Years of training the body and mind to be constantly moving and thinking often lead to states of limbic system dysfunction or nervous system dysregulation. This may look like living in fight-or-flight mode, feeling on high alert all the time, having difficulty regulating emotions and experiencing chronic stress responses.

Wake up tired, but feel wired at night? Have trouble relaxing even when nothing is wrong? Unusually sensitive to noise, stress, people or your environment? An increasing number of people are describing the feeling of being constantly “on,” unable to “power down” or decompress.

When Fight-or-Flight Becomes Your Norm

The sympathetic nervous system becomes dysregulated when the body perceives stress too frequently. Prolonged triggers like emotional stress, poor sleep, illness, inflammation and trauma often contribute to limbic dysregulation.

When the body is “under attack,” such as needing to address foreign pathogens or damage from inflammatory processes, stress signals are sent to the brain. This is helpful and necessary until pathogens go unchecked or inflammation does not sufficiently subside. In these chronic cases, the body’s alarm system is never given a reprieve, and you may feel “wired but tired” or burned out, given the ongoing danger response happening inside. It may be time to question if you have been spending too much time in fight-or-flight mode if you are feeling:

• Easily overwhelmed or stimulated
• Mentally foggy or forgetful
• Unable to fall asleep or stay asleep
• Exhausted despite sleeping eight or more hours
• More sensitive to pain, noise, light or your surroundings

These symptoms arise over time as functions of the nervous system, like stress regulation, digestion and breathing, become impaired. The limbic system, a group of brain structures that takes part in the central nervous system, may also become dysregulated as the nervous system gets stuck in overdrive. This means that emotional control, memory formation and recall, threat perception and other autonomic functions are more likely to be hindered.

Learning to “Power Down”

Many tools exist to help regulate your nervous system. One of the most readily available is your mind! Paying attention to the nature of your thoughts and actions can help you notice the difference between truly restorative activities and those that seem restorative, but are still somewhat stimulating, like scrolling on social media or watching a movie. While these may seem relaxing, the mind and nervous system are still active and alert, thus unable to easily find calm and true rest. This is a great way to build awareness and start to shift habits. Some great practices to consider for real restoration include:

• Taking a minimum of three to five deep, slow breaths before meals
• Meditation, breathwork, vagus nerve exercises and humming
• Setting aside time for genuine quiet—no scrolling, no television
• Prioritizing consistent sleep, recovery and gentle movement
• Spending time outside

When to Get Additional Nervous System Support

Sometimes, when it comes to nervous system dysregulation, self-care may not be enough. It is often critical to address why the body has become stuck “on” rather than just mitigating symptoms. Assessing criteria like stress response and regulation, chronic pain, sleep quality, inflammation, oxidative stress and immune burden can be incredibly insightful.

As owner Susan Rohr explains, “At Brookfield Health and Wellness, we don’t rely upon a single technology to evaluate your health. We combine several advanced bioenergetic assessment systems, each looking at your body, emotional wellbeing, detox pathways and blood chemistry, to name a few.”

This enables the clinic to personalize wellness programs using technologies like Frequency Specific Microcurrent, HUB Theta Therapy and IASIS Microcurrent Neurofeedback, plus supplements and other strategies, in order to get to the root of each patient’s health and optimize each person’s nervous system.

Brookfield Health & Wellness is located at 150 S. Sunny Slope Rd., Ste. 148, Brookfield, WI. Their team uses an integrative, holistic approach that specializes in treating immune system dysfunctions by assessing the whole person—their body, mind and spirit—to get to the root cause of illness and nervous system dysregulation. For more information or to make an appointment, call 262-395-4023 or visit BrookfieldHealthAndWellness.com.