also indications that there is an underlying nervous system issues. These might seem like wide ranging, non-connected symptoms without understanding what the nervous system's purpose and role is in the human body.

The nervous system is the command and control center that meets at the intersection of the body and mind. You can think of this as the switchboard between the physical body, emotional states and consciousness states. 

This is why we like to refer to the nervous system as the command center. It’s not a ‘controlling’ position as much as a place where it can allocate resources and support. The body is designed to be in a state-of-balance. Literally. This isn’t a phase from a yoga retreat, this is the actual design requirements of every human body. When the body is not in a state-of-balance, meaning the nervous system is not balanced, primary functions in the body degrade immediately. This is why the effects can range from sleepless nights to road rage; every body is different, which means the effects of nervous system dysfunction will appear different, even though the underlying source of the issues are the same. 

The nervous system influences the hormonal systems, digestive systems, musculoskeletal, respiratory, every stress-response network, the entire cardiovascular system including the tonality of blood vessels, immune functions of all organs and glands, the full spectrum of inflammation responses of all tissue, organ and neural matter, sexual and reproductive systems and how the brain functions.  Influences, the nervous system influences these systems, this is important to keep in mind. 

Why are we focused on the nervous system? 

We are focused on the nervous system because we want people to feel good in their everyday lives. A healthy nervous system unlocks the available resources needed in the body to live with more physical and emotional resilience on every level.  We believe that when you feel good, you do good. We build science-backed technologies that balance the nervous system so that people can get back to their lives in a state of balance, presence and joy. It's as simple as that.