Is Overstimulation Keeping You in a Dysregulated State?

I'm currently writing this blog at a little corner booth at a cafe. In front of me is my laptop accompanied by three phones. One phone is for business, one for content creation and the third is my personal phone. I have my smart glasses in my pocket, and my tablet in my tote. Normally, I would tell someone theses are all tools for business, creativity and expansion. But lately, I recognize them as devices of over stimulation.

We are living in a world that doesn't ever sit still. It’s more, more, more. Go, go, go. Hustle. Grind. Scroll. Refresh. Reply. Repeat. And the wild part? Most individuals don’t even realize their nervous system hasn't had a real break in years.

Overstimulation isn't just about being busy. It’s about how much your mind and body is taking in without rest. And right now? The average human is overloaded daily, from the moment they wake up to the moment they fall asleep with a phone still clutched in their hand. And we have't even started on the rise of AI technology and how the overconsumption of information can overload the consciousness because it is not being done gradually or with consideration for the health of the mind.

The Nervous System Wasn’t Built for This

Your nervous system was designed to handle short bursts of stress, then return to safety. Just think about it, danger shows up, body responds, danger passes, body relaxes. It's always been simple. But one of the things I learned when I was studying the mind while getting my hypnotherapist certification was that we are no longer afraid of getting attacked by a bear while we are hunting are dinner. Now, the danger that arises happens while we are sitting in traffic with the intention of not being late to work, but all the while your blood pressure is rising because you remember how you've been late for work twice already and if you are late again you will get written up or worse fired. That signal that is spread through out your entire body is the same as if a bear was about to attack only it's you fearing not having the money to pay your bills with the threat of being homeless without the means to take care of yourself or your family. If we go even deeper, we can acknowledge that the danger never turns off.

Your phone is on you 24/7, so the world believes they have unlimited access to you.

Notifications are constantly pinging your brain all day like alarms. News from your city, the country, the world; tragedy after tragedy overloading your timelines, feeds, emails + more.

Social media showing you billions of opinions, thoughts, trauma, wins, losses, comparisons.

AI is pumping out information faster than the mind can integrate it.

Your body doesn't know the difference between a real-life threat and constant digital stimulation. To the nervous system, it’s all input. And too much input without pause keeps you stuck in fight-or-flight, freeze, or fawn.

That is dysregulation!

The Mundane Stuff That’s Actually Wrecking Your Nervous System

So for me, I've been hyper focused on the everyday things we have normalized like waking up and immediately checking our phones. Sitting down to eat lunch or dinner and immediately scrolling. We always have background noise playing rather it be TV, music, podcasts, videos etc.

I know I am guilty of jumping from app to app, task to task, thought to thought when I am not deliberate or intentional with my focus. And to make things worse we feeling guilty for rest. We've somehow adopted that thinking productivity is equivalent to our worth.

We are never fully present because our attention is always split.

So, I have a few questions to ask? That you can ask yourself. Is your body tense? Is your breath always shallow? Your mind racing? And more importantly do you believe this is a normal state? Is this how life is?

If you said yes to any of those questions, then your nervous system is stressed begging for safety.

Signs You Might Be Dysregulated and Think It’s Normal

• You feel tired but wired

• You get overwhelmed by small things

• You can’t relax without stimulation

• Silence makes you uncomfortable

• You feel anxious for no clear reason

• You’re irritable, numb, or emotionally reactive

• Your body always feels on edge

Everyday Practices to Pull Yourself Out of Dysregulation

I was gonna suggest we all break out of the matrix and buy some land in the middle of nowhere and go back to landlines, but I know thats unrealistic for most, and also that lifestyle isnt for everyone. So, here are some ways to create mirco moments of safety for your body throughout your day

1. Your body calms down when it knows rest is coming

   so pick 2-3 times a day to intentionally pause for 2-5 minutes with no phone, just you sitting still consciously breathing and maybe looking out the window. Do this consistently every day at the same time.

Have the intention to regulate through the body, and not the mind.

Remember, you can’t think your way out of dysregulation.

2. Here's a breathing exercise that is very popular for balancing the nervous system.

• Put one hand on your chest, one on your belly

• Inhale through your nose for 4 seconds. Hold your breath for the count of 4 seconds

• Exhale through your mouth for 4 seconds ( you can deepen this exercise by exhaling for 6 or 8 seconds if it resonates with you.

• Do this for 2–3 minutes if possible.

3.Create Phone Boundaries That Protect Your Energy

Everybody doesn't require access to you all the time. Try this: Don’t check your phone first thing in the morning. Play around with turning off non-essential notifications.

Give yourself windows of time where you go offline daily.

Stop responding immediately just because you can.

Your nervous system requires space not constant availability.

4. Limit How Much of the World You Carry

You were never meant to hold global grief, opinions, and information all day. Choose specific times to consume news. Unfollow accounts that keep you tense or triggered Remember, awareness doesn't require overload.

You can be informed and regulated.

5. Ground in the Present Moment

Your body calms down when you are present.

Try this:

• Name 5 things you see

• 4 things you feel

• 3 things you hear

• 2 things you smell

• 1 thing you taste

This pulls your nervous system out of survival mode and back into now.

6. Normalize Boredom Again

Boredom can be medicine, depending on how you look at it.

Explore days with no music, or multitasking or just siting in one spot, or walking without a destination, staring out the window just to take in the beauty of nature, and just have more moments where you let your mind wander.

Within this space is where your system resets.

Slowing down is a form of healing; you don’t need to do more to feel better.

You need to do less with more intention.

Regulation is about safety. Safety is about presence and being present.

And presence is about giving your nervous system consent to rest in a world that never stops pushing, that never turns off, or takes a break.

So, remember this the next time you sit down to take a break and you give yourself a hard time for that break.

You aren't lazy or broken. You are overstimulated.

And once you start guarding your nervous system like it matters; everything else starts falling back into rhythm. Back into what I call a flow state.