ways to hack your nervous system
Life Doesn’t Have to Be This Hard
DHS Symposium July 18, 2024
Pat Ann St. Germain, MA, LPC
Can’t get moving in the morning:
- Use Hatch to help waken naturally and slowly: Hatch Alarm Clock
- Set alarms across the room
- Essential oil like lemon and peppermint set prior to getting up
- Cold/ice drink as you wake
- Colder shower (shock your system)
- Smoothie in the morning to get going – helps with proprioception
- Create a 3×5 card to write for difficult times/transitions and place in locations where transitions happen
- Set alarms for when to be done with a task (on phone or microwave)
- Reminders on the calendar
- Review the night before and morning of and keep going back to the list for what to do
- Listen to fast music
Struggle to attend after school/work:
- Balance ball (stand on it or a wobble board)
- Balance on one foot and stand at the counter to get items done (alerts nervous system)
- Drink something cold
- Set alarms (create a pressure cooker)
- Use lists and go back to task lists
- Smoothie
- Drink from a straw
- Eat something crunchy to wake the nervous system
Feeling overwhelmed:
- Limit the sounds with iPod or headphones
- Hoodie, hat to limit input
- Use polyvagal work to calm nervous system
- Heavy weight calms the nervous system the longest (weightlifting, body weight, wrestling, moving furniture).
- Sucking through a straw
- Drinking from a camel back water bottle
- Smoothie or shake
Fall Asleep at Night:
- Diffuse lemon and peppermint at bedtime in the room
- Be careful of meditation
- Bearby – our favorite weighted blanket for kids and adults because it is breatheable.
- Apps –
- Calm App (this app is good for adults, has some kid things, sleep stories are also good).
- Moshi Kids – great for sleep stories
- Smells – Mom’s perfume, dad’s cologne
Lower your Cortisol Levels:
*** Consistency – make a plan and schedule this! Use the “stacking method” and put it with another thing you already do in your schedule
- Walk – preferably outside and at a slower pace, walk your dog
- Low intensity exercise – swimming, yoga, cycling (done regularly)
- Salt Float – sensory deprivation experience
- Massage – scheduled regularly
- Teamotions Tea
- Green Tea (drink regularly) – ex each morning
- Podcasts that lower your arousal
- Foods to avoid (sorry, I know): caffeine, alcohol, coffee, processed food
- Mindful based practices
- Laugh
- Pet your dog or cat
- Spirituality
- Fish Oil and Ashwagandha
- Some vitamin companies have specific supplements to help
- Arts and crafts!!!
- Pet therapy!
Use Arts and Crafts:
Doing something that is tactile will help calm the nervous system: ex – knitting, crocheting, handknitting, needle point, cross stitching, potter’s wheel, gardening, etc.
Possible Vision Issues:
· Can the person do jumping jacks? If not, start with snow angels on the floor with just moving the arms OR legs. Then progress to arms and legs together.
· Play balloon game back and forth, having the child/adult watch the balloon as it goes back and forth.
· Play “clean your backyard.” Have a balloon and try to hit it past the person to go behind them. You must look forward and use peripheral vision to stop the balloon. Ensure you do not hit the balloon more than arm’s length away or above the kiddo.
Vision Games:
· OgoDisk – Use these with a balloon. Hit balloon back and forth but you need to look straight forward and not follow the balloon with your eyes. The goal is to build peripheral vision.
· Blink
· SET
· Spot It
· I spy games and books (within a short distance)
Organization of the Brain:
*** Remember, consistency is key! Put it into your schedule daily.
· Games that involve timing – best if you can get your body to match the beat
o Ex – dancing, dribbling to the beat, shooting basketball to the beat, soccer practice (excellent for brain integration), step aerobics (example)
· Taekwondo/Karate/Martial Arts
· Games involving memory and recall
If kids struggle with winning and losing:
** Start with cooperative games – NOT CANDYLAND or SHOOTS AND LADDERS
- Outfoxed
- Gnomes at Night – Our homies LOVE this game!
- Hoot Owl Hoot
- The Sneaky Snaky Squirrel Game
- Richard Scarry’s Busytown
Sensory Ideas:
Lycra Sensory Swing – GREAT to use for adoption, foster care, attachment, kids needing additional feedback to joints. Kids who feel better talking when covering their face.
Camelback water bottle with bite valve – bite valve to engage mouth, sucking to calm nervous system (much like taking a deep breath). This can leave you regulated longer.
Smoothies/Shakes: I recommend using this strategy on the go. Meltdown coming OR struggle transitioning, stop in and get a shake. This provides proprioception which causes the nervous system to be calm longer.
Struggles to transition: I count steps, follow the lines, walk like an animal together, clearly lay out all the steps it will take to complete the task. If certain places evoke meltdowns (grocery shopping), then plan to grocery shop when you don’t need to – practice it and then when you actually have to go and do something, you will have success.
Games to Improve Frontal Lobe:
***Remember, this is about consistency. Do it nightly! We set an alarm to play a game 30 mn before the transition to bedtime every night. To build a muscle, you need consistency.
Polyvagal Massage:
Sound Training:
Expensive but really useful devices:
Sensate – serious stress relief
Apollo Neuro – In the moment ability to soothe system. Wearable device.
Positive Parenting Solutions – Amy McCready
Facebook: Facebook Page for Positive Parenting Solutions
Free class: Positive Parenting Free Webinar
All Things Sensory Podcast by Harkala
Creating and implementing sensory diets by Harkala
Primitive Reflex Training by Harkala
Harkala Primitive Reflex Training
Rewiring Your Brain Summit:
Aug 6-12th FREE
Research:
Prolonged Secretion of Cortisol as Possible Mechanism of Underlying Stress and Depressive Behaviour
Cortisol Changes in Healthy Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Stress and Growth in Children and Adolescents
How Do Various Cortisol Levels Impact Cognitive Functioning?
Finding Your ACE Score – ACE Measure
Trauma & Sensory Integration: The Egg & the Chicken
What is Attachment Disorder in Adults?
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder 2024
Referral Options:
Chiropractic Care
- Health Journey Chiropractic McFarland – offers neurological chiropractic care.
Behavioral Optometrist
Consider referring regarding ADHD, dyslexia, head trauma (concussion/TBI), autism, complaining of vision problems but vision is 20/20, school refusal, struggles with reading and math.
- Dr Valerie Frazer – Waunakee
- The Vision Therapy Clinic – Madison
- Isthmus Eye Care – Madison