26/01/2026
I think we all need to be trying to calm our nervous system at the moment. The world is a scary place.
💛 Let’s talk about the nervous system 💜
We all have a nervous system.
It’s there to keep us safe and protect us when there’s real or perceived danger.
It controls whether we feel:
✨️ Calm and safe
✨️ Alert and focused
✨️ Anxious, overwhelmed, or shut down
For many people, this system works quietly in the background.
But for people with ADHD, chronic pain, and those with trauma, the nervous system can become overprotective.
💛 What’s happening in the body 💜
✨️ The nervous system scans for threat all the time
✨️ It doesn’t always know the difference between danger and stress
✨️ Small things can be interpreted as big threats
✨️ The body can stay stuck in “fight, flight, freeze, or fawn”
✨️ It becomes harder to return to calm
This isn’t weakness.
It’s a sensitised nervous system doing its best to keep you safe.
💛 ADHD, chronic pain & the nervous system 💜
✨️ ADHD can involve heightened emotional and sensory sensitivity
✨️ Chronic pain keeps the body in a long-term stress response
✨️ Trauma teaches the nervous system to stay on high alert
✨️ Together, this can lead to overwhelm, shutdown, anxiety, irritability, or exhaustion
When your nervous system is dysregulated:
✨️ Noise can feel unbearable
✨️ Small tasks can feel impossible
✨️ Pain can flare more easily
✨️ Emotions can feel intense or out of proportion
💛 Gentle ways to support your nervous system 💜
✨️ Slow, deep breathing (longer exhales help signal safety)
✨️ Grounding through the senses (warm drink, soft fabric, fresh air)
✨️ Putting in earplugs or playing music through headphones.
✨️ Reducing sensory input where possible
✨️ Predictability and routines
✨️ Having a cup of tea:- focusing on the sensations while you drink it.
✨️ Guided meditations:- there's plenty of apps that offer these, or you can find them on YouTube.
✨️ Compassion for yourself and how hard it can be to regulate your nervous system.
Regulating the nervous system isn’t about forcing calm.
It’s about creating safety, slowly, gently, and repeatedly.
💛 You are not broken 💜
Your nervous system has learned from your experiences.
💛 Sources (UK) 💜
✨️ NHS- Stress, anxiety and the body
✨️ NHS-Chronic pain
✨️ NICE- Trauma-informed care
✨️ The Mental Health Foundation (UK)
✨️ British Pain Society- Pain and the nervous system