Navigating Daily Nervous System Shifts

Today I explore the question "Is it possible to cycle through all nervous system states within the same day?" Spoiler alert—yes, *to an extent* — in this conversation we explore the considerations around this and I offer practical suggestions on how you can shift thorough these states with more ease. 

We'll talk about why these shifts happen, how to recognize them, and what it means for our mental and physical health. Hit play to hear more!

Key Takeaways:

1. Daily nervous system shifts are normal and adaptive.
2. If your state shifts feel intense or disruptive, or you spend more time in dysregulation than regulation, it may signal that your stress load is exceeding your stress management capacity.
3. Building nervous system awareness is the first step to creating positive change

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Transcript

0:00  
Amanda, welcome to regulate and rewire an anxiety and depression podcast where we discuss the things I wish someone would have taught me earlier in my healing journey. I'm your host, Amanda Armstrong, and I'll be sharing my steps, my missteps, client experiences and tangible research based tools to help you regulate your nervous system, rewire your mind and reclaim your life. Thanks for being here. Now let's dive in. 

I recently got asked a question inside the membership that I think most of us can relate to. So one of our members asked, Is it possible to cycle through all the nervous system states within the same day? And the short answer is yes, that it is normal and human to move through that green zone of regulation, that yellow zone of activation, red zone of shutdown, even throughout your day. But what we hope for is that we spend most of our day in regulation and just visit activation or shutdown temporarily and when it makes sense to so what I mean is, if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you've heard me talk about the nervous system ladder. 

So quick review. I want you to imagine a ladder, and on that ladder are these three colored chunks. The top is green to represent us being in a regulated state. That green zone the middle is a yellow zone that activated state. And at the bottom of this ladder is a red box. Ideally, you start your day feeling pretty regulated, so you are standing at the top of that ladder holding a bucket. Now that bucket represents our nervous system's carrying capacity. So in any given day, there are stressors that come into your bucket. It could be simple decisions like what to eat for breakfast or lunch. These could be bigger stressors, like a challenging conversation with a partner or a boss, and how much you move up and down that ladder depends on how many stressors are coming into your bucket and how well you manage those stressors, what your capacity is for those stressors. And our nervous system reads stressors in three different domains, what we call inside so it's reading your heart rate, your blood pressure. Are you starting to get sick? What is your gut health? So what's your internal health and your internal mindset? It is looking for stressors outside. So how do your environments feel? How safe do they feel for you? How calming or grounding are they? And then in between, relationally, are there any stressors relationally? And so throughout the day, all of these different stressors outside, inside, in between, all the decisions you have to make, are getting added to this stress bucket. 

As the stress load on your nervous system gets heavier and heavier, it pushes you further and further down that ladder. And so you might wake up in the green zone, but have a really stressful day at work that pushes you into that yellow zone. Hopefully you're simply having moments at work that are yellow, and you're able to go for a walk or get lunch, come back up into the green zone. Maybe you get to the end of the day and you're like exhausted, and you come down into that red zone, but then you bring yourself back up. And so it is normal and natural for us to move up and down this nervous system ladder through all of our states in any given day. The key being what we want to be normal and natural for our lives is not to get stuck or to spend the majority of our time in states of dysregulation. 

And before we get any further into this conversation, let's recap the three primary nervous system states that we are talking about a little further. So the first is that green zone. This is regulation the polyvagal theory. Language for it is your ventral vagal state. Sometimes this is called your rest and digest. You're safe and social. This is when you are in something that is called your parasympathetic nervous system state. When you are here, you are present, you are calm, you are grounded, you feel capable to handle the challenges that you face. You're curious, you're able to authentically socially connect. You feel supported. So that is some things that cue you into, okay, I'm feeling pretty regulated, stable, grounded. Things might be challenging, but you feel capable to take on those challenges. There might be some uncomfortable emotions, and you still feel capable to be with those emotions. So green zone is not always just rainbows and butterflies, but it is life within your ability to still access, feeling capable, curious, connected. 

Then we have our yellow zone state. So this is what is called your sympathetic nervous system state, or your fight or flight response. Yes, this is a state of physiological mobilization and activation. Things are actually changing on the inside of your body to help you prepare to handle a stressor, to either fight it and handle it, or run from it, to move away from it. So when we are in this yellow zone, there's often a sense of urgency. You know, I have to do this right now, or else, adrenaline and cortisol are in our system. Our blood sugar often spikes again to provide your muscles with the resources that it needs to fight or flee. What it can be helpful to know in this state is that your body is primed to take action. Your body wants to move in some way, and moving, going for a walk, even just getting up, going to the bathroom or getting a drink, can help your body to process some of this activation in your system when it shows up in your daily life. 

Then we have our red zone state. This is sometimes referred to as your shutdown state, dorsal vagal. This typically happens as a result of a stress load that has gotten too heavy or it has lasted too long. This is a state of overwhelm to the point of shutdown. In this state, your body is primed to disconnect and slow down. So the two primary goals of this red zone state, this is also where depression, dissociation, lives is to conserve energy and prevent any further pain, the stress, load has become overwhelming to the point of shutdown. There's a lot of stories around it doesn't matter, I don't matter apathy when we're in this red zone state. 

So those are your three primary states, and a fourth one I want to mention is what we call a mixed state. And this is something that more and more of our clients are identifying with. And this is the state of freeze, or what I will sometimes call the orange zone state, because it is a mix of your yellow zone and your red zone. This is where our system is in both activation and shutdown. It is a combination, or it feels like a combination of urgency, but stuckness. You have thoughts like I have to right now, but I can't. I need to do this, but I'm too overwhelmed, and so I share this with you so that you have more language, more awareness around these different nervous system states, hopefully so that as you move through your day, there is good research that shows when you can identify a feeling, you can automatically tone down the intensity of it. What we see over and over and over again with our clients is that the same thing applies to their states when they can identify, oh, I'm in yellow zone. I'm in an orange zone, I'm in red zone, fight or flight, freeze, activation, shutdown, whatever language resonates the most with you. There is this moment of and I have some tools, or I know how to navigate this. So building awareness around these states is one way for them to feel less overwhelming for you. 

So what you need to know about your body and your nervous system is that its constant goal is survival, and so it shifts us in and out of these states to help us manage difficult situations. And these states are not just on or off switches. They exist on this continuum, and they can blend together like we talked about so that my favorite way to talk about and illustrate these on that continuum is with that nervous system ladder. Another thing that is crucial to understand about these different states is that none of them are inherently good or bad. Every single one of these nervous system states is an adaptive response that served a really, really important purpose in our evolution, and they all still serve a really important purpose in your daily life today. 

The tricky part here is that our external world has evolved much faster than our internal biological system, and we today live in a very different world with very different types of stressors, amounts of stressors than our nervous system was developed to handle. And so this is why thriving in the 21st century, thriving in modern day life requires that you understand your nervous system and that you live intentionally in ways to support it. And this is really at the heart of the way that we support clients. And what we support clients in doing is I want to help you understand how to navigate your nervous system in modern life. I also want to help you understand that you have basic biological human needs, that when they are unmet, are going to add stress load to your system. How can we help you live intentionally in a way that fosters regulation and healing? 

Now let's shift for a moment and talk about how these states might show up in a typical day with an example, and I will lay out that this is a pretty ideal example. So maybe you wake up feeling rested and ready for your day. You're in that green zone. You eat breakfast, you have morning coffee, connection with your family. Maybe you do some light exercise, all of this while feeling pretty regulated and present. Then you check an email and see an urgent message from your boss about a deadline. Oop, okay, now we're in that sympathetic activated state. Your heart rate increases. You might feel some anxiety or stress, but this activation in your system is also moving you towards this challenge to to get it handled. So after tackling that work situation, you settle back into a more regulated Green Zone state for a few hours, then maybe you're at lunch and you receive some unexpected, difficult news about a family member. And maybe this triggers you into a more shut down state that red zone, you maybe start to feel more disconnected, you have trouble focusing, and you decide that before you sit back down at your desk and handle the other work stressors, you are going to go for a walk or maybe call a friend. This helps your mind and body move through some of that difficulty, allowing you to access a bit more regulation. The sadness is still there, but it doesn't feel overwhelming. You're back in that green zone. Then in the evening your kids are being particularly loud and challenging. Back to the yellow zone. After their bedtime routines, you settle back into the green zone with your own regulation routine. 

So understanding that we naturally cycle through these states in any given day. Is so, so important to help you normalize your experience. Far too often, people think something is wrong with them when they move in and out of this regulated state. The key is about having awareness and building the capacity to move between these states flexibly and fluidly appropriately given the present day circumstances, and then to always return back to regulation, to a place where we can rest and recover from the stressful event. And like I said, the example I just shared was pretty idealistic, and I am willing to bet that for a lot of you listening to a podcast like this, your day does not flow like that example I just shared, maybe you're not waking up feeling regulated, but instead you're waking up with a jolt of dread or anxiety, and maybe instead of returning to regulation after a stressful work situation, it throws off your entire day. Maybe you aren't exercising in the morning, or you don't have a friend to call when tough situations arise. And all of this makes this natural flow between these states more challenging. And I think just acknowledging that of oh, there's not some innate brokenness in me, this is just harder to do when I don't feel supported outside, inside and in between. When I don't feel supported by my physiology, maybe for your health concerns out of your control or daily habits in your control. Maybe I don't feel supported by my environments or my relationships. And the work that we do with our clients is to help them strategically assess and then step into making some tangible changes in their life to make one or all of those domains more supportive for healing and regulation. 

Now let's come back to this question. Is it normal? Is it possible to move through all these states in a day we have reiterated, yes, we've talked a little bit about why we shift between states, and that's what I want to spend just a moment reiterating, and invite you into a moment of self reflection now or throughout the next few days of your life, to see what are the internal or external Things that cue you into states of activation and shutdown, but also, what are the internal or external cues or resources that help you move back into a state of regulation? So when we are talking about why we shift out of regulation into that red, yellow or orange zone, this is because throughout the day we are encountering these different stressors or cues that our body automatically chooses for us, the state it thinks is going to handle that situation best, usually based on instinct and past lived experience. 

So some external cues that you might notice feel activating or even overwhelming for you could be noise levels, environmental things, traffic stressors, social interactions, work deadlines, these are external cues. So paying attention today or throughout this week. What are the external cues that feel agitating or overwhelming for my system? Also taking note of internal cues, things like hunger, fatigue, sitting too long. Maybe it is more mind internal things like beliefs or worries, stories you're telling yourself that trigger you into these different states. Do you have external cues that feel regulating and resourcing for you? Is there something you can change or shift about your environment, your external environment or relationships? Do. That feels supportive for you, because this isn't just about, oh yeah, it's totally normal to feel red and yellow zone. But how do we resource ourselves enough to be able to return to that green zone internal cues? Maybe, can you eat breakfast before you have coffee? Can you get more sleep? Do you have an internal mantra or thought that feels grounding and resourcing for you. So just understanding that there are external and internal cues that help us move up and down this nervous system ladder throughout the day. 

What it comes down to is that if your overall stress load is manageable and you have enough stress management skills, then you are going to more smoothly transition through these states, if you are depleted, if there is too much stress, not enough movement, too much movement, not enough nourishment, if you feel disconnected or unsupported, if you have underlying health issues, if you are living in actively unsafe conditions, If you are carrying around an immense chronic load from past trauma, it is likely that your nervous system is hyper sensitized, and this means it's going to be a lot easier to shift into states of dysregulation and a lot harder to get back out of them and into a state of regulation. So is it possible to cycle through all these states in the same day. Absolutely, my question for you would be, how intensely Do you feel those shifts? Do you move through them smoothly or predictably, eventually making your way back to regulation multiple times throughout the day, like my initial example? Or do these shifts feel really intense? Maybe it's a jolt of activation or midday crash. Maybe it feels like you're spending more time in states of dysregulation than regulation, and if what feels more familiar to you is the later that more of your day is spent in states of dysregulation than regulation, or that those state shifts feel really disruptive, I want to invite you to get curious about that, and if you feel like you'd like support in exploring that or changing that, that is exactly what we do in our one on one coaching program. 

And for those of you who may never make your way into one of our coaching containers, right now, I want to give you four key things that you can do if you are currently shifting through these states in a way that feels suboptimal. So number one is to develop awareness of your state shifts. Notice what triggers move you into different states and what resources help you return to regulation. You have to build awareness around something before you can make any measurable change there. Number two is to find a few regulation practices that support you, and then to practice these regulation skills when you are feeling more regulated. If we only turn to those skills when we're dysregulated, they're not going to feel familiar enough to our system. We likely won't be able to in moments of activation. So when we practice regulation tools that we know are supportive for us in a more grounded state. It makes them more accessible when you need them most. Number three is to be gentle with yourself and remember that these state shifts are normal and natural, and that it's not about living in the green zone forever. You're not a robot. That's not the goal. It is simply about building awareness and creating a gradually more flexible and fluid system that moves up and down that nervous system ladder with more ease. And number four is to be honest with yourself, if there are things you need to change about your life in order to support wellness, and if you need support in making those changes, we cannot expect to feel well if we are not living well, if we are under rested, undernourished, over or under exercising, if we don't have meaningful connections or a sense of purpose in our life, those are basic biological human needs. When you are not checking those boxes, it makes sense, perfect sense to me that your system is activated or shut down that you are stuck living in survival mode because your basic human needs are not being met enough. 

There is this beautiful moment that happens for so many of our clients when they are able to gain enough awareness to not only be honest, but to be lovingly and compassionately honest about looking at the things in their present life that are within their control that if they were to shift or change, it would make their healing easier, it would decrease anxiety, decrease depression. And then the question becomes, how? And that's what our coaches do, in a really strategic way, is help our clients figure out how to go from here to there, because what they realize is that so much about their past lived experience was outside their control, a lot of the wounding or the hurt or the instilled belief systems that have gotten them to where they are are not the habits, the belief systems, the support that is going to get them to where they want to be in their healing. So what needs to change now? There are so many past things that are outside their control. Many of our clients even recognize there are a lot of things about their current life circumstances that. Out of their control, but one of the most empowering things that we're able to support them in doing is in recognizing the variables that are within their control and then helping them to strategically and tangibly come up with practical ways to make those changes in their life so that they are living in a way that supports more wellness. 

So number four is to be honest with yourself if things need to change in your life in order to support wellness, and to be honest if you need support in doing that. So as you are walking through the next few days or weeks of your life, as you notice yourself moving through different states, try to approach it with curiosity rather than judgment. Oh, this is interesting. What is there to learn here? Can you identify what triggered the shift over time? Is there a pattern in that what helps you to feel more resourced to return to regulation?

These observations are such, such valuable data points in healing and regulating your nervous system. I think our whole conversation today can be summarized by understanding that our nervous system is designed to respond dynamically to different situations. It's advantageous that it does so. Moving through these different states is part of being human, and sometimes they happen over the course of a day or a week or a month, these shifts in states. It's your body's way of managing energy and focus and its various resources. The only issue that arrives when we shift between these different states is when we get stuck, when we get stuck in a particular state, or we are unable to transition fluidly. 

Now, before we conclude today's conversation, I want to offer just a few other general suggestions. If you were like Amanda, what can I do? What can I start doing today to support my nervous system in being more flexible and responsive throughout the day, and number one is to create intentional, mindful pauses. Take short breaks between tasks after a stressful interaction or situation. Can you take a quick break to help you recalibrate? So often, we just rush from one thing to the next to the next the next, and our system needs space to recalibrate. This could be just a few deep breaths or a short walk, even just pausing to mindfully take a few gulps of water before jumping into the next task. Can you build a habit of creating mindful pauses throughout your day? 

Number two is physical movement. This could be like I've mentioned and referred to a million times today, is go for a walk. I think that there are very few things that going for a walk doesn't help getting outside, moving your body, but even gentle movement, like stretching, this can help regulate our system. So building in intentional movement into your day. 

The third suggestion is social connection throughout your day. Can you seek out short moments of connection? This could be chatting with a co worker, quick call to a friend, sending a funny meme, making eye contact and giving a friendly smile to a stranger. All of this reinforces that social engagement state. This helps us to be more in the green zone. This reminds our brain and body, that we are not alone in the world. 

And the fourth suggestion is to engage in grounding techniques, grounding practices, things that bring you back to the here and now. This again could be something as simple as focusing on your breath. I love sensory grounding techniques, things that involve my visual system or my sensory system of touch. So focusing on contact points. There are so many different grounding techniques and practices that we've talked about here on the podcast. I have a whole chapter in my book dedicated to them, and there are whole sections inside our one on one coaching program and the membership with different guided grounding techniques. But can you identify certain practices that help you to feel more resourced here and now and in the present moment. 

And then the fifth general suggestion that I will make, and I'm going to reiterate it, because this is, there's an intention behind the repetition in each of my podcast episodes, is to be proactive about noticing patterns over time, noticing your patterns can help you anticipate these shifts. It can also help you resource in those shifts. 

All right, friends, my hope is that there was some suggestion that felt helpful for you today, or some part of this conversation that felt validating. That is my hope with every single episode here on the regulate and rewire podcast, is that you find a moment of, I'm not alone, or oh, that helps me make sense of this. Or oh, that's really helpful. I want to put that into practice in my daily life. And before we get to the three tangible takeaways today, I just want to remind you how much I love hearing. From you how much I love getting DMs and emails where you share the difference this podcast has made in your life. I also want to encourage you to rate and review this show. The number one thing that I think gets this podcast out to more people who need these tools is when you personally share on your stories, with your friends, with your family members. But the other thing that helps to move this podcast into the world, to find more people who are struggling and who could benefit from these is when you do rate and review the show below. So just a reminder, if you've got just a couple minutes today, I read every single one of those, and they mean the world to me. 

All right, without further ado, here are the three key takeaways from our conversation today. 

Number one, it is normal to cycle through different nervous system states in a given day. The hope is that we can eventually learn how to make these transitions feel more flexible and more smooth. The hope is that we, over time, become less reactive to the world around us, and we have more clarity around our unique regulating tools and practices and resources. 

Number two is if your state shifts feel intense or disruptive, or if you are spending more time in dysregulation than regulation on your average day. This is a signal to you that your stress load is exceeding your stress management capacity, so inviting you to get curious about assessing and doing what you can to make shifts in either building stress management capacity or decreasing stress load. And this is the work that we support people intangibly every day in our practice. 

And number three, here's more repetition. Building nervous system awareness is the first step to creating positive change. If you feel like you are pretty low capacity right now, I actually want you to give yourself permission to not change anything right now. The goal is not to change anything. The small change is just to shift the awareness that you're bringing to doing what you're already doing, to feeling how you're already feeling. You cannot work with a mind body system that you do not understand, and each of our mind body systems is unique to us. And so this is my invitation for you to move through these shifts with a little bit more awareness and curiosity. What is there for you to notice, what is there for you to learn, and then eventually, what is it that you want to do with that information? 

All right, friends, thank you so much for being here, and I am sending so much hope and healing your way until next time. 

Thanks for listening to another episode of The regulate and rewire podcast. If you enjoyed what you heard today, please subscribe and leave a five star review to help us get these powerful tools out to even more people who need them. And if you yourself are looking for more personalized support and applying what you've learned today, consider joining me inside rise my monthly mental health membership and nervous system healing space, or apply for our one on one anxiety and depression coaching program, restore. I've shared a link for more information to both in the show notes. Again, thanks so much for being here and I'll see you next time you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai