5 Ways we can influence our nervous system in a healthy way

In order to alleviate stress, anxiety and depression, we need to have a regulated nervous system that does not feel threatened. A relaxed nervous system can make us feel safe and relaxed. When a nervous system is dysregulated, it can go into the fight or flight mode as a survival response. To keep the nervous system regulated, we need to take care of the things that can influence it. Therapist Israa Nasir shared a few tips.

Selecting the situation: When we feel that a certain situation can make us feel stressed and anxious, we should prepare our coping skills on how to deal.

Changing the situation: If the nervous system feels threatened in a situation, we should make quick decisions to take ourselves out of that.

Managing what we pay attention to: The things we pay attention to influence our nervous system heavily. We should refocus to pay attention to things that we can control.

Reframing our thoughts: When we feel overburdened with negative thoughts, we reframe the way we look at them – we can question our thoughts and look for alternate perspectives.

Choosing our response: We should be intentional about our decisions and should practice responding instead of reacting.