Hello again lovely Mast Cell 360 community. 🙂
Kam, MC360 Health Coach, and the Mast Cell 360 team here.
This month, we’re talking about the nervous system!
I know, I know. We talk about it all the time.
But your nervous system isn’t a bystander when it comes to healing. It is actively deciding where your body sends and spends your resources.
And you need both the resources and the signals from your nervous system to run those healing processes optimally, or sometimes even turn them on.
When nervous system work comes up, many people still think it means:
“It’s all in your head”
“It’s woo-woo”
“Something’s wrong with how you are handling things as a human being”
**None of that is true. **
And the actual research behind how it works is pretty interesting stuff.
Here’s one well-known example in a study where researchers created the same standardized wound (a small punch biopsy) on two groups of women. One group was under chronic stress and one group wasn’t. The stressed group took nearly ten days longer to heal. About 24% more time.
Same wound. Same size. Just a different nervous system state underneath it.
And a study on dental students showed wounds healed 40% more slowly during exam stress.
Those are two direct examples of the role your nervous system plays in short-term healing.
Your mast cells and nervous system are in constant communication. So, imagine what it can do there!
We’ll unpack a bit about how your nervous system works and why it’s often 50% or more of healing with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) and other complex chronic illnesses in the next few weeks.
In this post, you’ll learn the basics:
What your nervous system is
What “stress” is
Three genes that affect how easily your alarm system fires and settles
How stress before birth can even shape your nervous system
The magic that is the adaptability of your body
One free and easy place to start settling your nervous system
Let’s get started.
This post is for informational purposes only. To read our full disclaimer, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
Your nervous system is a messenger network, running between your brain and every part of your body.
And that conversation runs in both directions. Meaning, your body talks to your brain, and your brain talks back to your body.
As a matter of fact, in gut-brain communication, studies show that about 80% of it comes from your gut to your brain! Not the other way around. And your nervous system is the main road.
Over time, your experiences actually shape how your nervous system is wired. And that wiring shapes how you feel, how you function, and even how you process new experiences.
Most of this happens before it’s even a conscious thought.
**But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with how it currently works. **This system can be trained toward better regulation over time, reshaping your day-to-day reactions, and playing a real role in your body’s capacity to function and heal.
For many people with MCAS, that system has been running in overdrive for so long it’s become normal. Here’s an analogy that might sound familiar.
