Nervous System Regulation & Longevity
August 10, 2025
I got interested in Longevity when a good amount of my clients wearing the Oura ring reported that they could measure positive changes through our work together.
I’m specialized in Nervous System Health. The work is about building a person’s regulatory capacity (Window of Tolerance) and releasing excess stress to improve their quality of life.
I would like to invite you to an exploration of how a regulated nervous system increases your quality of life. This is an interesting differentiation to consider, as the quality of your life is determined by how well you feel in your body and how well you can emotionally regulate the challenges of life. Your nervous system is a strong foundation to experience a life of palpable quality and coherence.
Nervous System 101: Regulation vs. Dysregulation
Your nervous system is the body’s master communication and coordination system. It governs everything from your heartbeat and digestion to your thoughts, emotions, and movement.
It is the command center for how you experience life. It’s what tells you whether you’re safe or in danger, whether to rest or run, whether to connect or withdraw.
A regulated nervous system can return to balance and be adaptive. You can respond instead of react. You can think clearly, digest properly, sleep deeply, and feel emotions without being hijacked by them.
A dysregulated nervous system can be stuck in many different layers in survival mode. The modes of survival are fight, flight or freeze. In these states, even small stressors can feel overwhelming.
Examples of common signs of a dysregulated nervous system include:
- Chronic symptoms
- Racing thoughts or/and mental loops
- Trouble falling or staying asleep
- Feeling emotionally numb or/and overreactive
- Feeling over prolonged periods of time wired but tired or exhausted
Over time, this can create a cascade of consequences: hormonal imbalance, inflammation, poor sleep, brain fog, digestive issues, and accelerated aging.
You might remember the grandmother or grandfather who is always grumpy and is letting it out on everyone. This is a sign of being stuck over years in a dysregulated state. It becomes part of their personality. This person may have had chronic stress stuck in their system over the years and they did not find or know a way how to release this from their system. You can’t talk, think or read your way out of dysregulation. It is a physiological process.
Nervous System Health vs. Dysregulation:
Here is a list of the effects of a dysregulated nervous system and of a regulated nervous system.
A dysregulated nervous system:
• Ages cells faster (via oxidative stress and cortisol)
• Impairs digestion and detoxification
• Disrupts sleep cycles
• Inhibits neuroplasticity
• Dampens immune resilience
Whereas a regulated nervous system:
• Promotes parasympathetic healing and rest
• Supports healthy hormone balance
• Enhances brain function and creativity
• Fosters meaningful connection
• Allows for sustainable behavior change
Building Regulatory Capacity vs. Regulation Tools
Your nervous system can build regulatory capacity aka resilience. This happens by addressing stored stress within the body from the past.. First, the parasympathetic will be activated, and from a neutral and calm place, the body can then release stuck survival stress. This reestablishes capacity of the nervous system to take care of other bodily functions which are also relevant in longevity, such as heart rate, inflammation, quality of sleep, etc.
Now, the term nervous system regulation is used nowadays everywhere. So, what is the difference between a regulating practice such as breathwork, Yoga, Qi Gong, etc., and methods that support building one’s regulatory capacity and releasing stored stress from the system?
Here’s the difference:
• Regulation practices calm the system in the moment and for some time after
• 1:1 trauma-informed body-oriented methods support the system to return to its baseline allow the system to complete unfinished stress responses (like somatic experiencing, biodynamic craniosacral, trauma-informed bodywork, etc.).
A person can live a highly optimized life while still feeling dysregulated without experiencing this baseline of calm that the body actually needs for sustainable recovery.
Conclusion
Understanding and working with your nervous system can have a very impactful effect of your quality of life. Regulation is not about perfection or constant calm, it is about returning, again and again, to a baseline where recovery is possible. It is from this foundation that true vitality, connection, and sustainable well-being can emerge.
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About the Writer
This article was written by Sabrina Gritzmacher, a specialist in Nervous System Health (Munich, Garmisch-P. & Berlin).
Visit her website to learn more or book a session: www.sabrinagritzmacher.com/locations
Next Session Dates in Munich:
• Sunday, August 17, 2025
• Sunday, September 21, 2025
• Saturday, November 15, 2025
• Sunday, November 16, 2025
• Sunday, December 21, 2025
• Sunday, January 18, 2026
• Sunday, March 1, 2026
• Sunday, March 29, 2026
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