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How Modern Life Is Quietly Breaking Our Nervous System (and how we can repair it)

Updated: Dec 30, 2025

Modern life is driving chronic stress, nervous system dysregulation, and burnout through overstimulation, screen addiction, caffeine dependence, and constant fight-or-flight. Here’s why it’s happening and how to restore balance.


Screen addiction plays a key role in feeling overstimulated.
Screen addiction plays a key role in feeling overstimulated.

Written by Coralie Bengoechea | 23 December 2025


Most of us realise how overstimulated we are. We just know we’re tired. Restless. Anxious for no obvious reason. Reaching for coffee the moment we wake up and our phone the moment there’s silence.


This has slowly become “normal”.


But what feels normal isn’t healthy. It’s adaptive. Our nervous systems have adjusted to a world that never lets them rest. And the cost shows up everywhere.



Our Nervous Systems Never Get to Finish a Stress Cycle


It can be difficult to switch off in a world where we are always connected.
It can be difficult to switch off in a world where we are always connected.

The human nervous system wasn’t designed for constant input. Originally, stress came in short bursts. Something happened, the body reacted, then things settled. The system reset.


Now there’s no reset. Emails. Messages. News. Deadlines. Social media. Noise. Artificial light. The pressure to always be reachable, responsive, productive, interesting. Even when nothing is actually wrong, the body stays alert.


So instead of moving naturally between activation and rest, we live permanently half-activated. Not fully stressed. Not fully relaxed. Just hovering in between. That is why so many people feel “on edge” all the time.



Overstimulation Isn’t Obvious — It’s Layered


Overstimulation in the modern world.
Overstimulation in the modern world.

Overstimulation isn’t just loud cities or busy schedules.


It’s the small things stacked on top of each other:

  • Checking your phone the second you wake up

  • Listening to something while eating

  • Switching tasks every few minutes

  • Filling every gap with content


The nervous system never gets silence long enough to settle.


Eventually, calm starts to feel unfamiliar. Stillness feels awkward. Boredom feels unbearable.

That’s not a personality trait. That’s a nervous system that has forgotten how to rest.



Screens Train the Body to Stay Hungry


Constant dopamine hits from scrolling make it difficult to reset.
Constant dopamine hits from scrolling make it difficult to reset.

Phones and screens don’t just distract us. They condition us.

Fast content, constant novelty, endless scrolling — it trains the brain to expect stimulation at all times. Dopamine spikes become the baseline.


So when there’s nothing happening, the body feels uncomfortable. Not because something’s wrong, but because it’s used to being fed.


That is why:

  • Silence feels itchy

  • Focus feels difficult

  • Slow activities feel exhausting

  • The urge to “check something” appears for no reason


The nervous system isn’t relaxed. It’s searching.



Caffeine Is Fueling the Problem (Even Though We Love It)


Caffeine addiction comes with risks.
Caffeine addiction comes with risks.

Caffeine has become a coping strategy, not a choice.

It doesn’t actually create energy. It overrides fatigue. It pushes the nervous system into alert mode even when the body is asking for rest.


If your system is already stressed, caffeine just keeps the loop going:

  • More alertness

  • Poorer sleep

  • Less recovery

  • More reliance the next day


Many people aren’t tired because they’re unmotivated. They’re tired because their nervous system never fully powers down.



Living in Fight-or-Flight Starts to Feel Like “Me”


Overstimulation can affect concentration.
Overstimulation can affect concentration.

When stress becomes constant, the body adapts.


It shows up as:

  • Low-grade anxiety that never quite leaves

  • Tight shoulders, jaw, stomach

  • Overthinking everything

  • Feeling wired but exhausted

  • Difficulty relaxing even when you try


Over time, this state becomes familiar. You start thinking this is just how I am.

But it is not who you are. It is how your nervous system has learned to survive.



You Don’t Fix This by Doing More


A woman taking a break in a beautiful outdoor setting.
A woman taking a break in a beautiful outdoor setting.

This is where most people get it wrong: They add more practices to an already overloaded system. More information. More techniques. More “self-care”.


Repair doesn’t start with adding. It starts with removing.


Step One: Reduce the Constant Input

Before trying to calm your nervous system, stop constantly stimulating it.

Simple shifts matter:

  • No phone first thing in the morning

  • No background noise all the time

  • Eat without consuming content

  • Create small tech-free windows

Even short gaps tell the body: nothing is demanding you right now.


Step Two: Show the Body It’s Safe — Not the Mind

The nervous system doesn’t respond to logic or affirmations. It responds to sensation.

Things that help:

  • Slower breathing, especially longer exhales

  • Gentle, unforced movement

  • Lying down without stimulation

  • Placing a hand on the chest or belly

These are physical signals of safety. You’re not convincing the body: you’re demonstrating.


Step Three: Relearn Stillness Slowly

If stillness feels uncomfortable, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong - It means your system isn’t used to it.

Start small:

  • One quiet minute

  • One conscious breath

  • One pause between tasks

Stillness is a skill. And like any skill, it needs patience.


Step Four: Get Out of the Head and Back Into the Body

You can’t think your way into regulation.

The body calms through:

  • Breath

  • Touch

  • Rhythm

  • Sound

  • Sensory awareness

The nervous system heals through experiences that are slower than thought.



This Is About Resetting Your Baseline


Resetting the baseline when overstimulated through practices such as breathwork.
Resetting the baseline when overstimulated through practices such as breathwork.

There’s no single moment where everything fixes itself. Repair happens through repetition.

Every time you choose:

  • Rest over stimulation

  • Presence over distraction

  • Slowness over urgency

You’re teaching your nervous system what “normal” can feel like again.



The Question Worth Asking


Trying to cope with the limitless things to do in our modern world.
Trying to cope with the limitless things to do in our modern world.

The real question isn’t how to survive modern life. It is how much of it you allow to live inside your body.


You don’t need to disappear from the world, but you do need boundaries, not just for your time, but for your nervous system.


Calm isn’t laziness. Rest isn’t weakness. Regulation isn’t optional. It is the foundation for clarity, creativity, intuition, and real energy. And the good news is: your nervous system can relearn safety — one small signal at a time.



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