Feeling lightheaded when you get up. A random racing heart. Constant fatigue, no matter how much rest you get. These aren’t passing symptoms. They might be symptoms of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS).
If you’ve pondered “What is POTS?”, rest assured, you are not alone in that inquiry. It is an autonomic nervous system disorder that tends to be poorly understood, which leads to frequent misrepresentation and misdiagnosis. The impact it has on one’s daily life can be deeply incapacitating; however, it remains largely unnoticed by others.
Grappling with the effects of POTS and addressing how it disrupts routine tasks requires some basic understanding of the human nervous system, specifically, its functions and the reasons behind the fatigue and discomfort experienced by an individual suffering from POTS.
Understanding the Autonomic Nervous System
Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) manages the processes in your body that function almost automatically, like breathing, digestion, heart rate, and temperature control. To some extent, it runs quietly in the background. The ANS has two branches that form a highly integrated system: the sympathetic branch, which is active during fight or flight scenarios, and the parasympathetic branch, which is active during resting and digestion.
In individuals with POTS, the autonomic nervous system does not function appropriately due to a disconnect between the brain and the body. The communication between two systems becomes misaligned. Signals associated with regulating blood pressure and heart rate become distorted or mixed. Because of this disconnect, the physiological cost of being upright becomes significant, and energy levels crash.
What Happens in POTS
In a healthy person, standing up causes a small drop in blood pressure. The body responds by tightening blood vessels and slightly increasing heart rate to maintain balance. In someone with POTS, this balance is lost.
Once they reach their feet, they will experience a significant increase in heart rate, often by more than 30 beats a minute, and typically within the first 10 minutes. This is not a response of anxiety or exercise, but rather an overreaction by the autonomic nervous system.
This leads to symptoms like:
- Lightheadedness or fainting
- Brain fog
- Rapid heartbeat
- Extreme fatigue
- Nausea
- Shakiness
These are commonly recognized postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome symptoms, though they vary from person to person.
The Link Between POTS and Chronic Fatigue Conditions
Many individuals with POTS also have unrelated but puzzling illnesses like ME/CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), Long COVID, and Fibromyalgia. This makes sense, since they all usually show common dysfunction: a dysregulated autonomic nervous system.
POTS is a type of dysautonomia – an umbrella term for disorders in which the autonomic nervous system (ANS) is altered or dysfunctional.
The result? Your body remains in a state of alert. Recovery feels impossible. Rest doesn’t help. And the nervous system becomes stuck in a survival mode that keeps draining your energy.
Causes of POTS: What We Know
There’s no single cause. Researchers believe POTS can be triggered by:
- Viral infections
- Trauma or surgery
- Autoimmune responses
- Hormonal shifts
- Genetic predisposition
For some, it develops after a major life event or illness. For others, it appears gradually. One of the causes of POTS that has received increasing attention during the last several years is viral onset, specifically as a result of the increased attention for post-viral conditions, like Long COVID. When viruses infect the body, they can put stress on the nervous system, which can result in a lasting imbalance.
Why You’re So Tired
One of the most misunderstood parts of POTS is the exhaustion. This isn’t just being tired. It’s a deep, bone-level fatigue that doesn’t improve with rest. Even small tasks can drain energy quickly.
Why?
Because your body is constantly compensating for its inability to regulate itself. Standing up, walking, thinking, and even digesting food require more energy. The heart is working overtime. The brain is trying to stay alert despite reduced blood flow.
Eventually, the nervous system becomes overwhelmed. And so does your mind.
The Role of Stress and the Nervous System
Individuals with POTS frequently describe high levels of stress sensitivity. That’s not random. Chronic dysfunction in the nervous system causes a reduction in resilience to daily stressors.
Eventually, the nervous system becomes reactive. Small triggers cause large responses—both physical and emotional. This cycle keeps the body stuck in high alert, further draining energy.
Research has shown that chronic stress impairs the body’s natural healing capacity. When the nervous system stays in a stressed state, it prevents the rest-and-digest functions from working properly. That means fewer repairs, slower recovery, and more symptoms.
How Healing Space Supports People with POTS
This is where Healing Space comes in.
POTS is not just a heart or blood pressure issue. It’s a nervous system issue. And addressing the root cause means learning how to regulate the nervous system again.
The Healing Program offered by Healing Space is designed for people with nervous system dysfunctions—including those with ME/CFS, Long COVID, and yes, POTS. It is built on evidence-based methods like Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and neuroscience.
It helps participants:
- Understand how their nervous system works
- Learn why it becomes stuck
- Develop tools to shift into a state of balance and healing
This isn’t about forcing recovery. It’s about creating the right conditions for it to unfold—gently and at your own pace.
What Makes This Program Different
Most POTS-focused approaches emphasize medications, salt intake, or compression garments. These help manage symptoms, but they don’t teach your body to recover.
The Healing Program goes deeper. It helps retrain the system.
With guided video lessons, breathwork, grounding techniques, and meditations, users can slowly bring their body out of survival mode. There’s no pressure. No pushing. Just small steps that support healing from the inside out.
The program is entirely self-paced, meaning you can do as little or as much as you can handle, whether you’re housebound or working full-time.
The Power of Mindfulness for the Nervous System
Mindfulness isn’t about positive thinking. It’s about attention, specifically, learning how to relate to your body differently.
Stress can activate a cascade of symptoms when we feel threatened, think of paper cuts, horrible dental appointments, or skateboarding falls. Mindfulness helps us recognize those reactions without amplifying them. The space that exists between the initial sensation and reaction is the space where healing can begin. It’s not a quick fix. But for many, it’s the missing piece.
A 2022 study published in Frontiers in Psychology showed that structured mindfulness-based interventions led to substantial positive changes in emotional resilience and autonomic function in individuals with chronic illness.
Postural Tachycardia Syndrome: A Holistic Approach
Medications and physical strategies (like hydration) are essential and effective, but they can never address the entire problem. True healing often comes when you address the internal state of the body.
That’s what the postural tachycardia syndrome conversation is starting to include: not just symptom management, but root cause exploration.
Healing Space provides a roadmap for that process. Over eight modules, participants are gently guided to:
- Reconnect with their body
- Understand stress triggers
- Regulate overwhelm
- Build daily habits that support healing
Living with POTS: A New Perspective
You’re not weak. You’re not broken. Your body is doing its best to adapt. It’s trying to protect you, even if the method is flawed.
The problem isn’t in your willpower. It’s in the wiring.
And that wiring can be retrained.
What makes POTS so difficult is also what makes it so treatable—it’s dynamic. The nervous system learns. And with the right guidance, it can learn how to rest, digest, and recover again.
Final Thoughts: Moving Toward Recovery
There’s no quick fix. No magic pill. But there is a path forward.
The Healing Program at Healing Space gives you that path. It doesn’t promise a cure. But it gives you the tools to create healing conditions in your body—conditions where recovery is possible.
If you feel lost, stuck, or exhausted beyond explanation, this program was made for you.
Take the Next Step
Healing Space was created by Chris, a qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher who recovered from ME/CFS after six years of illness. His journey wasn’t linear, but it was real, and it led him to develop a recovery roadmap for others.
The Healing Program is built for people like you: those navigating the overwhelming symptoms of nervous system disorders like POTS, without support that truly meets their needs.
You don’t have to do more. You don’t have to push harder.
You just need to begin
Start the free video series today and take the first small, supported step toward balance, calm, and healing.