Exercise Intolerance Dysregulated Nervous System Part 2
This is a part two of my first blog titled “Exercise Intolerance”
Not too long after I wrote part 1, I started to do some research on the idea about the body interpreting exercise as a threat due to increased breathing, and overall physical exertion.
Well, It turns out that I was on to something and honestly, I’m kind of surprised that I didn’t find this information sooner or just didn’t know in general. But this is some of the fun, right? In having a chronic illness, which is learning more of what’s going on with our bodies (OK maybe it’s not fun but you get the point).
And This is What I Found Out About Exercise Intolerance
If the body is under chronic stress or low-grade trauma, it’s used to conserving energy, staying still, or being on edge. Suddenly pushing it into activity can feel abrupt. The body can hold onto physical responses from the past. That includes breathlessness, fatigue, or exertion that may have once happened in unsafe or traumatic conditions. So exercise, even when your mind knows it is safe, can still trigger stored feelings of danger.
Your vagal tone matters too. When our vagal tone is good, our parasympathetic system is working properly. The body rests well, digests efficiently, and feels calm. When it’s not strong, the body doesn’t know how to stay calm while being active. Instead of feeling energized, you might feel wired, nauseated, panicky, or crash afterward.
I considered deleting the 1st blog post about this and then just redo this one. But I’m not opposed to people witnessing my process because this is what it is like. I was really in denial about this for a long time. The more and more I keep talking and writing about all of this, I started recalling a lot of things. It got me thinking about the last five years when I really started to get bedridden. I discovered that there was a commonality where right before I had a big flare up, I was trying to exercise and get into a better routine. Every time I tried, my body responded very unfavorably.
In fact, I just had a flare up back in February 21st 2025 and I was trying to get back into an exercise routine before I puked everywhere while I was at work (of all the places to be…). It took me two weeks to recover from that incident. It wasn’t too long after that that I started this blog.
It’s very frustrating having issues with exercise intolerance. I think there is a desire in all of us who suffer from chronic illness issues to want to get healthy and to want to feel good in our bodies and one common way to do that is simply with exercise. It has been extremely disheartening coming to the reality that I really have to take things in very small doses. I have to start from the ground up and rebuild and train my body what safety means.
Unfortunately, right now, exercise or putting my body through any kind of exertion is considered a threat to it. I have hoped that this can change but for now this is just where I’m at.
Here are some links for you to read more about this topic.
Why Does Stretching Hurt? – Astra Speaks
Exercise and the autonomic nervous system – ScienceDirect
