ALLOSTATIC LOAD & THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

When the nervous system encounters stress, it takes time to recover. Normally, the nervous system is able to repair and reset itself during down time.

However, when that stress becomes more prolonged, it builds up in the nervous system. As the nervous system holds onto more and more stress, it becomes less flexible, and more prone to moving into fight or flight or shutdown responses.

This is due to excessive 'Allostatic Load' - how far the nervous system has deviated from its normal resting baseline due to stored stress.

High Allostatic Load becomes problematic when it lasts for too long because it places excess strain on the body and dysregulates the nervous system. As nervous system's resting baseline moves closer to activated states, it becomes harder to rest and much easier for stress hormones to be released. This can turn up as agitation, depression, hopelessness and burnout.

Allostatic Load increases when we get insufficient sleep, eat inflammatory foods, ignore physical signs such as fatigue, and keep ourselves in chronically stressful situations.

We can learn to manage allostatic load by becoming more mindful of the stress we open ourselves up to, honoring our emotions and needs, getting more sleep and eat anti-inflammatory foods, drink enough water, exercising daily to discharge excess energy, and meditating to allow the body to process stress.

When we choose to manage our allostatic load, we find that the world we live in becomes a much more inviting, open, and creative place, because that's how our nervous system perceives it.