“We always have to be walking on egg shells.”
“It’s like they’re constantly teetering on the brink of a meltdown or explosion.”
“If one little thing doesn’t go right or according to schedule, the whole day is ruined.”
Sound familiar? We’ve heard these exact words and similar versions way too many times. Why do some kids seem to have less ‘wiggle room’ or ability to adapt to different stresses that come their way?!
It all comes back to our main operating system, the one running the show behind the scenes, the key to our overall health and well-being: the Autonomic Nervous System!
That’s a mouthful that doesn’t mean anything to anyone besides fellow science nerds, so let’s think of it as two different modes, the gas pedal and the brake pedal.
The gas pedal is what you want firing if you’re being chased by a bear or in a stressful situation. It’s the fight or flight mode that kicks into high gear when we’re under stress.
The problem comes when we get stuck in gas pedal mode, as all of the great brake pedal functions get pushed to the back burner.
What all does the brake pedal involve? Sleep, focus, digestion, immune system, growth, healing, development… everything we need to be feeling and functioning at our best!
So many of the kids (and you too, moms & dads) we work with are living life in the stress zone. If they are up at a 7, 8, or 9 out of 10 as a baseline, it doesn’t take much to push over the limit and end up with tantrums, meltdowns, outbursts, exhaustion, and everything else we’re all too familiar with.
The good news?! There’s a better way! We need to reset normal, pump the brakes on the stress system, and give our nervous system some more wiggle room.
That’s exactly where chiropractic comes in. Stress in the nervous system (especially up top with the Vagus nerve – aka BRAKE pedal!) means this RPM ticker has a much higher starting point than it should. Our scans let us find out if that’s what’s going on, how severe it is, and put together a plan to make sure the future looks better.
