From Stress to Strength: Harnessing Your Sympathetic Nervous System for Sustainable Success

In our achievement-oriented culture, stress has become a badge of honour. We celebrate the ability to push through exhaustion, handle multiple demands, and maintain productivity under pressure. Yet what if our relationship with stress is fundamentally misunderstood?

As a Somatic Trauma Coach and Family Constellations Facilitator, I've observed that many high-achievers have a complicated relationship with their stress response. They simultaneously rely on it for productivity while suffering its long-term consequences on their health, relationships, and creativity.

The truth is, your stress response, your sympathetic nervous system activation, isn't your enemy. It's a powerful resource when properly understood and managed.

Beyond "Fight or Flight": Understanding Sympathetic Activation

The sympathetic branch of our autonomic nervous system is often reduced to "fight or flight," but it's far more nuanced. This state of mobilisation evolved to provide:

• Energy for challenges

• Focus under pressure

• Motivation to act

• Protection from threats

In appropriate doses and contexts, sympathetic activation is not only healthy but necessary for engagement with life's demands and opportunities.

The problem isn't sympathetic activation itself—it's when we get stuck there, unable to complete the stress cycle and return to a regulated state.

The Biology of Mobilisation

When your sympathetic nervous system activates:

• Your heart rate increases

• Blood flow redirects to large muscle groups

• Digestion slows

• Pupils dilate

• Breathing becomes more rapid

• Non-essential functions temporarily pause

These changes prepare you for action, whether that's literally running from danger or metaphorically rising to a challenge. In our ancestral environment, this activation would typically be followed by physical action and then rest.

In our modern world, however, we often experience sympathetic activation without the physical discharge it's designed for. We sit in stressful meetings, absorb difficult news, or face challenging deadlines without a way to complete the stress cycle through movement.

When Sympathetic Activation Serves Us

Healthy sympathetic activation provides valuable resources:

1. Focused Attention

When moderately activated, our attention narrows and intensifies, allowing us to concentrate on important tasks and filter out distractions.

2. Motivation and Drive

The energy of sympathetic activation fuels our pursuit of goals and helps us overcome obstacles.

3. Performance Enhancement

In optimal doses, stress hormones can improve cognitive function and physical performance—what scientists call "eustress" or beneficial stress.

4. Appropriate Boundary Setting

Our sympathetic response helps us recognise when boundaries are needed and provides the energy to establish them.

One client, a creative director at an advertising agency, discovered that her sympathetic energy, when channeled appropriately, was the source of her most innovative work. "I used to think I needed to be completely calm to be creative," she shared. "Now I understand that there's a sweet spot of activation where my creativity actually thrives."

When Sympathetic Activation Hinders Us

Problems arise when sympathetic activation becomes chronic or excessive:

1. Decision Fatigue

Prolonged sympathetic activation impairs the prefrontal cortex, reducing our capacity for nuanced decision-making and creative problem-solving.

2. Relationship Strain

When chronically activated, we're more likely to misinterpret social cues, react defensively, and struggle with empathic connection.

3. Health Impacts

Over time, unregulated sympathetic activation contributes to inflammation, digestive issues, cardiovascular problems, and immune dysfunction.

4. The Productivity Paradox

Perhaps most relevant for high-achievers: pushing harder eventually backfires. Research shows that chronic stress actually reduces productivity, creativity, and cognitive function over time.

The Corporate Sympathetic Cycle

Many workplace cultures normalise and even reward chronic stress, creating environments where:

• Constant availability is expected

• Breaks are seen as lack of commitment

• Stress signals are interpreted as engagement

• Rest is equated with laziness

• "Powering through" is celebrated

These norms create a collective sympathetic activation that impacts team dynamics, innovation, and long-term performance.

I've observed this particularly in corporate environments where stress becomes contagious. One person's activation triggers others, creating a workplace that feels perpetually on edge.

The Gender Dimension: Women's Unique Stress Patterns

While everyone experiences sympathetic activation, research shows that women often process stress differently:

• Women are more likely to engage in "tend and befriend" responses alongside fight/flight

• Women's stress is more often complicated by caregiving responsibilities

• Women face unique stressors related to safety and evaluation

• Women are more vulnerable to autoimmune conditions linked to chronic stress

Most significantly, women often cycle between sympathetic stress and dorsal vagal shutdown (freeze), burning out faster than those who maintain sympathetic activation. This pattern is especially common in women who were parentified at a young age—made to take on adult responsibilities before their nervous systems were developed enough to handle such demands.

One female executive I worked with described it perfectly: "I can push through anything for about three months. Then I crash completely—unable to function, make decisions, or even feel motivated about things I usually care about. After a few weeks of that, I rally and start the cycle again."

This cycling between states is exhausting and ultimately unsustainable, yet many high-achieving women have normalised it as "just how life is."

Working With (Not Against) Your Sympathetic Energy

The key to sustainable success isn't eliminating sympathetic activation—it's working with it intelligently. Here's how:

1. Honour the Message

Sympathetic activation always carries information. Rather than suppressing or ignoring it, ask:

• What is this energy trying to tell me?

• Is there a legitimate threat or challenge that needs my attention?

• Is this activation current, or is it being triggered by past experiences?

2. Complete the Stress Cycle

Our bodies are designed to discharge sympathetic energy through movement. Simple practices include:

• Vigorous exercise

• Dance or spontaneous movement

• Shaking (a natural stress release mechanism)

• Progressive muscle tension and release

• Vocal expression (singing, humming, sighing)

Even 2-3 minutes of deliberate movement can help complete a stress cycle that might otherwise linger for hours.

3. Create Nervous System-Informed Boundaries

Many of us need to establish boundaries that protect our regulation:

• Digital boundaries (notification settings, email hours)

• Temporal boundaries (meeting lengths, recovery time between intense tasks)

• Energetic boundaries (limiting exposure to dysregulated environments)

• Interpersonal boundaries (clear communication about capacity and needs)

4. Transition Between States Intentionally

Rather than crashing from sympathetic activation into exhaustion, create deliberate transitions:

• End-of-workday rituals

• Movement before and after focused work

• Brief meditation or breathing practices between meetings

• Nature exposure to reset your nervous system

5. A Practical Workday Exercise

Try this simple practice for working with sympathetic energy during your workday:

1. Set a timer for 25-30 minutes of focused work

2. Work with full engagement, allowing appropriate sympathetic activation

3. When the timer sounds, stand up and:

   • Shake out your arms and legs for 30 seconds

   • Take 5 deep breaths with extended exhales

   • Stretch in any way that feels good

4. Take a genuine 3-5 minute break before beginning another cycle

This practice honours the natural oscillation between activation and recovery that our nervous systems require for optimal functioning.

Beyond Individual Practice: Changing the Culture

While individual regulation practices are essential, lasting change requires addressing the systems that perpetuate chronic stress. In my work with organisations, I focus on creating cultures that:

• Recognise and respect nervous system capacity

• Normalise recovery as essential to performance

• Create collective regulation practices

• Value sustainable results over heroic efforts

• Measure success beyond productivity metrics

One organisation I worked with implemented "regulation rooms", small spaces where employees could take 5-10 minutes for nervous system reset practices. They reported significant improvements in meeting quality, creative problem-solving, and team cohesion after just one month.

Your Invitation to Sustainable Success

Transforming your relationship with stress and energy isn't just about feeling better—it's about creating sustainable success that doesn't come at the cost of your health, relationships, or joy.

If you're ready to develop personalised strategies for working with your nervous system patterns, I invite you to book an Intensive 1:1 Somatic Coaching Partnership. Together, we'll explore your unique activation patterns and create practical approaches for regulation that honour your ambitions while supporting your wellbeing.

For ongoing support and community, join my Self Healer Tribe, where you'll find resources specifically designed to help high-achievers work with their nervous systems more effectively.

This blog post is based on the third episode of my podcast series "Heal Your Past Master Your Future," where I explore sympathetic nervous system activation in depth. Listen to the full episode for more insights and practical techniques.