Ashok Gupta identifies seven signs your nervous system is stuck in fight-or-flight mode without you realizing it: frequent sighing, jaw clenching, feeling wired yet exhausted, tingling or sudden aches, exaggerated startle responses, and waking groggy despite enough sleep. Your body never feels safe enough to fully relax, but the nervous system can be retrained.
I'm fine, I'm fine. Don't we often say that to people? And we think that we're calm right now, but your body might be saying otherwise. And here are 7 subtle signs that your nervous system is stuck in survival mode, even if you feel fine. The first one, you're constantly sighing or taking deep breaths without meaning to. And this is your body desperately using its breath to try to self-regulate and release tension. Secondly, you clench or grind your teeth Chronic jaw tension is a sign your body is on guard, even when you're not aware of it. You might feel wired but tired. You're exhausted, but your body won't let you rest. This tired but wired state is classic fight or flight. It shows your system is running on adrenaline. Another clue, you get these weird bodily sensations like buzzing, tingling, Sudden aches. This is a sign that your nervous system is overstimulated and it's flooding your body with signals even when there's no real danger. And this might be happening continuously in the background. You jump at little things. A loud noise, a message comes in your phone, it startles you. Someone just walking into the room. When you're stuck in survival mode, even the smallest things can startle you, like an animal bracing for danger. Another clue: you wake up feeling hungover, unrefreshed. You might sleep 8 hours, 9 hours, but you still wake up feeling groggy because your body never really felt safe enough to let go at night and get that much-needed deep sleep. And if any of this hits close to home, fight or flight isn't just a feeling for you, it's your daily reality. But here's the good news. You can retrain your nervous system to finally hit reset and find that real calm, that real peace, that real happiness that you crave.
