Overactive Nervous System on Overdrive? It’s Time to Reset

For individuals on the autism spectrum, the world can often feel like a dizzying array of sensory stimuli, social cues to decipher, and information to process intensely. An overactive nervous system from constant cognitive and emotional exertion required to navigate life can lead to states of sensory overload, emotional dysregulation, anxiety, and feelings of being “burnt out.”

This is when a “reboot” or nervous system reset becomes invaluable.

What is a Nervous System Reset?

Many individuals suffer from an overactive nervous system. Here's how to reset and recharge.The human brain is very similar to a computer; it can take in a certain amount of information, it can solve math problems, and when it starts to get messed up you can usually fix it with a reboot. The human brain is the same way, especially an autistic one, and when you start to feel overwhelmed and overstimulated you can fix it with a nervous system reset.

A nervous system reset refers to the intentional practice of actively powering down our heightened emotional, physiological, and neurological state through various grounding, self-regulation, and self-soothing techniques.

The goal is to consciously downshift from an overactive sympathetic nervous system state (the “fight-or-flight” response) to the parasympathetic mode of “rest-and-digest.”

This reset allows our bodies and minds to return to a calmer, more regulated baseline after periods of nervous system overload filled with overstimulation and emotional overwhelm. It’s akin to giving your internal battery an opportunity to recharge. Instead of staying stuck in a cyclone of anxiety, sensory overload, restlessness, or fight/flight arousal, we create room to settle back into our optimal resting state.

Why Calming the Nervous System Is Especially Helpful for Autistics

Those on the autism spectrum often experience a combination of sensory processing differences, emotional dysregulation, sleep issues, anxiety, ADHD tendencies, and general difficulty downsizing from heightened states of physiological and emotional arousal. The autistic nervous system may get repeatedly overloaded and depleted from the draining effort of navigating a neurotypical world.

A regular routine centered around consciously resetting and restoring the autism and nervous system combination can be incredibly therapeutic and provide much-needed relief. It gives the opportunity for active self-soothing and shifting out of an overwhelmed autonomic nervous system state. Nervous system resets are an invaluable tool for autistic self-regulation and resilience.

Strategies to Reset Your Nervous System

While every person will have their own preferred ways of calming the nervous system by “powering down” and hitting their internal reset button, here are some common strategies that can produce a calming, restorative effect:

  • Deep Breathing Exercises

    Slow, diaphragmatic breathing practiced for even just a few minutes can quickly communicate a message of safety to our brain and allow the parasympathetic nervous system to kick in. Breathing techniques like box breathing, 4-7-8 breathing, or breathing coordinated with visuals/counting can be incredibly regulating in repairing nervous system overload.

  • Grounding Body Movements

    Gently rocking, squeezing techniques, weighted joint compression, yoga poses, self-massage, and other physical grounding movements combined with breath work can release excess “fired up” energy and tension from the body.

  • Proprioceptive Input

    Applying firm but calming proprioceptive (sense of self-movement, body position, and force) input signals by using weighted blankets or vests, wrapping up tightly in a stretchy material, squeezing a stress ball, chewing gum or crunchy snacks, pushing/pulling motions, etc. These pressure/resistance inputs can be regulating for the nervous system overload.

  • Creating a Sensory Retreat Space

    Carving out a cozy, cocoon-like environment by dimming lights, playing white noise or calming nature recordings, using aromatherapy like lavender essential oils, hanging blankets to create an enclosed tent-like feel, introducing soft fabrics and comfortable seating, etc.

  • Pursuing Special Interests

    Immersing oneself in a deep passion, hobby, or special interest can be incredibly absorbing and regulating for the autistic mind. Allowing intense focus on a preferred area provides wonderful opportunities for flow states and restorative calm.

  • Self-Care and Mindfulness Activities

    Having a routine around self-nurturing and quieting practices like adult coloring, journaling, mindful observation, taking a bath or shower, gentle stretching, self-massage, progressive relaxation exercises, cuddling with an animal, etc., can help with autism and nervous system needs.

The key is to experiment and customize a tool kit of strategies that work uniquely well for your own nervous system’s needs. Building habits around preventative nervous system care through daily resets and regulating practices can make a huge difference in overall resilience, wellbeing and quality of life when you’re autistic.

The Power of Co-Regulation of Autism and Nervous System Requirements

An overactive nervous system can create additional challenges for autistics. While self-regulation practices for nervous system resets are crucial, the role of co-regulation should not be overlooked for autistics. Co-regulation refers to the nervous system’s ability to synchronize and regulate itself through interaction with a trusted other person or living being.

For many on the spectrum, the path to self-regulation is smoothed when we have opportunities to co-regulate first with an attuned partner, friend, family member, or even a beloved pet. The presence of this external regulator creates a profound sense of safety that allows an overactive nervous system to downshift more easily.

Some examples of co-regulation activities that can precede or accompany nervous system resets:

  • Weighted, firm pressure touch with a loved one
  • Rhythmic rocking, squeezing, or squishing together
  • Coordinated breathing practices
  • Having a calming presence simply sit with you
  • Cuddling/snuggling with a pet
  • Vocal/hand pressure point holding

The intimacy of co-regulation builds felt-security in the body that “an other” has your back and can lend their stable physiology to yours. This borrowed safety from the co-regulating partner provides the runway for you to eventually internalize self-regulation skills on your own.

For caregivers of autistic children especially, prioritizing co-regulation is pivotal for helping young ones develop resilient autonomic nervous systems. Making space for co-regulation creates the foundation for them to work up to more independent self-regulation and resets over time.

A Whole-Body Awakening: How to Reset Nervous System

At its core, a nervous system reset is about awakening to the wisdom of our overstressed, overloaded animal bodies crying out to restore homeostasis and balance. They are a rejection of the disembodied consciousness our productivity-obsessed culture values.

A nervous system reset can help with feeling anxious and overwhelmed.For autistics who struggle with frequent dysregulation, learning how to reset nervous system functions are a radical re-embodiment practice that remind us we are not just brains, but integrated beings pulsing with physiological poetry. Resets honor the dance between physiology and psychology.

The human nervous system is a highly sensitive biosensor, profoundly impacted by the degree of safety, connection, and presence we cultivate. By turning our attention inward, we become empowered to read our nervous system’s language and attune to its genuine organismic needs.

Rather than powering through and forcing output in stressed states that come with an overactive sympathetic nervous system, resets remind us to: Pause. Slow down. Soften inward. Re-establish the mind-body connections frayed from autistic masking and camouflaging. Sync up with our most natural rhythms again through breath, sound, rocking.

Calming the nervous system is sacred, subversive work that returns us to essence of simply being human animals – not productivity machines. A nervous system reset is ultimately about rebirthing our most embodied, authentic selves from the numbness many of us adopt to cope.

Let these rituals awaken your capacity to feel safe within your sensitive neurology. With each reset, you are reclaiming sovereignty over your nervous system’s inherent wisdom. That is powerful neurodivergent medicine.

Creating Reminder Routines for Calming Overactive Nervous System

Just like we recharge electronics by plugging them in after periods of use, we humans require similar reminders to power down occasionally and restore our internal batteries from nervous system overload. Set alerts, link resets to existing routines, enlist accountability partners, or use room decorations and objects to cue yourself to take a pause.

Preventative care and purposeful integration of nervous system resets into one’s lifestyle can save so much physiological and emotional depletion for the autistic community. While it may require some experimentation to find your ideal “powering down” recipe, the acts of self-attunement, self-soothing, and gentle self-regulation allow us to proactively ride the ebbs and flows of the nervous system experience.

Just like a computer requires the occasional restart to run optimally, calming the nervous system by instituting resets is wonderful neurodivergent self-care. We all need to give ourselves permission to power down and reboot from time to time.

Additional Common Autistic Behaviors

There are many behaviors associated with having autism. Keep in mind that everyone presents differently, which is why it is caused a spectrum disorder. However, there are common autism behaviors. Learn more about them. 

Picture of Connor McClure

Connor McClure

I'm a young adult navigating life with autism. By sharing my experiences and views, I hope to create a better awareness, understanding, and compassion for those on the spectrum. Let's connect!
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