Your nervous system isn’t broken; it’s trying to protect you

Anxiety can feel overwhelming and come out of nowhere. But when you understand what’s actually happening in your body, you go from passenger to driver, and that changes everything.

What is Anxiety, Really?

Anxiety isn’t a character flaw or a sign that something is wrong with you. It’s your nervous system doing its job, sometimes just a little too enthusiastically.

At its core, anxiety is your brain’s threat detection system firing up.

It scans your environment (and your thoughts) for danger, and when it spots something, it sounds the alarm. Your heart rate rises, your breathing shallows, your muscles tense.

You’re being primed to respond.

The problem? Your nervous system can’t always tell the difference between a bear chasing you and a 9:00am exam. 😅😅

Your autonomic nervous system has two main modes, think of them as gears:

1️⃣ Sympathetic: “Fight or flight”: speeds everything up, prepares you to act
2️⃣ Parasympathetic: “Rest and digest”: slows things down, restores calm
3️⃣ Dorsal vagal: “Freeze”: shuts down when threat feels overwhelming

Anxiety lives mostly in sympathetic overdrive.
The goal isn’t to eliminate this system; it’s to help your body shift gears when the alarm isn’t needed.

The good news: you can influence your nervous system!!!

This is the part that changes everything.
Your nervous system isn’t just something that happens to you; you can actively communicate with it.

The most powerful channel? Your breath. 🌬🌬

The vagus nerve, the superhighway of your parasympathetic system, responds directly to how you breathe. A slow, extended exhale signals to your brain: “We’re safe.”

Researched at Stanford, this technique works faster than most breathing exercises; even one round reduces heart rate.
1️⃣ Inhale through your nose.
2️⃣ Sniff again, a second short inhale on top.
3️⃣ Long exhale slowly through your mouth.

The double inhale maximally inflates your lungs, and the long exhale activates the vagus nerve. Repeat 2–3 times.

Some Other Quick Reference Tools For When Anxiety Spikes:

➡️Breathe out longer than you breathe in.
Even a simple 4 count in, 6 count out activates the parasympathetic system.
You can do this anywhere.

➡️Ground yourself with 5-4-3-2-1. Name 5 things you see, 4 you hear, 3 you can touch, 2 you smell, 1 you taste. Sensory grounding pulls you out of your head and into the present.

➡️ Move your body. Anxiety energy is physical; walking, stretching, or even shaking out your hands gives that nervous system activation somewhere to go.

➡️ Name it to tame it. Research shows that labeling an emotion (“I’m feeling anxious”) reduces its intensity. Say it out loud, write it down, or just acknowledge it internally.
➡️ Cold water on your face or wrists. Activates the dive reflex, which slows your heart rate within seconds. Strange but effective, and always available.

➡️ Sleep matters more than you think. (See last week’s post.) Poor sleep amplifies the amygdala’s threat response, making anxiety significantly worse before the day even starts.

These tools are powerful. If you’re finding anxiety hard to manage on your own, reaching out to a counselor isn’t a last resort; it’s a smart move.
The Counseling Center is always here as a space to talk things through and get support in all areas of life.
The Counseling Center is open Monday through Friday, 9:00am– 4:00pm.
You can reach me directly at [email protected] or email [email protected] to schedule an appointment.

A Place to be Seen, Heard & Supported

The Counseling Center is "A Place to Be Seen, Heard, and Supported." The Counseling Center team includes Thomas DeGeorge, PhD, LPC, and Robert Pina, LPC. Together, they bring clinical expertise and a strong commitment to student care. As a result, the Rosemont community receives consistent guidance designed to foster reflection, resilience, and growth.

Explore this weekly series of thoughtful reflections and practical tools to promote student wellbeing featured in the Connections Newsletter by exploring the Counseling Center newsfeed.