Your Nervous System Is the Vital Sign Nobody Is Checking Blood pressure. Heart rate. Respiratory rate. These are the numbers medicine has built its entire screening system around. But what if the thing driving all of those numbers, the autonomic nervous system, is never actually assessed? Dr. Terri sits down with returning guest Jim LaValle — internationally recognized clinical pharmacist, board-certified clinical nutritionist, and founder of the Metabolic Code platform — for a conversation that connects dots most clinicians never connect. The nervous system as a root driver of cardiovascular disease, thyroid dysfunction, gut permeability, autoimmune disease, blood sugar dysregulation, and sleep failure. If you're doing all the right things and still not getting results, this episode may be the missing piece. They cover heart rate variability, what your wearable data is actually telling you, why 60% of people who die of a heart attack have no arterial disease present, and the specific supplements, adaptogens, theanine, holy basil, phospholipids, aged garlic extract, that can begin to calm a chronically activated sympathetic nervous system while you work on the root cause. This is a masterclass in practical nervous system medicine. Bring a pen. What you'll discover: Why heart rate variability is as important as blood pressure — and what it tells you about your cardiovascular risk [20:21] The shocking stat: 60% of people who die of a heart attack have no arterial disease present. What is actually killing them [22:22] How chronic sympathetic dominance suppresses T3, causes gut permeability, triggers autoimmune thyroiditis, and disrupts sleep — all from the same root cause [44:45] How to use your wearable data practically: what to look at in the morning, how to read your sleep data, and why your sleep score may be lying to you [50:32] Box breathing vs. meditation: why they are two different tools that work best together — and how to know when you've actually arrived in that meditative state [35:12] Why 5am boot camp may be the worst thing you can do for your nervous system — and what to do instead [59:15] The supplement protocol for calming sympathetic dominance: theanine, loric acid, holy basil, kava, phospholipids, magnesium threonate, and Kyolic aged garlic extract [1:12:24] How blood sugar directly drives sympathetic tone — and why people with diabetes almost always end up with heart disease [1:01:58] Why childhood stress and prenatal maternal stress can hardwire sympathetic dominance into the nervous system before a child is even born [1:06:13] You cannot optimize what you have not calmed. The Dr. Terri Show is presented by EVEXIAS Health Solutions.Learn more and find a provider near you at evexias.com Connect with Dr. Terri: 📱 Instagram: instagram.com/drterrideneui 📘 Facebook: facebook.com/DrTerriDeNeui 🌐 Website: hormonehavoc.com CHAPTERS 00:00 — The Nervous System as a Vital Sign & Heart Rate Variability 22:22 — Sympathetic Dominance: What It Looks Like and What It Causes 44:45 — Thyroid, Gut, Sleep & the Downstream Cascade 50:32 — Reading Your Wearables: HRV, Sleep Data & What to Track 1:12:24 — The Supplement Protocol for Calming the Nervous System Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
