TIMESTAMPS
00:00 intro
01:13 What is the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and can we control it?
03:34 Where we’ve been confused about how our nervous system impacts healing
05:57 The zombie theory
07:34 When calming the nervous system isn’t the issue
09:34 When we might need increased sympathetic nervous system response to heal
10:32 Are we stuck in the ‘freeze’ state?
11:42 What contributes to nervous system issues?
15:00 Do you need to pace with brain training?
18:21 When pacing can be unhelpful for recovery
20:02 How POTS, ME/CFS, and other similar syndromes are one condition
22:28 How do we calm our nervous system?
25:15 How to reverse central nervous system desensitization
26:11 How trauma impacts the ANS
29:01 The best brain training exercises / when to switch your recovery approach
36:53 How hard should you push with recovery?
39:26 What is ANS Rewire and what is it suitable for?
45:49 How to reach Dan and learn more (and access the 4 free intro lessons of ANS Rewire)
Learn More
Click on these links to learn more about Dan's book CFS Unravelled and his ANS REWIRE recovery program.
You can also check out Raelan's skillshare course via her affiliate link here: Lifestyle Pacing - Tools for Optimizing Energy and Achieving Your Goals
Hello Dan. I find your suggestion that brain retraining/addressing the ANS isn’t all about reducing sympathetic dominance to be very interesting. I have had trouble understanding quite how my symptoms fit in to other brain retraining programmes because if this need to have good sympathetic/ balance is recognised at all in terms of symptoms it’s talked about in stages. For example stage 1: flat out, sleeping all the time, barely able to function. Then with some sort of strategy you move in to Stage 2 :”tired and wired”, with energy such as it is, all over the place. ( Stage… Read more »
Glad it resonates with you.
Yes, it’s the AUTOnomic nervous system – so not something we should be regulating.
The variance in symptoms and changes over time are a big indicator of the heterogenous nature of the illness, which is why doctors have always struggled with the illness, especially given that it can change not just over months and years, but also over hours – it’s very dynamic.