When we talk about supporting the nervous system, one word tends to appear again and again:

Relax.

Take a bath.
Lie down.
Breathe deeply.
Meditate.
Do less.

And sometimes that’s exactly what we need.

But our nervous system isn’t designed to keep us in a permanent state of calm. It’s designed to help us respond to life. To get up and move when movement is needed. To concentrate. To respond to challenges. To interact with other people. To become excited. To act.

And then, importantly, to be able to come back down again.

So perhaps nourishing the nervous system isn’t really about becoming calmer and calmer. Perhaps it’s about creating the conditions that allow us to respond, adapt and recover.

Your nervous system is always listening

Your nervous system is continually receiving information. Some of it comes from the world around you.

Light. Sound. Temperature. Other people. Your surroundings.

Some comes from inside your body.

Hunger. Pain. Energy availability. Hormonal signals. Digestion. Breathing. Heart rate.

And your brain and body are continually making adjustments in response. The autonomic nervous system plays an important part in this process. Its sympathetic branch helps mobilise us when action is required — increasing things such as heart rate and energy availability. The parasympathetic branch is involved in processes associated with rest, digestion and recovery.

Neither is inherently “good” or “bad”.

We need both.

Research into exercise demonstrates this beautifully. Physical activity is itself a physiological stressor requiring autonomic adjustments; recovery afterwards involves another shift in autonomic activity. PubMed Central (PMC)

A flexible nervous system isn’t one that never becomes activated. It’s one capable of changing appropriately with circumstances.

Rest matters — but so does movement

Imagine trying to support your muscles by never asking them to work. It wouldn’t be particularly effective. Our bodies benefit from appropriate challenge as well as recovery. Movement is one of those challenges.

When we exercise, heart rate changes, breathing changes, energy requirements increase and our nervous system helps coordinate the response.

Then comes recovery.

Over time, regular physical activity can contribute to cardiovascular, metabolic and psychological health, while research also suggests relationships between exercise and autonomic regulation. PubMed Central (PMC)

That doesn’t mean more exercise is always better.

Intensity, duration, health status and recovery all matter.

Once again, we’re back to something I’ve talked about frequently recently: balance and adaptation rather than simply maximising something.

Sleep gives the body time to recover

If movement provides challenge, sleep provides something very different.

Sleep isn’t simply a period when we switch off. It’s an active biological state involved in processes throughout the brain and body. And anyone who’s had several nights of poor sleep knows how dramatically it can affect mood, concentration, appetite, energy and our ability to cope with everyday challenges.

This is why I don’t think of sleep as an optional extra that we squeeze in after everything else has been done.

It’s part of the foundation.

And supporting sleep isn’t necessarily about finding the perfect supplement. Regular routines, daylight exposure, physical activity, the timing of caffeine and alcohol, our evening environment and what’s happening psychologically can all form part of the picture.

Feed a nervous system, not just a stomach

Then, of course, there’s nutrition.

The nervous system is physical tissue. It requires energy. It requires amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients involved in everything from cellular energy production to neurotransmitter synthesis and normal nerve function. So when I talk about “nourishing” the nervous system, I mean that quite literally too.

But I wouldn’t reduce nervous-system nutrition to one fashionable nutrient. Our bodies don’t experience magnesium, B vitamins, omega-3 fats, protein, carbohydrates and micronutrients as completely separate health trends.

They experience food.

For most people, the foundations remain wonderfully unexciting:

A varied diet.

Enough protein.

Plenty of different plant foods.

Sources of healthy fats.

Adequate energy.

Regular meals where appropriate.

And nutrition adapted to the individual rather than to whatever happens to be trending online this week.

Supplements can have a place, but they sit on top of the foundations rather than replacing them.

Get outside

This is one of my favourites — and it’s where last week’s discussion about photography overlaps beautifully with this one.

Nature.

Research has associated interaction with natural environments with a range of psychological and physiological outcomes, including stress and wellbeing, although the quality and consistency of the evidence varies between studies. PubMed Central (PMC)

Nature can also give us something else almost accidentally:

Movement.

Daylight.

A change of environment.

Attention directed outside ourselves.

Perhaps social interaction.

And, occasionally, awe.

A broader review of nature interactions found associations with mental health and health behaviours including physical activity and sleep, while also noting that there is still plenty we don’t understand about the mechanisms involved. PubMed Central (PMC)

This is why I’m wary of turning time outside into another prescription:

“You must spend precisely X minutes in nature every day to regulate your nervous system.”

We don’t have good evidence for a magic number.

Go outside because being outside is part of being human.

Walk.

Look.

Notice the season changing.

Feel the weather.

And perhaps take your camera.

Other people are part of our health environment

This is an aspect of health we sometimes neglect.

We can become incredibly focused on what an individual eats, takes and does. But human beings exist in relationship with other human beings.

The World Health Organization now treats social connection as an important public-health issue, with social isolation and loneliness associated with poorer physical and mental health. World Health Organization

Research into social support also suggests that connection can influence how we respond physiologically to stress, including aspects of neuroendocrine, cardiovascular and immune activity. PubMed Central (PMC)

That doesn’t mean everybody needs a huge social circle. Connection can look very different from person to person.

A partner.

Family.

A close friend.

A community.

A shared hobby.

A conversation with somebody who understands you.

For me, photography sometimes provides this too. At weddings, birthday parties and baby showers, I’m not simply taking photographs. I’m surrounded by people connecting.

Laughing.

Celebrating.

Touching.

Talking.

Belonging.

Those experiences are part of health too.

Don’t forget pleasure

This one doesn’t appear often enough on wellness checklists.

What do you actually enjoy?

Not what does your fitness tracker tell you to do? Not what is currently trending? Not what have you been told is “optimal”?

What brings you pleasure?

Creativity is one answer for me. Photography absorbs my attention in a way that deliberately trying to relax often doesn’t.

For you, it might be gardening, painting, cooking, singing, knitting, dancing, woodworking, reading, making music or walking the dog.

An enjoyable activity can also bring movement, learning, mastery, connection or time outdoors. And there’s something important about doing things simply because we like doing them. Not every healthy behaviour needs to feel medicinal.

Sometimes the problem really is too much

There’s an important qualification to all of this. Our bodies can adapt to challenge. But that doesn’t mean chronic, relentless stress is beneficial. A nervous system repeatedly being asked to respond without adequate opportunities for recovery is very different from the temporary challenge of exercise followed by rest.

Likewise, telling someone who’s exhausted, unwell, overwhelmed or living through difficult circumstances that they simply need to “regulate their nervous system” can turn a complicated situation into yet another personal task they’re apparently failing at.

Sometimes we don’t need another breathing technique. We need less on our plate.

More sleep.

Help.

Food.

Financial security.

A quieter environment.

Someone to talk to.

Appropriate medical care.

Or simply time.

Our environment matters.

There isn’t one nervous-system routine for everybody

This is perhaps the most important part.

The internet is increasingly full of lists of things we’re supposed to do to “regulate” the nervous system.

• Cold showers.
• Breathwork.
• Meditation.
• Fasting.
• Saunas.
• Supplements.
• Yoga.
• Bare feet on grass.

Some practices may be useful for some people. But we’re individuals. The thing that settles one person’s system may irritate another. The exercise that energises one person may exhaust somebody else. One person finds meditation blissful; another spends twenty minutes becoming increasingly furious that they cannot stop thinking.

And that’s okay.

Supporting health isn’t about successfully completing somebody else’s wellness routine. It’s about understanding your own body and circumstances.

What nourishes your nervous system?

Last week I wrote about photography as one of the ways I nourish mine. But the more I think about it, the less I believe nervous-system nourishment is one particular activity at all.

It’s the whole picture.

Food that nourishes us.

Movement that challenges us appropriately.

Sleep and recovery.

Daylight and time outside.

People with whom we feel connected.

Creativity and curiosity.

Pleasure.

And enough space between life’s demands to recover from them.

Sometimes nourishment looks like rest.

Sometimes it looks like putting your walking shoes on.

Sometimes it’s eating a proper meal.

Sometimes it’s laughing ridiculously loudly with someone you love.

And sometimes, for me, it’s standing somewhere beautiful with a camera in my hands, completely absorbed in the light.

Perhaps instead of asking:

“How do I make my nervous system calm?”

we could ask:

“What helps my body feel resourced enough to meet life — and find its way back afterwards?”

I think that’s a much more useful place to begin.

Further reading

For the nature sections, there are useful reviews examining nature exposure, stress and wellbeing, although the evidence is not uniformly strong. PubMed Central (PMC)

Review: Nature exposure and health

For social connection, the WHO’s current work gives a useful overview of its relationship with physical and mental health. World Health Organization

WHO: Social connection

For the relationship between exercise and autonomic nervous-system function:

Review: Exercise and the autonomic nervous system