(#121) 6 Signs of a Dysregulated Nervous System for Anxiety, Burnout & Overthinking in Daily Life

Do you feel constantly anxious, exhausted, or stuck in overthinking?
These may be signs of a dysregulated nervous system.

In this episode of Somatic Healing for Wellness-Focused Women, Rae breaks down 6 common signs of nervous system dysregulation and how they show up in your mind, body, and daily life.

Building on last week’s foundational episode on nervous system regulation, this conversation helps you recognize the patterns of anxiety, burnout, and emotional disconnection—so you can begin working with your body instead of against it.

✨ In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why chronic anxiety is a nervous system state (fight-or-flight / hyperarousal)
• How overthinking and rumination are connected to feeling unsafe in the body
• Why you feel constantly exhausted, even when you rest
• Why you struggle to slow down or relax (even when you want to)
• What numbness or disconnection means (freeze / shutdown response)
• How physical symptoms (headaches, digestion, tension, sleep issues) signal dysregulation

Rae also shares how the nervous system is always communicating with you and how these symptoms are not flaws, but intelligent signals from your body asking for safety and support.

These patterns are nervous system responses and they can be gently supported, regulated, and healed through somatic awareness and practice.

🌿 If this episode resonates, Rae invites you to:

• Get curious about your own nervous system patterns
• Explore gentle regulation tools (breathwork, grounding, somatic practices)
• Approach your experience with compassion instead of judgment

📩 Want support getting started?
Check out the free Breathwork Resource Library in the show notes with 20+ guided somatic practices, plus Rae’s monthly newsletter with tools for nervous system healing.

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Disclaimer: Please remember that the information shared on this podcast is intended to inspire, educate, and support you on your personal journey. It does not substitute for professional mental health advice. I am not a psychologist or medical professional. If you are experiencing distress, mental health challenges, or medical conditions, please seek help from a qualified professional.

Transcript

Welcome And What We Cover

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to the podcast. If you are new here, I'm Ray. I'm a breathwork facilitator and somatic coach. And if you aren't new here, welcome back. I'm so glad that you are tuning in for today's episode. So for today's episode, we are going to be diving into the nervous system a bit more. So last week we went over what the nervous system is: regulation, dysregulation, window tolerance, we touched on anxiety. So if you haven't listened to that episode, definitely scroll back and check it out. But for today, we're going to be diving into those common symptoms of what a dysregulated nervous system might look like. So I picked about seven different signs, and we're going to dive into each one, and I'm going to share a little bit about each one. Alright, so let's dive

Sign One Anxiety That Won’t Quit

SPEAKER_00 0:55

in. So the first sign of a dysregulated nervous system, and this builds a little bit off last week's episode as well, is that you are constantly feeling anxious. So you are constantly thinking about the future. You are super stressed out. And this is something that happens when your body is stuck in a trauma response. So most likely fight or flight mode. But if you are constantly in an anxious state, this is definitely a sign that your nervous system is experiencing dysregulation.

Sign Two Overthinking And Body Symptoms

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Sign number two, you are constantly overthinking everything. So you're really not able to experience peace of mind. Maybe you're struggling with staying in the present moment. Meditation might be a really hard thing. And what's interesting here is that this is a cognitive response, right? So this is like your mind is experiencing something, and that what that rumination, that overthinking is causing a response in the body. And that physical response in the body might be a restlessness, might be a lack of being able to sit still, uh, might be fidgety or anxiety in the chest. So even though the experience is happening in the mind, the experience is also happening in the body. And the nervous system piece here is that you get to work with both of those experiences in a way to find equilibrium and to find that balance. So the experience of the overthinking is because your system is scanning for safety, it's looking for a safe place to land, potentially, even maybe looking for some control. And it's a cognitive response to something that is being experienced in the body. So the body feels unsafe and the mind begins to overthink, and vice versa. And I do have an episode that dives a little bit even deeper into this one specifically. I think it's episode 102 or 103, dives deeper into overthinking specifically. So you can definitely check that one out if it interests

Sign Three Exhaustion And Soothing Tools

SPEAKER_00 3:25

you. Sign number three that your nervous system is dysregulated is that you are constantly exhausted. So when you are anxious, you are overthinking, you are stressed out, your body is going to respond to that stress and it will be drained. So the nervous system is tired. It doesn't necessarily want some sleep. So something like sound healing or yoga nitra. I love both of these. Personally, I am like a big fan of both of them. I I those are like the practices that I gravitate towards. I don't know why, but like sound healing, yoga nitra, like you don't need to necessarily like work with this feeling of fatigue, absolutely, but something that will also support you is going to be going to a sound healing or yoga nitra class. Like it's great when you're not necessarily processing something with like words or facilitation, but you do want a tool that will help you to regulate your nervous

Signs Four To Six Relaxing Numbness Stress

SPEAKER_00 4:32

system. And sign number four, you're not able to relax, or you are always struggling to relax. So maybe you're able to do it, but it just takes you like so much to get to that point. So either you're like, what the heck is relaxing? Like you're like, I don't know what that means. That's because you need to be on the go constantly. There is no such thing as slowing down. This is a sign of nervous system dysregulation. So I was thinking originally that your body doesn't necessarily know how to do it, but I don't think that that's actually it. I think your body knows exactly what to do. It just doesn't know how to slow down and feel safe in that. So that I think that's the key. It's like going back to that foundation of safety, going back to like really feeling like you it's safe for you to be in the experience of presence and stillness, or even just slowing down, even just like a notch, because if you do that, something might come up, or you might feel something, or you might think something. So it's it's about bringing that safety to the experience of slowing down and allowing your system to learn that it feels that it can feel safe, even if it's not constantly go, go, go, go. Sign number five that your nervous system is dysregulated is that you might not be feeling much of anything. So you might feel numb or disconnected. And I think this is really common. Not enough people talk about it. But the best thing that you can do when this happens is that you can name the numb, name the feeling. So numbness is still a feeling, disconnected is still a feeling. So naming that feeling and working with that feeling instead of sometimes when this happens, we can shut down and we can be like, Well, I don't feel anything. So, like, how can I, how can I work with this if I don't, if there's nothing here? It's like work with the nothingness, work with the numb, start there and see what happens. And oftentimes the numb or the disconnection, this can happen from a state of freeze or shutdown. And many different things can cause this to happen, but it's also a nervous system response to overwhelm, trauma, fear, disconnection. So working with the feeling, even though we might necessarily feel like we're not really feeling much of anything, like work with the nothingness. And then the last one that I have for you, so there is six, not seven, is that you have physical stress response symptoms. So things like headaches, digestive issues, a lot of tension in your muscles, trouble sleeping, symptoms of chronic stress. So this is definitely a sign that your nervous system is dysregulated and that the body is responding to stress. So the nervous system will communicate with you until you hear it. It will be like, hello. So if you are experiencing any kind of chronic stress symptoms, it is because your nervous system is dysregulated.

Recap Safety And Gentle Regulation

SPEAKER_00 7:58

So I'll do a quick recap of each one that I mentioned. So the first is that you constantly are feeling anxious. The second is that you're constantly overthinking everything. The third, you're constantly exhausted and fatigued. The fourth is that you're not able to relax, or if you are, you really, really struggle with it. The fifth is that you're not really feeling much of anything, you're feeling numb or disconnected. And then the sixth is that you have physical stress, chronic stress responses in the body. So if any of these examples resonated with you, uh, welcome because you are in the right place. This is this is all of the areas that I um jam out on, really passionate about supporting you through any of these challenges. Um, I would invite you to check in with your body if it feels safe for you to slow down a little bit and start to learn more about the nervous system states. Learn about hyper and ho hype hyper and hypoarousal, the window of tolerance. Um, you can scroll back. I have uh so many different episodes on this, but last week's episode specifically was a bit more on the nervous system states. And start with some gentle regulation practices. So I do have a few episodes coming up that I've planned that will dive into some of these practices as well. But um definitely here on the podcast, like I said, there's so many episodes that you can check out that touch on gentle regulation practices. And the last thing that I'll mention before I start to close out this episode is that if you are experiencing any of these examples of dysregulation, just knowing that it is a part of the human experience, we will all be experiencing some of these at some point, our own different flavor of whatever that is. And that's okay. So it's just kind of like inviting in that compassion, inviting in that curiosity, and getting really curious about what you might need for your nervous system to feel safe and regulated and resilient. There are so many different tools that you can use to support you in any of these challenges from a nervous system perspective.

Free Resource Newsletter And Support

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Um, I provide a free resource. So if you want to check out the show notes, you can sign up for the Breathwork Resource Library. That is a free resource. It comes with about 20 different practices, and I add to it throughout the year. And you'll also receive the monthly newsletter, which goes out on the 1st and 15th of every month. In that is also schematic practices, journaling prompts, podcast updates, discounts, all that good stuff. So I hope that you found this episode to be helpful, to be valuable for you, and I hope that you have an incredible rest of your day, an incredible rest of your week, and I will talk to you soon.

Reviews Instagram And Closing

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Thank you for being here and tuning in to Somatic Healing for Wellness Focused Women Podcast. If you were moved or inspired by today's episode, please take a moment to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. It truly helps the podcast grow and helps more people find me on their healing journey. Make sure to check out the show notes to sign up for the monthly newsletter, links to more resources, opportunities to work with me, and ways that we can stay connected. If we aren't already connected on social media, head over to Instagram to follow me at Ray theSematic Coach. Send me a DM. I'd love to connect with you, and I answer each note that comes in. I am so happy you're here, and I cannot wait to talk with you on our next episode of the podcast.