Please remember that every person living with environmental sensitives has their own journey. There are many paths up the same mountain. Please take what resonates with you, listen to your own body, and please don’t do anything that doesn’t feel right for you in the present moment.
Why is Calming Your Nervous System Important?
Your nervous system is your brain and your spinal cord. Together, they drive the rest of your body and it’s functions. People with environmental sensitivities tend to live in a highly stressed state (e.g., “flight or fight” mode). When the body is in a stressed out state it is unable to adequately process toxins and detoxify itself which can cause people to feel unwell over time.
To feel better, it’s absolutely essential to calm your nervous system. The body is like a bank account, every stressful experience takes money out of the bank account while every calming experience adds money to the bank account.
The point here is to gently add calming activities to your day to calm down your nervous system. The goal is to add these practices in a soothing and calming matter so that you feel more peaceful and less stressed out so that the body is able to function more optimally (e.g., “rest and digest” mode).
Ways You Can Calm Your Nervous System
Be sure to try different things that call to you that can work with where you are at. What works well today or for one person may not be a great fit for someone else. Start with where you are. Here are some ideas to try out to calm down your nervous system.
- Progressive muscle relaxation
- Qi Gong
- Gentle yoga (e.g, yin or restorative yoga)
- Gentle stretching
- Deep stomach breathing through your nose
- Nerve stretching exercises
- Spending time in nature and outdoors
- Forest bathing/mindful time in nature
- Slow walks outside
- Getting sunlight in the morning
- Earthing (placing your feet or body directly on the earth in a natural environment)
- Grounding (soaking your feet in epsom salt water, or earthing in a natural environment)
- Spend time with kind, loving, and gentle people or animals
- Slow down everything (walking, breathing, talking, moving)
- Sleep at least 8 hours per night (e.g., 10pm to 6am)
- Eat warm, cooked whole foods
- Meditation
- Keep your body warm, especially your feet and neck (wear socks and a scarf)
- Consider trying to tape your mouth closed while sleeping to ensure you are nose breathing, if this is available to you
- Consider trying limbic system exercises and/or a limbic system retraining program if it’s available to you, for example:
- Dynamic Neural Retraining System (DNRS)
- The Gupta Program
- Primal Trust
- re-origin
Things to Avoid/Limit
- Social media
- News
- Intense, stressful, angry or highly anxious people
- Caffeine or other stimulating substances (e.g., supplements or beverages)
- Excessive screen time
- Sugar and refined carbohydrates
- Raw or cold foods and beverages