Is It Anxiety or Is It Stored Energy in Your Nervous System?

Is It Anxiety or Is It Stored Energy in Your Nervous System?

 

 

You feel restless. Your heart races for no reason. You can’t sit still—but you’re also too exhausted to function.

Is it anxiety? Or is it your body trying to discharge stored survival energy?

Most of us label these sensations as anxiety—but what if it’s actually your nervous system stuck in a loop?

Anxiety or Activation?

When you experience a real or perceived threat, your body activates the stress response. But if you never had the chance to fully process the event, the energy doesn’t leave. It gets trapped.

This is why you might feel wired and tired at the same time. You’re not broken—you’re dysregulated.

According to Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score, trauma isn't just a memory in your mind—it's a physiological imprint on your body (van der Kolk, 2014).

And what we often call "anxiety" is sometimes just this: stored fight-or-flight energy that was never released.

Signs It Might Be Stored Energy, Not Just Anxiety:

  • You feel "on edge" all the time, even when nothing is wrong.
  • Your body feels jittery or tense but your thoughts aren’t racing.
  • You get sudden waves of fear with no story attached.
  • Your limbs feel shaky or numb.
  • You find it hard to relax, even in safe environments.

These are all signs that your nervous system might be stuck in survival mode.

What Your Nervous System Is Trying to Do

Your nervous system wants to complete the stress response cycle—but if it wasn’t safe to do so at the time (like during childhood trauma, accidents, or ongoing stress), your body puts that energy on pause.

The problem is: pause doesn’t mean release.

Over time, this build-up can feel like generalized anxiety, panic attacks, or chronic tension.

Research shows that regulating the nervous system through body-based practices helps discharge this stored energy and restore emotional balance (Somatic Experiencing Therapy: Medical News Today, 2023).

What Helps Release This Energy?

  • Somatic Exercises: Gentle movements that tell your body it’s safe to relax
  • Grounding Techniques: Pressing your feet into the floor, connecting to the present
  • Vagus Nerve Stimulation: Slow exhales, humming, or cold plunges to signal safety
  • Movement & Shaking: Animals in the wild shake to release stress—so can we
  • Body-Based Breathwork: Breath that starts from the belly and activates calm

These tools don’t just manage anxiety—they help complete the cycle.=

You’re Not Broken—You’re Holding Unfinished Survival Energy

There is nothing wrong with you. You’re not overreacting. You’re not weak.

You’re just living with a nervous system that never got the chance to reset.

Want to heal your nervous system and get your energy back?
Start your healing journey with Soma today.

[Link to homepage]

References

  • Bessel van der Kolk. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score. Viking.
  • Medical News Today. (2023). Somatic Experiencing Therapy: Exercises and Research.
  • Gillette, H. (2024). What Is Somatic Anxiety? Healthline.
  • Levine, P. (1997). Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma. North Atlantic Books.
  • Nummenmaa, L., et al. (2014). Bodily maps of emotions. PNAS, 111(2), 646–651.

Petzke, T. M., & Witthöft, M. (2024). The Association of Emotion Regulation and Somatic Symptoms. Psychosomatic Medicine.

Back to blog