The nervous system regulates the body's state. It doesn't just react to what happens. It organizes it.
Through a complex network that includes the central nervous system and the autonomic nervous system, the body interprets what happens inside and out, and adjusts its functioning accordingly. This involves much more than we usually think. It regulates heart rate, breathing, digestion, immune response, inflammation... and also how the skin behaves.
When the body perceives safety, mechanisms associated with the parasympathetic nervous system predominate. This is a state of lower physiological activation, in which the body can repair, regenerate, and maintain balance. When it perceives a threat, whether physical, emotional, or even cognitive, the sympathetic nervous system is activated. Physiological arousal increases, catecholamines and cortisol are released, and the body enters adaptation mode. This system is essential for survival. The problem arises when this activation ceases to be occasional and becomes a sustained state.
Various studies have shown that chronic activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system is associated with:
- increased cortisol
- altered inflammatory response
- immunological dysfunction
- decreased regenerative capacity
And all of this has a direct impact on peripheral tissues such as the skin. (Hunter et al., 2015; Tan et al., 2025)
But there's something that makes this system particularly interesting. It doesn't just respond. It can also be modulated.
The nervous system is highly sensitive to sensory stimuli. Touch, temperature, breathing, and very especially, smell. Unlike other senses, the olfactory signal directly accesses the limbic system, including structures such as the amygdala and hippocampus, involved in emotional regulation and stress response. This allows certain aromatic stimuli to influence the body's state in a matter of milliseconds. (Haze et al., 2002; Herz, 2009)
In other words: not everything that changes the state of the nervous system goes through reason. Much happens before.
Understanding this completely changes the way we approach personal care. Because it introduces a key idea: that the body's state is not fixed. And that, under certain conditions, it can be influenced.
At Ateliest, we start precisely from there. From understanding the nervous system not as something abstract, but as the center from which everything else is organized. And from exploring how, through the skin and the senses, we can begin to interact with it in a more conscious way.