What to Do When Your Brain and Body Can’t Calm Down

f those hacks aren’t getting to the root of your sympathetic dominance and you or your child’s body is still feeling both tired and wired, we look to the nervous system. To simplify for today, the part of the nervous system we try to upregulate or switch back on is the parasympathetic nervous system, which lives in the very upper portion of the neck and the nerves that exit just below the skull. That includes both the spinal nerves, as well as a very important cranial nerve called the vagus nerve, aka the wanderer. The vagus nerve sends information to and from the heart, lungs, digestive system, and many other places, either telling the system to ramp up to meet demands, or helping everything calm down. The gentle craniosacral therapy and adjustments we do in the office directly affects these body-balancing nerves, which is why I regularly get texts from happy moms telling me that their baby or toddler is now finally sleeping, pooping, or staying calm!