Nervous System Healing: Strategies for Women

Are you feeling overwhelmed or disconnected? Join us for a profound journey into the world of nervous system healing in our latest episode with experts Randi Owsley, LMSW, and Jessica Bullwinkle, LMFT. This episode is tailored for women who are seeking to enhance their mental wellness through self-care and integrative healing methods. Don't miss this empowering discussion that could redefine the way you manage stress and prioritize your wellbeing.

Embarking on the journey of nervous system healing can be a profoundly empowering experience, and you, my dear listener, are not alone in this. Whether it's embracing stress resilience tips to weather the storms of life, exploring vagus nerve healing strategies to restore inner harmony, or delving into the world of neuroplasticity as part of women's health, information is power—and we're here to share it. Together, we'll navigate nervous system rebalancing methods, developing self-care routines that bolster our nervous system health and seeking integrative approaches to nervous system restoration. 

Our exploration will not shy away from practical, everyday tools—think relaxation techniques for nervous balance and the profound influence of the mind-body connection on our nervous system. Emotional regulation, mental health grounding exercises, and the serene strength of mindfulness in healing the nervous system will be our touchstones. Each episode is crafted with you in mind—because we believe in the power of shared stories and knowledge to break through barriers, foster connection, and spark a revolution in how we approach our health and well-being. 
Questions we answer:
What does nervous system healing mean?
Can emotional trauma impact the nervous system?
What signs indicate an unbalanced nervous system?
How can I support my nervous system's healing?
What is the role of nutrition in healing the nervous system?
Can physical activity help heal the nervous system?
What are some relaxation techniques for nervous system healing?
How does sleep affect nervous system healing?
Can talking therapies aid in the healing of the nervous system?
How long does it take for the nervous system to heal?

#nervoussystem #nervoussystemreset #NervousSystemHealth #nervoussystemhealing #nervoussystemregulation #nervoussystemcare #NervousSystemSupport #ProtectYourPeaceNow #EmotionalWellnessMatters #FindYourInnerCalm #PrioritizeYourMentalHealth #HealthyBoundariesHappierLife #StressManagementStrategies #AnxietyReliefTips

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Transcript

Randi: 0:14

Welcome back to the women's mental health podcast. I'm randy. I'm And I'm Jess. And we are two licensed psychotherapists, and this is a safe space where we talk about mental health, well being, and strategies for coping with life's challenges. And how all of this is normal, and you are not alone. Today we're diving into a topic that's at the core of mental health and your physical well being. How to heal your nervous system. This concept has gained a lot of attention in the wellness and mental health world lately, but what does it actually mean? Find us and more

Jess: 0:46

at womensmentalhealthpodcast. com. We're going to do our Have You Ever Had These Thoughts. What does nervous

Randi: 0:53

system healing mean? Can emotional trauma impact the nervous system? What are signs that can show you that your nervous system is unbalanced? How can I support my nervous system's healing? What is the role of nutrition and food in healing your nervous system? What

Jess: 1:11

can I physically do or what physical activity can I do to help my, ah,

Randi: 1:19

hold on. Just needs some, she needs some help. Some physical healing.

Jess: 1:26

I'm so going to put that in there. Can physical activity help that

Randi: 1:31

nervous system heal? What are some good relaxation techniques that can help you heal your nervous system? And how does sleep affect your nervous system and healing it? Can talking therapies aid in healing the nervous system? And how long does it take for the nervous system

Jess: 1:50

to

Randi: 1:50

heal?

Jess: 1:51

Okay. So what exactly is the nervous system healing and why are we talking about it? It is very, very important and I've seen so much more going on about People looking at their nervous system. Mm-hmm Trying to get balanced and get grounded. So what it does refer to is restoring balance in our body's autonomic nervous system. And so what that does at that controls, how we respond to stress. And when we say autonomic system, what that means is that's our involuntary or just

Randi: 2:23

behind the scenes, everything that's going on exactly in your body, in your body without thinking about it. So

Jess: 2:29

with that, there's two things. Two main parts of this, and I know we're going to get a little into the weeds here, but we're going to try to like, pull ourselves back out. Okay. So the two main parts is the, what we call the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.

Randi: 2:43

So the sympathetic nervous system is also known as your fight or flight mode. So when you feel like anxious or you need to move or you're in trouble and that your body is sending off like these signals. And then parasympathetic is often called the rest and digest mode. So that's like when you're like, low key, just chilling. I'm just going with the flow.

Jess: 3:08

Exactly. But what happens is when our nervous system is overwhelmed by chronic stress or trauma, it gets stuck in that survival fight or flight mode. And what that does is that leads to anxiety and burnout and even physical health problems. And so most of us are always stuck in that fight or

Randi: 3:27

flight, traumatic place. So your sympathetic nervous system is like just firing off on all cylinders 24 seven. And then There's no balance there.

Jess: 3:37

It's like driving your car and like hitting the gas and flooring it all the time. Even that when you're at resting. Or writing it on empty and

Randi: 3:45

hoping that you're going to make it somewhere.

Jess: 3:48

Exactly. You're like, I got 50

Randi: 3:50

miles to go. Can I make it? Can I make it? Yeah. So we're talking about healing the nervous system. And that means returning to this state of balance between your sympathetic and parasympathetic Sympathetic systems so that you have an equal balance between them and you're not in this fight or flight mode 24 7 exactly so we don't get completely

Jess: 4:11

stuck all the time in that stress mode where most of us live We live in that high

Randi: 4:17

stress mode and we get addicted to it. We don't know how else to function with Out being in that constant straight state of anxiety or stress exactly. And that's when we also shut down.

Jess: 4:29

If you're ADHD, we do

Randi: 4:30

that whole, like we get frozen paralyzed. And that happens with depression and anxiety too. You just get paralyzed and you have all these things to do or you feel anxious or you're feeling worried, but then you're just sitting there stuck, like worried, still filing, just scrolling on your phone because you can't figure it out.

Jess: 4:49

So. when we talk about the term healing, we really want to talk about more than just managing our symptoms because that's like sticking a bandaid on our stress. We really want to talk about repairing and retaining the nervous system. And what that means is if we have a physical injury, it requires care and rehab. We can't just stick a brace on it and call it good. We have to do more than that. We have to. actually take the time and tools and the consistency to heal from all of the effects of stress and trauma

Randi: 5:22

and burnout. Yup. And as we always say, healing isn't linear. This can look like corkscrews, it can look like back flips, the journey. Is going to be yours and yours alone. And it's a journey of learning how to respond to this stress and healthier ways and how to reconnect with your body and your mind and thus helping yourself build resilience over time. So you're not constantly going back into this fight or flight mode and stressing yourself out and burning yourself out.

Jess: 5:54

Exactly. And as women, we are constantly doing so much more than we should. We are so connected to this state of anxiety in our nervous system because things like caregiving work life balance, It's trauma, the pressures that we have at work in society to do all of these amazing things. We're constantly in these fight, flight or freeze modes. Even when we're like trying to

Randi: 6:21

relax, we're not there. And this shows up as like we mentioned anxiety, depression, irritability, like snapping at people at work or at home, sleep issues like insomnia. Physical conditions, like you have tension and like your shoulders, your back, your neck chronic fatigue. It can trigger autoimmune disorders. You might have something like in your genetics or background and then this stress brings it up to the forefront. And so when we decide to focus on healing our nervous system, we can help ourselves reduce anxiety, reduce those feelings of being overwhelmed. We can improve our ability to regulate our emotions. We can enhance our focus, our productivity, and we can feel more present and connected with ourselves and in our relationships at work

Jess: 7:16

When we talk about healing, it's really important because women are often expected to keep it together. We're supposed to keep it together. We, especially after coming through like holiday seasons, we do it all and we keep it together, emotionally, keep it together while we're juggling all of these different roles. And so it makes

Randi: 7:34

it, we're faking emotionally keeping it together while we're breaking on the inside.

Jess: 7:40

And we're not showing people because we don't want to be weak or we don't want to, look like we

Randi: 7:46

don't have it together. Yeah. And so we're shoving our emotions into it. down. We're shoving our physical reactions down. We're putting this stuff on the back burner. And when we are constantly doing that, we're in a cycle of that and ignoring what our body is telling us, ignoring what our mind is telling us. It makes it harder and harder to recognize when you are in this fight or flight or freeze mode and that your system is totally out of balance. You think it's normal. But it's not really not.

Jess: 8:14

It's not normal. Living in the Bay Area. It was always that. How are you busy? We're busy. We're busy. And having a two hour commute is normal. That is not normal. That is normal for the Bay Area. But it is not normal to have a two hour commute. It is not normal to say, How are you? I'm busy.

Randi: 8:31

Yeah, we've talked about this hustle culture. Yeah, just going Go, go, go, go, go. And that it's good to be busy. Like people that sign their kids up for 20 different sports. Like I want them to be busy, busy, busy. We don't understand the importance in our society in the United States about how to rest, how to relax, how to take breaks, how to take vacations. That's blatantly obvious and how our workforce is we don't, we don't like people to take time off. We don't like them to take sick days. We don't like them to take vacation days where in other countries like they have a siesta in the middle of the day where you can nap like stores closed down. Like what is this? I need a mid nap day.

Jess: 9:09

When I was like early 20s. I went to Spain and that was the best thing. It was so fun. Flippin hot but there's a siesta you literally went and took a nap and hung out and did nothing in the afternoon And then you stayed up late at night again, and it was just so fun It was like wait, everything is shutting. Yep. All the stores shutting down three to six. Everything shuts down you go home you do whatever you take your siesta your rest And we literally went home and took a nap

Randi: 9:32

and same thing with our paternity leave and, maternity leave And other countries, they get so much more time to be with their child to rest, to heal, to relax. And we're just like, Nope, back to work, like two weeks, like you're good to go. Same thing, and European cultures, it's normal to take a month off for vacation. And I'm like, the month of August, right? I'm like, what's. What's that? We're like trying to figure out like one week, maybe that we can relax. And it's that's more work than anything else, especially when you're a woman trying to make all the plans and juggle everything. So how do we learn to embrace and normalize healing our nervous system?

Jess: 10:11

We have to practice self compassion and realize that one, we're out of balance. That's the first one. But two, is that this is going to take time and that the progress isn't always obvious. It's like when you're losing weight. It isn't always obvious. You can't always

Randi: 10:26

see it, but other people can sometimes see it.

Jess: 10:29

Or all of a sudden you're like, these pants are way too big. What happened? And so it isn't, Is an instant and that's what we struggle with is that it isn't an instant

Randi: 10:37

thing.

Jess: 10:37

Well, we live in a very

Randi: 10:39

Like instant gratification society, like we watch 30 second videos We want everything right now Two day shipping or like overnight shipping and all these things like we want now we want now two days I want it like by 4 in the morning. What are you talking about? I want it for a and by the time I wake up at 9 that makes makes no sense But I also like the thing about like You were saying if you break something and you, we can't just put a brace on it we need to cast it, we need to heal it, and I think that that's the same thing a broken bone sometimes can take six to nine months to heal or longer, plus rehab afterwards. But the thing with

Jess: 11:11

a broken bone, though, is that you have a cast. Yeah. And when you have something You're immobilized. Well, not only do you immobilize, but people see it and they recognize, Oh, you have a cast. Let me open the door for you. Oh, you, you broke something or you're on crutches. So it's physical. But when you. Invisible people don't recognize it or others don't recognize it and

Randi: 11:32

they talk about that too A lot of people that have invisible chronic illnesses and stuff like that Like people are like you're not handicapped like you're not disabled You're not and it's like you don't know what's going on inside of that person's body And this is the same thing with this with any mental health struggle You do not know what's going on in somebody's mind or their body and so So half the time we don't know what's going on in our

Jess: 11:53

own bodies, let alone somebody else's. I

Randi: 11:56

mean, that's why we're talking about that. But we should still go out in the world and think maybe this person is having a hard day. So we should open the door for them or we should compliment them or we should

Jess: 12:04

just do it for

Randi: 12:05

fun. Yeah, we should just be nice people. It's really hard to be nice these days, but

Jess: 12:11

yeah, okay, so learn your triggers. Right there. It's really hard to be nice. We need to learn what our triggers are Yeah, because if we can learn our triggers then we can respond appropriately to them Well same

Randi: 12:22

thing like i'm just like it's too peoply outside I don't really love going out when it's busy so like i'll shop on like off hours or try to go and it's Not traffic y and things aren't gonna make me road rage those things are triggers for me or because i'm very sensitive to like light things and sounds and that that makes people overwhelmed, especially if it's during, like we just passed like this holiday rush season where you're out and there's people everywhere, shopping like last minute for things. It's okay, I'm just gonna shop online,

Jess: 12:49

I know I went to Costco and I thought, okay, this will be okay. I can do this. I can do this. And I go to Costco and I saw, I don't know how many people stepped in front of me, ran into me. Oh my, it's the worst. And I was like, is it me? And I was laughing and I was like, okay, it must be me. And the lady next to me said, it's just that time of the year. My daughter is

Randi: 13:06

I hate old people. And I'm like, I'm an old people because same thing when we go to Costco, they're like, ramming their cards like nobody pays attention. Nobody is people are not very self aware. So like when you go out into actual space, they literally have zero self awareness. So

Jess: 13:22

if they can't be aware of themselves, they're not going to be aware of you. that's what we're saying is know your triggers. Yeah. And yeah, maybe. And same thing if talking to your family, makes you go into fight or flight or talking to your boss after hours silence those notifications, decline that call, delete that email, all those things. You have a right to learn your triggers and set your boundaries. Exactly. And so that goes to the next piece is to set your boundaries. We need to set our boundaries and be able to say that doesn't work

Randi: 13:53

for me. Yeah.

Jess: 13:54

Or

Randi: 13:55

create your own safe space, your own safe place. Bubble and that includes like we talked about practicing self compassion, learning your triggers and building your routines around those things that help you be the best version of you. Because when you are in your safe environment and you feel at peace and you feel centered. That promotes relaxation.

Jess: 14:17

I used to tell my spouse way back when we first got married in our very first house is that when I come home from the work I do, this is my safety place. This is my environment where I feel safe and I need this set up because I worked out in the field and I would come home. And there would be days where I'd like, I have to walk in and know that, okay, this is safe for me. And that was setting a boundary of how I needed my peace. I was keeping my

Randi: 14:42

peace. Yeah. I have a friend who's really going through it right now in a marriage and really struggling because when she goes home, she doesn't have that peace because, she's fighting with her spouse. It's, it's triggering for her. It's upsetting. She feels in that fight or flight mode when she goes home. And I was like, it's not supposed to be that way. I said, that's not normal. That's supposed to be your safe space. Like you should be able to go to your partner and have a safe space. You should be able to go home and relax after work or after going to the gym or after running errands or after being a mom or whatever it is that you're doing.

Jess: 15:17

Waking up, you should be able to wake up in your safe space. Yeah.

Randi: 15:20

And it's she's waking up and every morning she's is it fight or flight? In the morning, am I going to have to leave? Am I going to have to leave this relationship? Or am I going to have to fight, this person today? And I said, that's not healthy for you. That's not healing your nervous system. That's not helpful right now.

Jess: 15:37

But that leads to the next piece is I'm glad she's sharing that with you because we do want you to talk to people We want you to share your journey your story talk about your stress even with your friends or your family I think many of us don't want to share what we're going through because we don't want to be a burden

Randi: 15:54

when we do share we find connection we can find come out Compassion. When my friend shared this with other people, she found other people who had just gone through it or were going through it. And then she found a friend that was like, I have a space. You can come stay with me for free. If you're worried about finances or whatever, or leaving this situation. And she was like, if she had not shared that journey and what she was struggling with, she wouldn't have found those pathways where she could find that safe environment to be in.

Jess: 16:24

And honestly when us women get together, even that friend, if you called me and you're like, it's two in the morning, we're gonna go pack her up. I'd be like, cool, I'll be there in 20 minutes. Lemme put my boots on and

Randi: 16:32

I'd come pack her up. I tell all my friends too, like I give them the code to my house. I say, if you ever need to leave, if you ever need a safe space for you, your kids, whoever it is, no matter day or night, you can walk into my house or you can call me some of my friends, I have a safe word with them. You text me this and I know. Then I need to find you wherever you're at. It sucks. But having those things in

Jess: 16:57

place, But so that's keeping your safety there. Yeah, and that's trying to set your parasympathetic and your sympathetic Well, what is it called again parasympathetic and what oh my god

Randi: 17:11

sympathetic sympathetic and parasympathetic Oh my gosh, it's so annoying when they make these big words like so similar to each other It's can we just have something totally different? But yeah, so para and sympathetic will just break that down

Jess: 17:24

Exactly.

Randi: 17:25

So

Jess: 17:26

With that, after sharing, we want you also to de stigmatize rest. And that's the hardest part for all of us. Especially in our hustle, hustle, hustle. Resting is not lazy. It is not lazy to rest. It is essential for us to heal. Whether that's going to be, I'm going to watch the entire new season of Outlander on TV. Late at night because I got some scenes in there. My kids can't see right, whatever that looks like for you to rest. Some people for

Randi: 17:52

me, it's reading books like I've read 300 books this year and people like, What do you read? And I'm like, smut. Okay, because I do all sorts of things that use my brain power all day long. And I want an escape. I want an easy read. So that's what you know, I read murder mysteries. Not like

Jess: 18:07

my real life, but that's what I call my ginger. Yeah, that is my ginger that kind of cleanses my palate from what I really do. I've always called it ginger because I need something. I'm not going to go read self help books before bed. I do therapy all day long with people. I don't want to do that. That's

Randi: 18:23

why i'm like, I don't want to read these World problem books or these things other people's problems because I do that. I want to read something that's an escape, And hers is smut. Whatever! Mine's murder mysteries, you

Jess: 18:34

know, pick your thing and roll with it.

Randi: 18:36

Exactly Yeah, but and I love to that like social media in some ways I feel has helped normalize this conversation and De stigmatize rest because I've seen things like rotting days or like just like these cozy days or like chill days or whatever, where you just can lay in bed and do that and do what you want. If you want to doom scroll, if you want to binge watch things, if you want to just eat snacks in bed and then, okay. And then I'm up the next day and that's fine. I gave myself like that day to rest and relax and reconnect with myself. Yeah. And you can plan it. You don't have to, but you can.

Jess: 19:11

I like to plan it so I know that I'm going to rest.

Randi: 19:14

The next step is how do you take action? How do you take action in your life to implement this

Jess: 19:19

real life actions? Not these, big things. These are the smaller break it down things, right? Yeah. Go get professional help. Go get a therapist, somebody who's trained in like somatic therapies. Yeah. And if you don't know what somatic therapies are, we did a podcast on somatic breathing, and that's a good place to start with. Somatic

Randi: 19:38

is. physical Psychology like how your mind and your body meet together and how your mental health impacts your body So anything with like somatic is something that's really good if you're in this nervous system fight or flight for your life

Jess: 19:55

Exactly. The other one is use grounding techniques. These are things like Breathing exercises, me and my bubbles breathing with the bubbles. It's meditation or prayer.

Randi: 20:06

Yeah. Mindfulness,

Jess: 20:06

mindfulness, yoga. Big bang theory. Oh yeah. I've never watched it. Oh really? Oh God. I love it. So Miriam, whatever her last name is, she's actually like some physicist, right? She has a video out there about resetting your nervous system and about how you can do it through yoga. So if you Google her, she did this a couple of years back that I, that I was for it. Okay. She was the actress and she does a lot of yoga. And so she does the one where you put your feet up on the wall, your leg is on the back and you put your arms out and just breathe. And that is

Randi: 20:39

supposed to be a reset. Yeah. And same thing like Jess and I have talked about, go outside, put your feet in the grass. And then reconnect with the earth. Just take a minute or listen to the sounds outside or watch the sunset. Like simple things like that can help you reset when you're in this anxiety mode that can't click off. It's like you're like a hamster wheel going round and round.

Jess: 21:01

And the other is really build a support network of friends who understand and that you guys can talk about this or that you can get together and do things together. Go on a nature walk, go, check out the sunset together. Yeah. Have a bitch fest. That too. Get together and complain about whatever. Yeah. As long as you know it's not going to go anywhere and that this is just venting and it's a safe space. That's what we really want.

Randi: 22:15

So now let's go and answer our have you evers. So let's go over again. What does nervous system healing mean?

Jess: 22:22

So what this is, it is a practice and therapy aimed to restore a balance and proper function within your body. It's about addressing the stress and trauma and other factors that disrupt our body's harmony, empowering it to operate more smoothly and add more resilience. Okay, so can emotional trauma impact

Randi: 22:42

the nervous system? Oh, yes. There's no doubt about it. Emotional trauma can trigger a lasting state of heightened alertness and fight or flight mode. So it makes it very difficult to return to a calm, restored and balanced state. Once you have been in that Especially if it's happened in childhood. I was just thinking in childhood. And you've been there from that point in your life on all through adulthood. You don't know any other way to function. And like we said, this affects your sleep, your mood, your health, your well being, your relationships. And so when you can focus on the healing, That helps calm your nervous system, allowing you to process the trauma and to help take steps on moving on from it.

Jess: 23:32

Exactly. And when we say process, you don't have to relive it. There are other ways to process that trauma to get it out of your body so it's not stuck inside

Randi: 23:40

of you or in your nervous system. So just what signs can we take notice of that might indicate we have an unbalanced nervous system?

Jess: 23:48

Oh, that's a good one. Because if we've grown up like that with childhood, how do we know we're unbalanced if that's how we've always been? If we think that's our normal. Exactly. Okay, so an unbalanced nervous system looks like anxiety. Restlessness, insomnia, fatigue digestive issues, stomach issues, especially when you're getting upset, something happens, you got to run to the bathroom, right? That's that that is not always a good thing. Mood swings when you're, mood swings are

Randi: 24:14

up and down. I know. I feel like a lot of time we are like, Oh, I have IBS or I have this and we don't realize like we're not healing this like past trauma and are nervous. system and we just mask it with medicine or over the counter things instead of going back, cause you're like, where has this come from? I eat well or I do this and if we take the time to look back and check in with ourselves, we can see, okay, I have some unresolved trauma and I need to work through this to heal my whole nervous system.

Jess: 24:42

Exactly. I have so many people who end up with gut issues and they have to go through and it's all of this compounding stress and

Randi: 24:50

trauma. Yeah, back issues, like tension issues in your body, things like that too. So Randi,

Jess: 24:56

how can I

Randi: 24:56

support

Jess: 24:57

my nervous system's

Randi: 24:58

healing? It really involves integrating practices such as mindfulness meditation, deep breathing, somatic breathing, engaging in physical activity, whether that is like yoga or just taking a quick walk or stretching your body, making sure you're getting enough rest because if we're tired and we're exhausted, we're We can't focus on what we need to do and eating a balanced diet, which is really hard in this day and age since our food is lacking so much nutrition, taking supplements and vitamins can help to additionally, using therapies like we talked about either finding a somatic, psychologist or a cognitive behavioral therapist known as CBT therapy and also using EMDR, which is eye movement. Desensitization and reprocessing those things for trauma paired with those can be incredibly beneficial for your journey of healing your nervous system and working through your trauma. Just let's talk a little bit deeper about nutrition and what the role of nutrition is and helping us heal the nervous system.

Jess: 26:07

It is so important to heal our nervous system through our foods as well. So if we can have a balanced diet, which is so hard, cause we all grew up with this weird food pyramid, and I don't even know if that's correct anymore. I think that's anymore.

Randi: 26:22

I don't like to listen to what they say because. Everything's driven by something else. But I

Jess: 26:26

do know we need foods that are rich in omega 3s, Our fatty acids. Fish oils. I take fish oils every day because I don't eat a lot of fish. We need our antioxidants. We need our B vitamins. We need vitamin D. We don't get enough sun. Sorry, I'm laughing. She's huh, vitamin D. Vitamin D. I

Randi: 26:49

like how we both said that at the same time. We also have the mind of a 12 year old boy,

Jess: 26:55

or

Randi: 26:55

a girl,

Jess: 26:56

but hey.

Randi: 26:56

Same, same.

Jess: 26:57

But yeah, those vitamins can really support the nerve function and reduce inflammation. In fact, I've also just started doing turmeric. Turmeric. I found it to be good for inflammation. Turmeric and honey. I've been putting, cause I like a lot of teas this time of year. So amazing. Yes. I've been doing like a, a honey, like a honey butter mix, like turmeric, honey, and some pepper. And I've been putting that in my teas. And I've been doing that because we all got sick for that three long week sickness thing. But that helps healing us. And so you can either. Do your research. You can talk to your functional doctor. You can, try what works for you. What makes you feel better? There's nothing wrong with going and getting a vitamin B shot. If you've been run down for a while. I love doing that after being sick because I'm like, I need the energy back.

Randi: 27:43

I've been taking this too, which is D H E A, which is for mood and stress. There's just so many things that we just don't get in our food and our, in our environment anymore. And to I'm, I'm in my, Early 40s. I'm not going to say mid 40s yet. I'm not there. Okay. I'm going to keep quiet, but and for me too, like my hormones are all out of balanced. And so I had to add in, hormone replacement, for me and other supplements to, to help with that. So also looking into those things, because that was making me, it. all off balance too. And so adding in all those things together helped create, this whole puzzle of these missing pieces.

Jess: 28:27

And I know when I start eating

Randi: 28:29

crappy,

Jess: 28:29

how I

Randi: 28:30

feel. Oh yeah. And sugar is I'm a, I love sugar. I have a horrible sweet tooth, but yeah, it makes me feel like crap and it makes my body like super inflamed. Yes. And I've

Jess: 28:39

had to go back to more protein because I was like, Oh, I need to start Going back to more of a protein solid because I was just doing again my cheese sticks But oh, yeah, but I needed to focus on the nutrition on

Randi: 28:51

just cheese, even though we wish we could I know cheese and

Jess: 28:53

beef Jerky, what's wrong with that? Okay. So Rani can physical activity help in the healing of the nervous system.

Randi: 28:59

Yes, especially gentle relaxing physical activity can help benefit your whole body and system like We talked about kind of yoga or tai chi or somatic breathing. We even hosted an event last year where we partnered with a, somatic breathing coach and it was just laying there and learning how to breathe deeply. And it's amazing what you can let go of when you just spend an hour breathing and even just walking. These things can help reduce. Your stress and your hormones, even just petting your dog. Like they say, it releases like endorphins to help you relax. And this improves your overall, your mood, your balance, your wellbeing, your outlook on life. So just let's dive a little bit deeper. What are some relaxation techniques? that we can pair for our nervous system healing

Jess: 29:53

guided imagery. I have a hard time just meditating because my brain goes somewhere else. So when I do guided imagery it's somebody is walking you through it and I can go there with them. And for me, that's really important. Progressive muscle relaxation, which is part of mindfulness. That's a really good one. I do that

Randi: 30:13

all the time because I have a very hard time relaxing my body. So I have to do a progressive like head to toe muscle relaxation to get myself into that centered state. We should actually record some of these and do that.

Jess: 30:29

Some deep breathing exercises are really good. Mindfulness we were just talking about is part of that guided imagery. There's such powerful tools for doing this, the calming of your nervous system. There is some yoga out there that you can do online through YouTube that, they don't, there's lots of videos. It doesn't have to be an hour long sweatshop. It can be 10 minutes. It's five minutes. It could be just one pose that helps you in between your meetings. Sometimes I'll just do a couple of stretches in between meetings or sessions

Randi: 31:00

just to release whatever is going on. That's what I do too. I just got a Thera hook, which is like a thing that my massage therapist told me about that you can like just hook over your shoulder and gets the pressure points because I carry all off to show it to you. And it's just That's oh, like it just helps me like release that because I just will hunch over and I'll sit at the computer too much working,

Jess: 31:20

I think we all do that one. You sit at the computer way too much working. Okay, how does sleep affect the nervous system healing?

Randi: 31:27

Well, sleep and your sleep environment, like your room, your space, having it dark, waking up to sunlight are all so fundamental for your nervous system and healing it. Sleep allows your brain to rest and recharge. It allows you to process your emotions better. process stress better, and helps you repair like that damage to your body. So when you're ensuring that you're getting adequate and quality sleep, it helps support your overall health.

Jess: 32:00

I'm laughing because I'm like adequate and proper sleep. Is that four hours, six hours, eight hours? I don't know. Four

Randi: 32:05

hours. So if I can get four hours, I'm like, woohoo. But I'm a six hour. I'm usually six. I'd love 10 hours. That's used to be like my thing, but that's not going to happen. Jess, can talking therapy aid and healing the nervous system?

Jess: 32:20

Yes, absolutely. Obviously, I'm a psychotherapist. I say yes, it does. It's very effective in helping your nervous system because it goes through and it provides that safe space that you need to process your emotions. It also gives you somebody you can help, point out what your triggers are or to help you identify rather what your triggers are. Being able to talk to it our oldest was in the kitchen a couple weeks ago and I was cooking dinner and he came in and he goes, all right, I got a question. This really bothered me. And I said, okay. And I just said, which do you want? Do you want mom mode or therapist mode? And he straight up said, I want therapist mode. I said, all right, cool. Let's do it. Engaging. Engage. Cause I needed to know what brain he needed. And we, and within half an hour we worked through and I was like, that's it. That's your trigger right there. And he was like, Yep, that's it. I said, okay, cool 150 bucks. Let's go And he started laughing, but he just needed to know why it was really bothering him and he had to process it out I could have done it as mom mode, but it would have taken longer. So I was like, no, no, i'm cooking dinner We got about half an hour. What are we doing? Yeah, we're gonna break this down into easy steps. Exactly and so talking to somebody can help you figure out what that issue is or what's bugging you or what you

Randi: 33:28

need to, work on. Yeah, vocalizing things can be so powerful. And that we can have this constant back and forth in our head. But sometimes till we say it out loud or write it down. We can't always see like the full picture.

Jess: 33:43

No, you have no idea sometimes until somebody else is walking you through this process. So How long does it actually take, though, for the nervous system to heal, Randi? Is it like a one and done

Randi: 33:53

thing? No, healing timeline varies for everybody. It's your own journey. It depends on things like the extent of your trauma, your lifestyle healing practices that you're doing and undertaking and trying. It's a gradual, slow process that requires patience. It's self compassion, persistence, time and empathy for yourself and others around you.

Jess: 34:21

And also realizing that. As you uncover more you're going to need to do more. It isn't just a

Randi: 34:28

it's not like you said a one and done It's a it's it's a cycle. You're going to start you're going to stop you're going to start you're going to stop You're going to go backwards. You're going to go forward. You're going to take 10 steps forward You're going to take 20 steps back. You're going to take two steps forward You're going to take another 10 steps back You have to go with this give and take of it and have that gentleness of with yourself that, okay, this is not gonna be done, I'm not gonna be done with this in 40 days, in 20 days, in 10 days, in two days. It could be, but it could be, four years, it could be 10 years, it could be, a year, it could be six months. I think learning and healing is forever, to be honest with you. I agree, because there's always new hurts, there's always new obstacles, there's always changes and

Jess: 35:08

Well, because the more I learn about myself, the more I accept about myself, or the more I accept about things around me, the more I want to change, the more I want to do, and so I just feel like it happens, and it's just, it isn't You know, I don't want to be like all doom and gloom, but I feel like that it's a process and I

Randi: 35:23

don't think it's a bad thing. I think it's, I think it's not even healing more so than just growing into who you are as a person. Just like owning who you are and being comfortable in who you are and understanding yourself on a deeper level.

Jess: 35:37

So I wish I could Go back and tell my 20 year old self all of this right now, really, truly, I wish we listen

Randi: 35:44

now, but oh, hell no.

Jess: 35:46

But I wish in the back of

Randi: 35:47

our

Jess: 35:47

brain, right? I wish I'm like, gosh, I wish I had this when I was 20. And so many younger generations have it now, because there's so much more, we talk about it more aware, and there's self more self aware because of things like Tick Tock. So just know that the healing of your nervous system isn't just about reducing your stress. It is about reclaiming your sense of safety and your peace and your joy. It is really learning how to, that saying, keep your peace.

Randi: 36:13

Yeah, and it's a lifelong process that we were talking about. And so we hope that today's episode has resonated with you. And if it has, please share it with someone who might need it with a friend, a colleague, a sister. Yeah. Your mom. Your mom probably especially needs it. But thank you for tuning in to listen to us at the Women's Mental Health Podcast. Please know you are not alone on this journey. We are here to create this platform to support you every step of the way. Take care of yourselves.