How Nervous System Dysregulation Impacts Body Weight

Uncategorized Oct 04, 2024

[LAST DAY: new members save 50% on 1st month of our All Access Pass!]

When it comes to improving health and body composition, most people focus on exercise and food.

While these are essential pieces of the puzzle, there are other crucial factors that often get overlooked— your thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and emotions... and how well you can regulate them.

Because many people can make time to take of themselves when things are easy breezy. But when life starts life-ing, how do you respond?

Our ability to self soothe in healthy ways without engaging in destructive habits is key.

And many of us were not taught or modeled this growing up.

Regulating your nervous system truly doesn't happen until the toddler years are over. Our brains simply aren't developed fully yet, which is why we look to our caretakers to help us regulate or model for us how to do that.

If you were given sweets anytime you had a "negative emotion", notice if you tend to reward yourself as an adult when you're stressed.

If you were told to "suck it up" or "you're fine" at 1-2 years old enough times, notice if you have a tendency to repress emotions... and perhaps even "stuff them down" with binge eating, using alcohol or other substances to dissociate, etc.

Half of Awaken Your Nutrition is dedicated to becoming aware of these stories that run deep but are no longer serving us.

So, how can regulating your nervous system *actually* help with maintaining health and body composition?

Our ability to manage stress, regulate emotions, and maintain a calm, centered state has a profound impact on our body’s ability to lose weight and maintain a healthy metabolism.

This is why we're launching Awaken Your Meditation: a 6-Week Tantra Kriya Yoga Meditation Program in mid October guided by Shannon Morse (current members: check Slack or email us for a discount code).

The Link Between Stress and Weight Gain

As you've heard us say so many times: stress is a physiological state, NOT a feeling, which is why it can be so difficult to recognize in yourself.

When you experience a stressor whether from cold plunging, an intense workout or a passive aggressive email from your boss that you interpret as threatening your job security, your body responds by activating the sympathetic (fight or flight) system.

This triggers the release of cortisol, adrenaline, and glucose causing your heart to beat faster, your blood pressure to rise, and your available energy to increase as glucose surges through the bloodstream.

Blood is shuttled away from your digestive track (which is why it's never a good idea to eat when you're stressed) and out to your extremities so you can TAKE PHYSICAL ACTION.

Now, this is a perfect response from the body short-term, especially if you're able to physically move your body after experiencing emotional distress.

However, prolonged elevated levels of both cortisol and glucose can lead to numerous problems—including weight gain and metabolic health issues like prediabetes and diabetes.

Furthermore, high cortisol levels combined with erratic blood glucose levels have been shown to increase appetite, especially for high-calorie comfort foods, and cause your body to store additional fat, particularly around the abdomen.

How many times have you found yourself almost "blacking out" as you polish off an entire back of chips, rows of cookies or even boxes of pizza?

This cycle of stress, overeating, and guilt not only disrupts efforts to maintain a healthy body composition but can also increase feelings of frustration, which perpetuates the problem.

How Nervous System Regulation Supports a Healthy Weight

Your genius body has an equal and opposite operating system — the parasympathetic system — which is a state of rest and digest. It's actually the primary state your body prefers to be in most of the time for optimal health.

But you wouldn't know it in modern times.

This calmer state promotes healthy digestion, efficient metabolism, and improved hormone regulation—all of which are essential for maintaining a healthy weight.

Stress management and emotional regulation are not just psychological tools; they affect the very biology of how our bodies metabolize food, store fat, and signal hunger and fullness.

Tools for Nervous System Regulation

Thankfully, there are simple yet powerful practices you can integrate into your daily routine to bring your nervous system back into balance and support your body’s weight loss efforts:

Meditation
Breathing Exercises
Grounding (Earthing)
Walking
(Sun)light and Time in Nature

These are just a few, and we understand that not everyone will have access to these resources say... in the middle of a Zoom call!

That's why we're also hosting a Nervous System Regulation Workshop in collaboration with Michele Boloña, a certified practitioner in Neuro Somatic Intelligence and Neo Emotional Release.

The Consequences of Chronic Dysregulation

When the nervous system remains in a state of dysregulation for too long, the body responds by holding onto excess weight.

Chronic stress can slow down your metabolism, increase fat storage, and disrupt hunger hormones like leptin and ghrelin, making it difficult to sense when you’re full or truly hungry.

Worse yet, dysregulated emotional and nervous systems can lead to poor sleep, another key player in weight gain.

Sleep deprivation increases cravings for sugary, high-calorie foods and lowers the body’s ability to metabolize carbohydrates efficiently.

This creates a vicious cycle of weight gain and fatigue.

Why Focus on Your Nervous System?

Regulating your nervous system is one of the most impactful things you can do for your health—both mental and physical. By implementing simple, daily practices like meditation, breathing exercises, getting outside, and grounding, you can reduce stress, improve emotional regulation, and create the calm your body needs to shed unwanted weight.

When your body is no longer in a state of survival, it can thrive—and achieving a healthy weight becomes a natural byproduct of that thriving state. Stress management isn’t just a bonus; it’s essential for long-term success.

By nurturing your emotional and nervous system health, you’re not just supporting weight loss—you’re building a strong foundation for overall well-being.

We invite you to check out both our meditation program and nervous system workshop if you are looking for more support in this area