The Science Behind The DNRS Program

With DNRS the focus is on rewiring the limbic system of the brain – not chasing symptoms.

The Dynamic Neural Retraining System™ is a drug-free, self-directed neural rehabilitation program, which uses the principles of neuroplasticity to help reverse limbic system impairment and regulate a maladaptive stress response involved in many chronic conditions. When your brain continually interprets the world as threatening, it can lock the body into survival mode—making it difficult to heal and amplifying symptoms.

Scientific research continues to support the brain’s central role in regulating immune, hormonal, digestive, and stress-related functions. Studies have shown how chronic stress and trauma affect the limbic system, leading to systemic dysfunction and central sensitization.

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to adapt and change. This ability to change can be both positive and negative.

Understanding Limbic System Impairment and Central Sensitization

The Limbic System: The Brain’s Alarm Center

At the heart of dysregulation is the limbic system—a group of brain structures that help us process emotions, form memories, and respond to perceived threats. Under chronic stress, trauma (emotional or physical), infections, or toxic exposures, the limbic system can become overactive or “stuck” in survival mode. When this happens, it can misinterpret harmless signals as threats, keeping the body in a constant state of alarm.
This overactivation can trigger or worsen symptoms like:

  • Fatigue and burnout
  • Chronic pain and inflammation
  • Sensitivities to foods, chemicals, or sounds
  • Brain fog and memory issues
  • Anxiety, panic, or emotional swings
  • Digestive problems and more

The limbic system is the part of the brain responsible for processing emotions, memories, and responding to stress. After cumulative exposure to physical, emotional, or psychological stress—such as infections, trauma, injury, or toxic exposures—the limbic system can become “stuck” in a chronic fight, flight, or freeze state.

This overactive stress response can lead to central sensitization, where the nervous system overreacts to everyday stimuli. People with central sensitization may become extremely sensitive to light, sound, smells, touch, movement, foods, or environments they once tolerated.

This neurological imbalance can also disrupt other body systems:

  • Immune function
  • Hormonal balance
  • Digestive health
  • Detoxification pathways
  • Chronic pain, fatigue, anxiety, and insomnia
More Information

The brain is the control center for optimal health and drives the functioning of all systems of the body. The limbic system is a complex set of structures in the midbrain and is associated with emotion, learning, memory and the body’s stress response [1]. Ongoing or chronic stress and various forms of trauma such as a viral or bacterial infection, extreme emotional or psychological stress, toxic exposure to chemicals or mold, physical injury, as well as many other forms of trauma can cause threat circuits in the brain’s limbic system to fire more rapidly. This is the brain’s innate response to stress and trauma, however, in some cases the brain’s limbic system can get stuck in a chronic fight, flight or freeze response and become impaired [2, 3].

This maladapted stress response is called Limbic System Impairment. The brain and body remain on high alert, even if the initial threat or trauma is no longer present. Limbic System Impairment can be caused by a single trauma, or more often from a combination of stressors and traumas over time, and for so many it is at the very root of their ongoing suffering.

Limbic System Impairment can affect many systems of the brain and body, including those involved with emotion, sensory perception and cognitive function. Symptoms may include chronic inflammation, poor memory, brain fog, digestive issues, lowered energy levels, numerous sensitivities, chronic pain, sleep issues as well as a host of other symptoms [4, 5]. Bodily functions such as detoxification, absorption of nutrients and cellular communication can also become compromised.

With the DNRS program, participants learn proven and powerful neuroplasticity tools to rewire limbic system function, by building healthier neural pathways that support optimal function in all systems of the body [6]. Rewiring the brain shifts the brain and body from a chronic state of “fight, flight, or freeze” into a state of growth and repair, where healing can take place.

Appendix:

  1. The limbic system: An anatomic, phylogenetic, and clinical perspective
     Journal of Neuropsychiatry
  2.  The Cortico-Limbo-Thalamo-Cortical Circuits: An Update to the Original Papez Circuit of the Human Limbic System https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10548-023-00955-y
  3. Structural and Functional Connections Between the Autonomic Nervous System, hypothalamic–pituitary-adrenal axis, and the immune system
    https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10072-021-05810-1 
  4. ‘As above, so below’ examining the interplay between emotion and the immune system
    Samuel Brod, Lorenza Rattazzi, Giuseppa Piras, Fulvio D’Acquisto
    First published: 18 June 2014     https://doi.org/10.1111/imm.12341
     https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/imm.12341 
  5. Limbic regulation of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical function during acute and chronic stress
     NCBI / PMC
  6. Chronic social stress: Effects on limbic brain structures
     ScienceDirect
  7. A compromised paraventricular nucleus within a dysfunctional hypothalamus: A novel neuroinflammatory paradigm for ME/CFS
     SAGE Journals
  8. A tale of two cities: Chronic stress and somatic symptoms
     Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology
  9. The limbic system: An anatomic, phylogenetic, and clinical perspective
    https://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/jnp.9.3.315
  10. Limbic regulation of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical function during acute and chronic stress
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2637449/
  11. Chronic social stress: effects on limbic brain structures
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031938403001616
  12.  A compromised paraventricular nucleus within a dysfunctional hypothalamus: A novel neuroinflammatory paradigm for ME/CFS
    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2058738418812342
  13. A tale of two cities: the effect of low intensity conflict on prevalence and characteristics of musculoskeletal pain and somatic symptoms associated with chronic stress
    https://www.clinexprheumatol.org/article.asp?a=493
  14. McMaster University: observational study shows significant improvement in health outcomes
    https://retrainingthebrain.com/the-science-behind-dnrs/