How Simply ‘Feeling Safe’ Can Make Us Healthier And More Productive

Note: What follows is a modified excerpt from the book Our Polyvagal World: How Safety and Trauma Change Us, by behavioral neuroscientist Stephen Porges, Ph.D. (who first proposed the Polyvagal Theory) and Seth Porges (an Entrepreneur contributor and the filmmaker behind Class Action Park on Max).

How safe do you feel?

The answer to that question is crucial to your physical and mental health and happiness.

This is the simple summary of a new model for the autonomic nervous system that we call the Polyvagal Theory, and it’s important for entrepreneurs — and everyone — to be mindful of. Here’s why.

When we feel safe (notice we say “feel” safe, and not that we actually are safe—an important distinction), our nervous systems and entire bodies undergo a massive physiological shift that primes us to be healthier, happier, and smarter; to be better learners and problem solvers; to have more fun; to heal faster; and generally to feel more alive.

(Pretty neat, right?)

As you may have figured out, key to all this is the vagus nerve. It’s why we call it the Polyvagal theory: “Poly” means multiple, and “vagal” means, well, vagus.

If you opened up an anatomy textbook, you’d see that the vagus is a cranial nerve. That is, it is one of precisely 12 special nerves that originate in the brainstem and offer direct lines between the brainstem and key parts of our body.

What makes the vagus special is that, unlike the other cranial nerves, it doesn’t have just one primary destination in the body. As an example, the optic nerve (which is responsible for eyesight) runs from the brainstem to the eyes—and pretty much nowhere else.

Instead, the vagus winds its way down from the brainstem and weaves through almost the entire body, all the way down to the gut. Because this wandering nerve (literally: The name “vagus” comes from the Latin word for “wandering,” similar to the word “vagabond”) touches so much of our body and so many of our organs, the vagus serves as a sort of shared connection that allows our numerous bodily systems and organs to communicate with one another and act in concert.

If the body is a symphony, full of discrete systems and sections charged with fulfilling specific functions, then the vagus is the conductor — the shared link that allows the body to work together as a cohesive unit.

It is through the vagus that feelings of safety and threat bounce up and down through our entire bodies, changing our emotions and the ways we feel — as well as how our bodies, organs, and senses operate on a physical level.

This can significantly impact us at work, as we pursue things like productivity, creativity, and a pleasant office environment.

Here’s how — and how you can more consciously create a feeling of safety, and thrive within it.

The Path to Feeling Safe

We’ve all been there before. Maybe we’re on vacation, relaxing by the pool. More likely, we’re sitting at home. Perhaps eating dinner with our family, lounging in front of a movie, or doing whatever it is we do to wind down before bed.

Like most days, it was probably a stressful one. There was traffic, a nasty deadline or three, a pushy boss. Maybe a few coworkers were out sick, and you had to carry extra weight to make up for it. Maybe you spent nine hours on your feet—or just as much time planted in a chair, hunched over the bright light of a computer screen.

And just as you feel the stress of the day finally melting away for some semblance of peace, it happens.

Your phone vibrates.

Maybe it will be your boss asking you to burn the midnight oil with no notice. Or maybe it will be just a random piece of spam email that you can easily ignore. Either way, past experiences have conditioned you to expect the worst.

Pavlov’s dog slobbered at the sound of a bell. For millions of us, our hearts race at the feeling of a vibration in our pocket.

And before you can even glance at your phone, you already feel that wave of anxiety and dread wash over you. Your body stiffens. Your breath quickens. Your stomach tightens.

And you’re reminded, once again, that you can never really turn off from work.

Today, employees are often expected to be either always working or always available for work on short notice. For white-collar workers, this often takes the form of the dreaded after-hours email. For those in the retail or service industries, it can be even worse: There’s often an expectation that they will be available to work any shift at any time—often without any notice.

If you don’t work in that world, you might be surprised by the reality of many hourly employees. Despite only allowing employees to work just enough hours that they are still labeled as part-time (and thus not eligible for benefits such as health care), these employees are often still expected to block out wide swaths of hours and even days for which they may be called in with little or no notice.

When…