Editor’s Note: Join Lexipol, Police1 and our partners for First Responder Wellness Week from March 23-27, 2026. Each day, we’ll provide webinars, articles, videos and more, all within the overarching theme of being “Total Wellness. True Readiness.” Register for five wellness webinars now.
By Katie Carlson
When it comes to officer wellness, the field of law enforcement is playing catch-up. Academy-level instruction, however, can provide new officers with tools to recover from critical incidents before the first critical incident takes place. Simple, accessible skills can be taught early in an officer’s career that help them thrive in the job they are being prepared to take on.
For decades, officers up and down the ranks have taken life-altering runs or slowly buckled under the weight of chronic stress without adequate resources or support.
Officer wellness initially emerged as a recovery effort, with most initiatives focused on Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) and peer support. In practice, this meant that “wellness” often showed up only after a critical incident occurred on the job.
What defines a critical incident, however, may be better understood by the impact it has on an individual officer rather than predetermined incident types such as line-of-duty deaths, officer-involved shootings, violent scenes involving children or officer suicide.
| REGISTER: Access five wellness webinars built for real-world readiness
Meanwhile, the accumulation of stress and trauma from repeated exposure to less significant incidents — combined with personal stressors such as divorce or family death — often does not appear on the radar for CISM teams. Nor do operational stressors such as short staffing, shift work, moral injury, negative media coverage or community criticism.
Yet each of these below-the-radar experiences can take a toll on an officer’s nervous system and their lives both on and off the job.
We have learned too much about nervous system regulation in the past decade to continue lagging behind on this training at the academy level.
The academy as a controlled training environment
Law enforcement training academies are the ideal setting to instill the basics of nervous system regulation. Recruits are already learning in a controlled environment, guided by trusted instructors who can embrace enough vulnerability to address the real-life challenges and impact of critical incidents.
The core components of nervous system regulation do not require specialized degrees or certifications — only basic understanding and care.
While teaching “critical incidents” at the academy level, I had the cadets break into pairs to practice asking how another officer was doing after a critical incident. One cadet complained that the exercise was “uncomfortable” because it “wasn’t real.”
I responded, “Nothing you are doing here at the academy is real. Every scenario you practice here is in a controlled environment.”
The relationship between cadets and their instructors creates a prime opportunity to teach officers how to respond to critical incidents emotionally while they are learning to respond tactically.
I’ve watched firsthand cadets utilizing these skills to help them rise to the challenges they face in the academy. I’ve regularly witnessed full-time instructors refer back to this nervous system regulation training during physical training, before testing and throughout other aspects of the curriculum. And I’ve heard back from recruits after time on the road about the impact this training has had on their ability to perform best in high-stress scenarios and recover from the impact of such scenarios when they return home.
These are tools every officer should have. That’s why they belong in the academy.
Nervous system regulation as the anatomy of human survival
Understanding the human nervous system is an extension of the same anatomy officers learn in defensive tactics. Just as every human has a carotid artery, every human has a nervous system.
This understanding becomes even more imperative when officers learn to recognize signs of nervous system dysregulation not only in themselves or their colleagues, but in the people they encounter on the street.
A significant component of nervous system regulation occurs in relationship to other humans through a phenomenon known as “mirroring.” Our nervous systems mirror those around us — this is how we learn, from our first words as children to Emergency Vehicle Operations. Mirroring forms the basis of the instructional sequence: explain, scaffold, practice. It is also foundational to de-escalation and Crisis Intervention Team training.
When teaching mirroring at the academy level, I ask cadets to consider something as simple as who they eat lunch with on shift. If an officer sits with a supervisor who supports their team and demonstrates care and concern, that regulated, “safe” nervous system state is often mirrored by others at the table. Conversely, sitting with colleagues who have lost their zeal for the job, distrust everyone they encounter or spend the meal complaining can shift the group toward an “unsafe,” dysregulated state.
Another option — eating alone in a car due to feeling left out — can also push the nervous system into survival mode.
Nervous system regulation is deeply relational because humans have depended on one another for survival since the dawn of humanity. For most of human history, isolation meant death, and our anciently coded nervous systems still register that fear. Our nervous systems evolved together and remain inseparable from one another.
Through understanding mirroring, officers in training can begin to recognize how others influence their own regulation — and how their presence affects those around them. This awareness invites an important question: Am I making the people around me feel safe or unsafe?
The impact of being on “high alert”
After cadets understand that the nervous system is a fundamental driver of human behavior, we can examine what pushes it toward regulation — or dysregulation.
The amygdala, an almond-sized structure, is one of the oldest parts of the human brain. Its primary role is detecting threats. Critically, it cannot distinguish between real and perceived danger.
This is why people jump during horror movies from the safety of their homes — and why a phone call from a disliked supervisor can trigger a physiological stress response. While there is no physical threat, the body responds as if there were.
Now add the reality of carrying the internet in our pockets. Ancient threat detectors that once responded only to immediate surroundings are now exposed to constant global stress. Our nervous systems are not designed for this level of stimulation. They evolved to shift back into recovery after the danger has passed.
More frequently than the general population, law enforcement officers face both perceived and real life-or-death threats. Teaching the basic function of the nervous system — and how to regulate it — at the academy level is like giving recruits an owner’s manual for their bodies.
One video I often use when time allows is Trauma and the Nervous System: A Polyvagal Perspective by The Trauma Foundation. In under nine minutes, it explains how trauma — even trauma experienced before starting the job — can impact physical health and relationships.
There are two branches of the nervous system: the sympathetic (“fight or flight”) and the parasympathetic (“rest and digest”). The sympathetic branch supports survival; the parasympathetic supports recovery.
Intentional nervous system recovery
One of the biggest hurdles in regulation is recognizing when we are in survival mode in the first place. Fortunately, there are always signs. More often than not, that will include racing thoughts.
When officers can recognize they are in fight-or-flight without an immediate threat present, they can begin to interrupt that response.
Every function of the sympathetic nervous system exists for survival. Heart rate increases to deliver blood to muscles. Pupils dilate to sharpen focus. Digestion slows to redirect energy. Bladder urgency decreases because there are no bathroom breaks in life-threatening situations.
The parasympathetic state returns the body to baseline: steady breathing, normal vision, digestion and heart rate.
As the Trauma Foundation video explains, many activities help shift the nervous system into this regulated state. Physical activity, time with loved ones and social connection all play critical roles. Our nervous systems are deeply influenced by the people we spend time with both on and off the job.
One of the fastest and most direct ways to shift from survival to recovery, however, is through the breath.
While many breathwork techniques exist, I focus on one simple practice: straw breathing.
In straw breathing, you inhale for a count of four and exhale for a count of eight through pursed lips, as if breathing through a straw. The longer exhale activates the parasympathetic nervous system.
I ask cadets to recall a time they thought they were going to die during a workout — gasping for breath, heart racing. In those moments, the focus is almost never on the exhale.
The exact count matters less than the emphasis on the exhale. Even during exercise, directing attention to the exhale can help shift the body out of survival mode.
Beyond supporting well-being, this technique improves performance. Cadets frequently report increased endurance once they stop interpreting training stress as danger and instead regulate their breathing. Elite athletes understand this well: breath control is performance control.
The overlooked importance of sleep
Sleep and nervous system regulation are deeply intertwined, often described as the “sleep-stress cycle.” Stress disrupts sleep; poor sleep increases stress.
Sleep is a critical component of the nervous system’s ability to adapt to the high-stress challenges of police work with parasympathetic balance, proper rest and recovery. Despite sleep’s role in officer safety and performance, it is rarely emphasized at the academy level.
Sleep deprivation slows reaction time, impairs memory, increases crash risk and contributes to long-term health conditions including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and depression. These effects are dangerous for anyone — but especially those in law enforcement.
Almost half of new officers begin their careers on night shift with little guidance on adapting to nocturnal sleep schedules. While younger officers may initially adapt, the challenge intensifies as families grow.
The people officers spend their time around are an important aspect of nervous system regulation and recovery. Providing sleep education at the academy level, including education on adapting to the night shift, can help protect one of the most important aspects of an officer’s overall well-being and recovery from critical incidents — their relationship with their family.
From stress to poor sleep hygiene, many factors interfere with rest. Teaching sleep education early — before years of deprivation take hold — can prevent officers from wondering later why their health, relationships and judgment are unraveling.
| RELATED: The police officer’s sleep manual: How to overhaul your bedroom for better rest
Recovering from critical incidents
With a foundational understanding of nervous system regulation, officers are better equipped to recover after critical incidents.
What might once have been described as being “rattled” is more accurately understood as nervous system dysregulation.
As long as the brain continues replaying memories or sensations from stress injuries, the amygdala remains activated — even after the threat has passed.
This is what I suggest cadets do following a critical incident:
Spend time with loved ones. While one might feel the urge to shut down and shut their loved ones out, humans have co-regulated since the dawn of time. Isolation is further dysregulating.
Avoid increasing alcohol use, if for no other reason than the disruption alcohol causes to those first sleep cycles that are critical in processing memory and emotions after stressful events.
Choose to hydrate your body instead. Drink lots of water and electrolytes.
At its core, nervous system regulation is about creating a sense of safety. Consider the sense of safety that comes from your favorite home-cooked meal. Eating nutrient-rich foods helps the body recover.
After a critical incident occurs, sleep may be challenging and disrupted, but you can give your nervous system the best shot at sleep and recovery by spending an appropriate amount of time in bed.
Move in ways that feel good. This may mean subbing your most challenging workout for a bike ride or going for a walk.
I once asked a law enforcement officer who was struggling with a critical incident what their favorite physical activity was, and they said swimming. Next I asked: “When can you get in a pool?”
By the next time I spoke to them, getting some laps in helped them sleep and start to return to their baseline, their regulated nervous system state.
If distress persists beyond a week or two, additional therapeutic support may be helpful. Normalizing this at the academy level reduces barriers later.
The sooner officers help their bodies complete the survival response, the sooner recovery occurs — with less impact on the people they love.
The caveman principle
One phrase I often use while teaching is: “If a caveman could do it, it’s probably good for you.”
Time with loved ones. Water. Sleep. Movement. Nourishment. Asking for help. These are not modern inventions; they are ancient survival strategies.
A cadet once asked, “If cavemen were so great, why do we live so much longer now?” I loved the question and answered simply: “How do you think you got here!? This is how our ancestors survived so we are alive today!”
Nervous system regulation belongs to all of us
Nervous system regulation does not belong to a discipline, a certification or a profession. It belongs to all of us.
By teaching these principles at the academy level, instructors can help interrupt cumulative stress in the next generation of officers before it becomes a stress injury. This training preserves not only officer wellness, but judgment, performance and longevity.
Officers will still run toward danger when called. But with this foundation, they are better equipped to return home as whole human beings — parents, partners, friends and community members — when their shift ends.
About the author
Katie Carlson serves as Director of Wellness Initiatives for the Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) in Indianapolis, where she oversees agency-wide wellness programming and coordinates the MCSO Peer Support Team serving more than 900 deputies and staff. Since 2020, she has taught resilience, nervous system regulation, yoga and mindfulness at multiple law enforcement training academies, including the Indiana Law Enforcement Training Academy, integrating these skills into recruit and in-service training. A certified yoga and mindfulness instructor, Carlson was recognized by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation as the 2023 Emerging Leader in Crisis Intervention for her work in peer support and holistic wellness for public safety. She is also a published writer and frequent presenter on officer wellness, trauma-informed training and resilience in policing.
