Research shows that many more of us are living in a constant state of ‘fight or flight’. These past few years have been hard on all of us. Whether you recognize them or not, your body may be showing you the signs of living in sympathetic overload.

The autonomic nervous system has two branches – the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for our ‘fight or flight’ response. The SNS is what takes over when we would traditionally encounter danger such as a saber-toothed tiger. It diverts the blood away from our digestive system to our limbs to help us fight for our life. Conversely, the parasympathetic nervous system is our ‘rest and digest response. It helps us digest our food correctly and get adequate rest.

We need both of these systems working equally for us to be healthy, however, the problem occurs when one system becomes dominant.

Unfortunately, most of us are in sympathetic overload. Our body doesn’t know the difference between being stressed by a saber-toothed tiger or stressed from a deadline at work. Because our world is filled with so many different stresses (bills, work, a pandemic, conflicts, rising costs of living, and even family issues) many of us live our lives in a state of ‘fight or flight’. When we are in a state of sympathetic overload we stop being able to digest our food correctly, leading to a host of health concerns simply by compromising our nervous system’s ability to support our digestion. Some obvious symptoms might be constipation, diarrhea, or bloating. But we also stop achieving restful and rejuvenating sleep, only adding to our brain’s inability to give our entire body the support for repairing and rejuvenating and causes serious auto-immune disorders…which cause a range of physical and emotional challenges. Sympathetic overload can also be detrimental to your oral health, with many people clenching and grinding their teeth as a consequence.

Sometimes it can be difficult to notice when we are in a state of sympathetic overload. We can be so consumed by the immediate ‘threats’ in front of us (bills, deadlines, etc) that we forget how stressful they are. Signs of being in sympathetic overload include feeling extremely sensitive, stressed, emotional, or exhausted to name a few. It’s important to note that the SNS isn’t all-evil and we do want it to switch on at certain times. However, we also need to find a balance and be able to turn off that stress response.