The “Window of Tolerance” and Why it's Important.
One of my favorite things I’ve learned from my graduate program in clinical mental health counseling is the “Window of Tolerance” (WOT).
The reason I love the WOT is because it focuses on understanding how our bodies parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems can become regulated and unregulated in relation to stress, trauma, anxiety-provoking situations, etc.
Think of the WOT as the space you’re in when you’re calm, regulated, and can react rationally. It’s the space we ideally want to be in because we can behave and think optimally. Our WOT can become smaller and larger depending on our life circumstances and experiences. Being constantly exposed to trauma, stress, and anxiety can cause our WOT to shrink. When our WOT is smaller or shrinks, we essentially can find ourselves outside of the WOT easier—we can be triggered more easily to be in a hyper or hypo aroused state. But to better understand hyperarousal and hypoarousal, you need to first know about the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems.
Our parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS), also known as the rest and digest system, is our nervous system that relaxes and calms the body.
It’s responsible for functioning like digestion and controlling your heart rate and blood pressure. When our PSNS kicks on and takes over, our heart rate slows down, our bodies can digest, our heart rate slows, and our blood vessels dilate (increasing blood flow, but lowering blood pressure). The PSNS is the system that tries to control the body when it is in flight or flight mode.
Speaking of flight or flight, our sympathetic nervous system (SNS), is our nervous system that is opposite but complementary of our PSNS system. The SNS kicks in when safety and survival are threatened or at risk. It responds to dangerous and stressful situations, causing us to enter fight or flight. When our SNS takes over our body our heart rate increases, slows down our digestive system, and sweating increases.
The PSNS and SNS work together—while the SNS takes lead as long as necessary to get through danger, the PSNS steps in and returns the body to normal.
Outside of our WOT are our hyper and hypo arousal states. Hyperarousal is when our SNS is activated and we are in our fight/flight response. Often in this state, we feel stressed, anxious, or uncontrollably emotional. Our body wants to fight or run away, and this isn’t a state we choose, our SNS kicks in to perceived threat. Which is why those with anxiety or trauma may often find themselves in a hyperaroused state, because the body is always defending against perceived threats.
Hypoarousal is when our PSNS is overly active and we aren’t regulated but feel down, because the PSNS being overly active slows our body down to an extent where we feel numb, frozen, zoned out, or we even may become disassociated from life. In hypoarousal, our bodies can be or feel like we are in a depressive state.
With a narrower WOT, it is easier to become unbalanced and in a hyper or hypo aroused state. Although trauma and stress can cause our WOT to become smaller, there are ways to expand and widen your WOT.
Seeking out and working with a mental health professional like a therapist, can help you learn tools, relaxation techniques, grounding exercises, and coping skills to equip you in the face of challenges, which fundamentally caused your WOT to become larger, making you less susceptible to becoming hyper or hypo aroused. However, both the PSNS and SNS are essential and shouldn’t be seen as “bad”— they often help us, but the problem is when we can’t control either state and feel “stuck” hyper or hypo aroused.
Two of my favorite tools are “box breathing” and the “5-4-3-2-1 method.”
Box breathing is a coping skill to control and slow down breathing to help return to your WOT.
The 5-4-3-2-1 method is a grounding exercise that helps us to regulate and remain/return to a calm state by activating all our senses. Think of both of these tools as a way to “hijack” your PSNS and SNS.
It’s important to understand the WOT and your own WOT to become aware of what state your body typically resides in, how to recognize hyper and hypo arousal, and how to return to a calm, balanced state where you can think and behave rationally. Becoming aware is the first step in becoming more equipped to face triggers, trauma, stress, anxiety, or depression.