Dr. Andy Galpin

Well, probably, realistically, we've got tons of different options. And so what I'd like to do today is talk about just a few of them. What do we know? What does it mean to control your nervous system? What can we do? What can't we do? And then what are a bunch of tactics and strategies so that you can have a more resilient nervous system?

To start us off, I wanna make sure we're all on the same page when I say nervous system. The easiest way to conceptualize it is think about it in two large branches. The first is what's called the central nervous system. This is your brain and brain stem and spinal cord. And the second is what's called your peripheral nervous system.

To start us off, I wanna make sure we're all on the same page when I say nervous system. The easiest way to conceptualize it is think about it in two large branches. The first is what's called the central nervous system. This is your brain and brain stem and spinal cord. And the second is what's called your peripheral nervous system.

So this is everything else that goes out and comes back to the central nervous system. Now, focusing on the peripheral nervous system, that's where most of the action happens. In this case, the peripheral nervous system is broken up into a couple of other categories, one being what's called the somatic system. This is what you can actively control. We're not going to talk about that much today.

So this is everything else that goes out and comes back to the central nervous system. Now, focusing on the peripheral nervous system, that's where most of the action happens. In this case, the peripheral nervous system is broken up into a couple of other categories, one being what's called the somatic system. This is what you can actively control. We're not going to talk about that much today.

It's stuff you already know you have control over. What I want to focus more on is the other branch, and that's what's called the autonomic nervous system, the ANS. And so within the autonomic nervous system, we're talking about things like the parasympathetic system. You may have heard of that as rest and digest.

It's stuff you already know you have control over. What I want to focus more on is the other branch, and that's what's called the autonomic nervous system, the ANS. And so within the autonomic nervous system, we're talking about things like the parasympathetic system. You may have heard of that as rest and digest.

There are probably better ways we can describe it and more interesting applications of it. But nonetheless, we'll just keep it simple right now and say that the parasympathetic is rest and digest. You also have the sympathetic. That is your fight and flight. And so most of us stop right there and we think, okay, parasympathetic, I'm relaxed, I'm lethargic, I'm down, I'm chill, I'm zen.

There are probably better ways we can describe it and more interesting applications of it. But nonetheless, we'll just keep it simple right now and say that the parasympathetic is rest and digest. You also have the sympathetic. That is your fight and flight. And so most of us stop right there and we think, okay, parasympathetic, I'm relaxed, I'm lethargic, I'm down, I'm chill, I'm zen.

Sympathetic, I'm fight, I'm flight, I'm up, I'm focused, I'm aroused, and so on and so forth. Reality of it is there's probably more things like the freeze mechanism. There's also the enteric system that happens here. This is kind of like most specifically referring to your gut.

Sympathetic, I'm fight, I'm flight, I'm up, I'm focused, I'm aroused, and so on and so forth. Reality of it is there's probably more things like the freeze mechanism. There's also the enteric system that happens here. This is kind of like most specifically referring to your gut.

But for the most part, again, for the sake of time, we're going to focus on the interplay between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system because that provides us the ability to have a lot of control over what our nervous system is doing. And as I'll show here very soon, that has a significant impact on how you're looking, feeling, and performing in the short term. and long term.

But for the most part, again, for the sake of time, we're going to focus on the interplay between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system because that provides us the ability to have a lot of control over what our nervous system is doing. And as I'll show here very soon, that has a significant impact on how you're looking, feeling, and performing in the short term. and long term.

And I'm highlighting that because again, people don't necessarily realize how much control they actually have over those systems. They are autonomic, but you have the ability to move them up and down, you can recalibrate them, and you can consciously, critically control them, as I've given many examples of already.

And I'm highlighting that because again, people don't necessarily realize how much control they actually have over those systems. They are autonomic, but you have the ability to move them up and down, you can recalibrate them, and you can consciously, critically control them, as I've given many examples of already.

If we were to zoom all the way out, focusing on that autonomic nervous system, the ultimate goal is to not have too much time and attention spent on this thing. If it is firing and functioning appropriately, it's running in the background. It is the software that's running your computer. You don't need to be worrying about it.

If we were to zoom all the way out, focusing on that autonomic nervous system, the ultimate goal is to not have too much time and attention spent on this thing. If it is firing and functioning appropriately, it's running in the background. It is the software that's running your computer. You don't need to be worrying about it.

It's making your life easier and better, but you shouldn't spend a lot of conscious control over it. That said, sometimes it gets a little bit out of whack and you want to have the ability to toggle it and recalibrate it so that you can bring it up or back down based on a particular thing you're trying to do.

It's making your life easier and better, but you shouldn't spend a lot of conscious control over it. That said, sometimes it gets a little bit out of whack and you want to have the ability to toggle it and recalibrate it so that you can bring it up or back down based on a particular thing you're trying to do.

And so all we're talking about really in today's episode is what happens when it gets again out of whack or is not as finely tuned to a particular thing that you'd like, and what can you do about it? That is ultimately today's version of controlling your nervous system. Now to be really clear, because we could go in a lot of different areas here, I'm also gonna qualify this talk even further.