Episode 14: When Crisis Becomes Your Baseline: Nurses, Trauma, Nervous System Survival & Weight Gain

Why do so many nurses feel exhausted, inflamed, emotionally overwhelmed, and stuck in cycles of weight gain, burnout, emotional eating, and nervous system chaos?

In this deeply personal and research-backed episode of Proactive Wellness for Nurses, Jess Vee, NP dives into the hidden physiological impact of chronic stress, healthcare trauma, shift work, emotional suppression, and nervous system dysregulation in nurses and healthcare workers. 

This episode explores the connection between:
 • Nurse burnout and weight gain
 • Chronic stress and cortisol dysfunction
 • Trauma, ACEs, and nervous system survival patterns
 • Emotional eating and food addiction
 • Dopamine depletion and processed food cravings
 • Insulin resistance, inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction
 • Hypervigilance in healthcare workers
 • Shift work, sleep deprivation, and hormone imbalance
 • Why “discipline” alone fails so many nurses
 • Nervous system healing and metabolic restoration

Jess discusses how many nurses normalize constant crisis, emotional suppression, hypervigilance, and overstimulation until their bodies no longer recognize safety — only survival. She breaks down the science behind chronic cortisol elevation, inflammation, addictive eating behaviors, nervous system conditioning, and why sustainable weight loss requires far more than calorie restriction.

If you’ve ever wondered:
 “Why can’t I relax?”
 “Why do I emotionally eat after shifts?”
 “Why am I exhausted but unable to slow down?”
 “Why does my body feel broken?”

This episode is for you.

This conversation is honest, validating, educational, and deeply empowering for nurses, nurse practitioners, healthcare workers, and anyone struggling with chronic stress physiology and burnout-related weight gain.

🎙️ Proactive Wellness for Nurses is a podcast focused on nurse burnout recovery, functional medicine, hormone balance, nervous system regulation, metabolic healing, sustainable weight loss, and helping healthcare workers heal from the inside out.

#nurseburnout #nursingpodcast #weightgain #stressandweightgain #nervoussystemregulation #functionalmedicine #healthcareburnout #emotionaleating #shiftwork #metabolichealth #cortisol #burnoutrecovery #nursewellness

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Hello to my beautiful nurses. It's Jess VNP with Proactive Wellness for Nurses. We're going to talk today about when crisis becomes your baseline. We're talking about nurses, trauma, nervous system survival, and weight gain. So again, welcome back to Proactive Wellness for Nurses. I've been thinking a lot lately about the fact that many nurses don't actually realize just how much crisis their body has normalized to, you know? Just how much your body has normalized crisis as a baseline. I'm not talking about big catastrophic events, right? Not just the codes, not just the death, not just the absolute abuse that nurses experience on many levels. Not even just the horrific things that we see in healthcare. I mean the constant low-grade crisis that we are exposed to as nurses. The never fully, you know, like exhaling and remaining hyper-vigilant, the constant over stimulation, you know, or even emotional suppression repeatedly. You're constantly rushing, the alarms, the charting, the lack of sleep, all those little interactions that you have with patients, family members, peers, interdepartmental staff, doctors, every single one of those that made you feel stupid or not good enough, or, you know, like you should be doing better. All of those add up, okay? What about the processed food that you're eating too, right? You're eating processed food because you didn't get to get a lunch break again. And there's donuts in the break room and maybe even pizza, right? I'm I'm even talking about the small cumulative trauma of pretending that you're fine when really your nervous system is absolutely not fine. I mean, eventually your body stops understanding the difference between a temporary emergency and this is just life now. This is just my life. This is my baseline. So I really want to talk about this today because I think so many nurses are trying to heal their metabolism. They're trying to heal their metabolism while still living in a physiological survival mode state, you know, and you cannot shame your body into feeling safe. You just can't. Your body is not stupid. Your body is adaptive. And I mean, honestly, for all of us, our bodies have adapted to survive environments, you know, in which we are emotionally, psychologically, I mean, hormonally, metabolically, I mean, even neurologically chaotic environments. And we are we have taught our bodies to survive this chaos long term, even even long before we ever became nurses, right? So the the American lifestyle. So we've trained our body to accept that chaos and survival mode is a normal baseline, right? And then we entered one of the most chronically dysregulating professions imaginable, right? So today, again, I want to talk about little trauma versus big trauma, adverse childhood experiences or ACEs, A C E S. I want to talk about nervous system dysregulation. You know I'm always on that nervous system dysregulation, how it ties into dopamine and food addiction and emotional eating and even weight loss resistance. And I want to talk about why so many nurses feel completely exhausted while simultaneously feeling unable to stop reaching for stimulation, right? Comfort, food, scrolling, caffeine, or just seeking chaos in general, because it feels to be your baseline. Because this whole problem here is far deeper than calories, excuse me. And I think you know that by now. Particularly if you've been listening along to this podcast, this is episode 14. If you have listened to any of the prior episodes, I feel that you either know this by now, or it have to be at least closer to believing and understanding it. Now, one of the things I really dislike online is when people oversimplify trauma. Because I mean, in a world where, you know, everything becomes a trauma. Every inconvenience becomes a trauma. Every little disagreement becomes a trauma. But at the same time, you know, I also think many nurses massively minimize what actually has happened to them going through nursing school, being a nurse. Especially our really high-functioning nurses, especially the ones who are, you know, the strong one, the glue that holds their team together, the glue that holds their family together, especially the ones who became caretakers, you know, very early in life. You know, a lot of us relate to having to grow up too fast and having a feeling of having to be caretakers to our siblings or to our parents, many of us. You know the type. Maybe you are the type. You handle everything, you perform well under pressure, you're quite dependable, you're very productive, and you just freaking push through. That's what you do. But underneath all of that, your nervous system may have been in survival mode for like 20 years, you know? Nobody noticed because you kept functioning at a high level, right? There's this concept of big T trauma and little T trauma, right? Big T is what people traditionally think of when we say trauma. We're talking abuse, violence, major accidents, assaults, you know, catastrophic losses, war, severe neglect, these big things, right? But little T traumas matter too. I have also discussed this in previous episodes, minimally. But growing up in emotional unpredictability, growing up in an environment where you never feel safe, you never feel emotionally safe. Or even just being constantly criticized by your peers, by your parents, by your siblings, and then being led to kind of feel responsible for everyone else's emotions. If you're around family members or peers that make it feel like you are, you know, constantly walking on eggshells. Or maybe you even had the unfortunate experience of growing up around addiction. Never knowing when, you know, like the next conflict was coming. Maybe you simply just had emotionally unavailable parents. You know, never feeling quite good enough. Those experiences, they shape the nervous system too. If you have a deep, deep feeling that you may just be unlovable, you're not good enough, you're not worth it, you don't deserve it. Many of us enter nursing with a baseline of somewhat level of feeling this way, just because it's a common human state right now, especially, you know, dang. I want to say, especially in the American rat race, but I mean, they're massively and so truly are so many much worse places to live. Obviously, I'm very grateful for my safety and freedom that I do have. But all of these experiences shape our shape our nervous system. And then many of us, you know, like I said, we enter nursing at this baseline. And that reinforces hypervigilance as a highly valued professional skill. So seriously, think about it. You know, what makes a good nurse in the hospital environment? What does? You've got to be hyper-aware, you're constantly scanning, anticipating problems, suppressing your own needs, obviously, and staying like super duper calm under pressure. You are ignoring your hunger, you are ignoring your bladder, you're ignoring your exhaustion. You are emotionally compartmentalizing to survive. You are performing constantly, like under this great stress. We literally train people into nervous system dysregulation. And then we act confused when they become, you know, inflamed, exhausted, overweight, anxious. I mean, they're depressed, hormonally imbalanced, and then chronically ill ultimately. And before someone gets angry, right? No, I'm not talking about every nurse, right? I am not, not every nurse aligns with what we're talking about here. And not every overweight person has trauma. No, you know, not not every stress repon response causes dysfunction and leads to obesity, but but we can't keep pretending, right? Pretending that chronic stress has no physiological consequences is essentially absurd, in my opinion. And the research, you know, the research on adverse childhood experiences or ACEs, it's actually extremely significant. Higher ACE scores are literally associated with increased rates of obesity, substance use, the depression and anxiety for sure, autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease, sleep deprivation, and definitely metabolic dysfunction. And honestly, it makes sense physiologically, because if your nervous system learns early in the world, you know, early in your life that the world is unsafe, of course your body adapts around survival. Your body becomes efficient at stress hormones. It's in the stress hormone game. You know, and cortisol, it's not evil, by the way. Cortisol keeps us alive. But chronic cortisol dysregulation changes the body. It impacts insulin, it impacts inflammation, it impacts hunger signaling, sleep quality, and too much cortisol impacts dopamine pathways. And it impacts where, like where the fat is stored. It increases the central obesity storage of fat. Visceral fat, dog, is not good. Too much cortisol impacts cravings, too. This is where I really need nurses to stop freaking blaming themselves morally for something that is a physiological adaptation. Your anxiety, your depression, your difficulty losing weight, your decreased productivity, your inability to focus, it is not because you're not good enough or strong enough or good enough of a nurse. It is physiological adaptations, okay? Because many nurses secretly, many people, but of course many nurses secretly carry around heavy shame around food constantly. They think things like we think things like, you know, why can't I control myself? And why do I keep emotionally eating when in my brain I don't want to? And why can't I stop binging? Why? Why am I always craving sugar? And ultimately, why the fuck can't I stay disciplined when I am an intelligent, highly, highly successful person who is clearly capable of remaining disciplined and diligent around other goals in their life. Why can't I stay disciplined? But honestly, sometimes your brain is not actually seeking food because you're weak, right? It's not just like you're self-soothing and you can't deny it because you're so weak. It's not that. Not always, right? Sometimes it is your nervous system seeking regulation. There is a big difference between these two things, okay? Between physiologic response to being in chronic chaos and it's a willpower issue, they're worlds apart. Okay? Because a highly processed food creates a massive dopamine response. When we're talking highly palatable, highly processed, the sugar, the salty, the fatty, the crunch. I mean, even the convenience and the reward of giving gifting yourself these highly palatable, highly addictive, highly dopamine-triggering foods, right? They're very convenient. It's a massive reward. It's a positive feedback loop. You have a craving, you fulfill that craving with food, and then you get a dopamine hit. Now it doesn't last for long, and for many of us, then the shame and physical or emotional discomfort set in there after that. But it's it's very rewarding. So it's very difficult to untie the dopamine part of it, especially after stress. Like if you combine the sleep deprivation, chronic cortisol elevation, you've got this dopamine depletion. You need, need, need dopamine. You are in this state of emotional suppression very frequently. All of these things are disrupting your circadian rhythm. And then you are expected to live in a state of constant overstimulation. This has created the perfect biological environment for addictive eating behaviors. Okay, it's not because you're lazy, it's because your freaking nervous system is exhausted and it's searching desperately for relief. And nurses, especially, we live in cycles of deprivation and overstimulation. And think, think about a typical shift. No water, no sunlight, no time for emotional processing. Very common for you to not have food all day, adrenaline spikes, you know, and then trauma exposure. Suddenly, you know, at 11 p.m. you're home and you're eating this big ass huge meal, sugar, drive-through, energy drinks all the time, wine, scrolling, dopamine, dopamine dump, right? Dopamine dump. Trying to get right with yourself. But then the guilt sets in, then the shame, and then you you're going to bed, you're waking up, it's another damn shift already. And eventually people think when they're in this cycle that their problem is lack of motivation, lack of willpower. No, no, doc. The problem is that your body stopped feeling safe, likely years ago. And honestly, honestly, one of the hardest things about healing is that many nurses are so accustomed to chaos that calm actually feels uncomfortable. This is something I have had to personally deal with. I mean, have you ever noticed that? You finally like get a freaking day off, and suddenly you feel all anxious. You sit, you sit down, you want to relax, but your brain is just racing. You try to sleep, and suddenly, like, these intrusive thoughts show up. You finally enter a healthy relationship, maybe. But now you feel emotionally confused because nobody's triggering your immune system. I mean, your nervous system. I'm so sorry. You've been in such a dysfunctional relationship with yourself, with work, with food. You found yourself an emotionally safe relationship, and now you're all confused. It makes sense. And it's because it's because you're you know your nervous, right? It's your nervous system. It's triggering to your nervous system to be in a calm, natural, non-conflict situation because your nervous system is used to the fucking chaos. That this is happening because that dysre regulation, right? The dysregulation, all of these different types of dysregulation that work together have become familiar. They've become your comfortable place. I always go back to Nirvana has a song. He just says, I miss the comfort of being sad. I miss the comfort of being sad. And there's like, maybe it's not a direct correlation, but your body gets gets addicted to that comfort, right? And then if your nervous system's not being triggered, that dysregulation has become so familiar. Your body learned chaos. And I mean, that healing initially can be really freaking boring and feel quite unsafe because your nervous system is accustomed to that stimulation. This also explains why some people subconsciously create crisis and chaos. Have you ever been with somebody or known somebody that you felt that they did this on purpose? Not it's not because they want suffering, right? It is not because they are dramatic. It's literally because their nervous system is conditioned to intensify their environment, to fill that normal baseline. And this process really matters in weight loss, too. Because if your body is constantly perceiving stress, if stress is your life or your common state, it's very difficult to create sustainable metabolic healing. I beg to say it's nearly impossible. It's definitely impossible, in my opinion, to get there to that state of healing and stay there. And this is why I keep saying weight loss is not just calories. Yeah, calories are a thing. They do matter. Nutrition very much matters, movement matters, but your hormonal environment matters too. And your cortisol patterns matter. Your sleep frickin matters. You have to get to a place where you can prioritize that. Your state of inflammation matters, the generalized inflammation. Your sensitivity to insulin matters in your well-being all around, even if it's not a weight problem, even if it's not an obesity overweight problem. And your dopamine pathways matter. Literally, your emotional regulation all around matters. And all of these things are interrelated. They're correlated, they're interconnected. Because honestly, for many nurses, the first step. Is not another restrictive diet or exercise plan, not getting up earlier. You know, it's nervous system stabilization. For many nurses, getting out of this loop requires learning how to rest without guilt and eat consistently. You know, have the energy to prep and increase the quality of nutrition you're putting in your body. It requires learning how to sleep better, how to emotionally process things that we are experiencing at work and in life. It requires learning how to stop using shame as motivation. Okay. It requires we we have to learn how to stop swinging between self-punishment and self-abandonment, okay? Because a dysregulated nervous system will ultimately sabotage even the perfect plan eventually. And this is also why I get frustrated with the wellness industry sometimes, right? Just be disciplined, just do it. Meanwhile, the person they're speaking to is sleep-deprived, traumatized, already insulin resistant, they're dopamine depleted, they're they could be working night shift, they're emotionally freaking burned out, and they're living on processed food, they're running entirely on cortisol. Okay? If you are running entirely on cortisol, this is not a character flaw. It's a physio, it's physiology, actually. It's physiology colliding with modern life. And no, if you are, if this is you, if if this sounds like you or feels like you, if I'm talking to you, if I'm speaking your language here, you're not doomed. You're not broken, you're not doomed. And actually, I I personally think that this conversation should feel empowering for you. Because if your body adapted to the stress, your body can also heal. The nervous the point that I'm telling you is your nervous system is highly adaptable. Neuroplasticity is real. You can unlearn things. You literally can inside of your brain. You can build new neuronal pathways. Neuroplasticity is real, dude. Google it if you're not into that vibe already. Metabolic healing is possible. Inflammation can improve. Literally, insulin resistance can improve, sleep can improve. Your relationship with food can be healed and can improve. And your general overall emotional regulation can also improve. But usually it not through self-hatred. We cannot do it through guilt, shame, and self-hatred. It generally doesn't work. We definitely can't do it through pretending that your experiences have had no impact on you. And one of the most important things that I've personally had to learn is this: you don't have to earn rest by reaching total collapse. Okay? You do not have to wait until your body completely breaks down to start listening to it. Because honestly, nurses are notorious for this. We normalize suffering so aggressively. We're trauma bonding. We compare pain. We are minimizing and idealizing exhaustion and overtime and not sleeping and being a you know badass burn on the candle at both ends. And then we're constantly invalidating ourselves. Well, you know, other nurses have it worse, and I'm still functioning. I'm not as bad as, you know, this patient. Meanwhile, your nervous system is screaming for freaking help. It's screaming for help through the signs that you're experiencing, the weight gain, the GI symptoms. You're getting insomnia, possibly panic, brain fog, fatigue. You've got probably chronic inflammation. Maybe it's hair loss, binge eating, autoimmune symptoms are big. Maybe, you know, this is all showing up in your body because as we know, the body keeps the score. Like we know that this is true. It it's a book, yes, but like literally the body keeps the score. And I'm not saying some mystic mystical like Instagram way. I'm saying in a physiological way. Your nervous system records patterns. Your hormones respond to those patterns. Your immune system also responds to those patterns. And eventually the body is it's begging for attention. Sometimes it might be quiet, might be quietly. It might be just like generalized fatigue, mild joint pain or whatever. But sometimes it's very loudly begging for attention. And that's what all these horrible symptoms are. It is your body begging for attention and your nervous system, right? And so, I mean, I think many nurses are trying to heal while they are absolutely continuing to gaslight themselves. And this just, I mean, it has to stop. It has to stop. You are allowed to acknowledge that healthcare is hard. Shift shift work is it's biologically disruptive. And chronic stress literally changes physiology. I mean, your childhood experiences shape how your adult coping is, you know? And it's time, it's time for you to learn. This has to stop. It has to. You have to acknowledge that these things are happening within you. You have to acknowledge that food can become emotionally regulatory. You can get into a good relationship with food where you can still use it for some dopamine sometimes, but you're not addicted to it and you're not driven by it, and you're not dependent on it. You need to acknowledge that burnout impacts metabolism and that healing requires far more than willpower. Far more. Because none of this that's going on. Sorry. None of this makes you weak. And honestly, I think awareness is where healing begins. They say it in the 12-step program, right? We have to identify what the problem is and admit that it's there. I think it's true here too. I think that that awareness is where healing just finally begins. Not with shame, not punishment. Sorry, my inhaler. None of this makes you weak. And honestly, I think awareness is where healing finally begins. I mean that. I can't think of any better way to say that. Healing does not begin with shame, punishment, or another freaking crash diet. Healing begins with awareness. And maybe today the awareness is simply that, you know, your body is not betraying you. And your body may just be adapting to a life that has felt quite unsafe for it and overstimulating and emotionally suppressive and chronically stressful or physiologically dregulating for a very long time. So maybe instead of asking, what's wrong with me? We need to start asking, asking, like, what happened with my nervous system? What patterns did my body adapt around? I mean, what would actually safety feel like? What would consistency feel like? What would healing feel like? Because healing is not just weight loss. Healing is when your body finally stops feeling like it's fighting to survive every single day. And honestly, a lot of nurses deserve that more than they even realize. So I just want to say thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. If if this episode resonated with you deeply, if I'm speaking your language, if you're if you're picking up what I'm putting down, if you're taking it all the way home to the finish line with me, I want you to know that I can help you. My groups can help you, my trainings can help you. You can help yourself, but it is massively easier in general to have someone on your side of the arena. And so if this resonated with you, I want you to share this. Please share this with another nurse who needs to hear this, who needs to hear that their body is not broken and that metabolic healing is so much deeper than discipline alone. They need to hear that. They need to hear that because it's possible to get to a place where you are not hopeless. Metabolic healing is possible. You are not broken. And all of this goes so much deeper than just you need to try harder. Okay. I don't know how else to say it. I hope that you've been motivated today. And I literally always want people to know that I'm passionate about this because I've worked myself through this. I know that it's real. I've watched people live it. I've watched people decide to change and get better. I've watched people not decide to change and not get better. So I love you already. I will see you in the next episode.