Staying Grounded: How Trauma Makes Itself Known in the Body

Trauma can influence how our bodies respond to stress long after a difficult or traumatic experience has passed.

For people with a history of trauma, the nervous system may remain on heightened alert or become more easily activated by certain situations. This doesn’t mean someone has failed to resolve their trauma or isn’t making progress in recovery. It’s part of the way the brain and body learn to protect us after experiencing something threatening.

Understanding that connection can make it easier to recognize physical stress responses and respond to them with compassion, reconnecting with the present moment.

How Trauma Can Show Up Physically

When the nervous system senses a potential threat, the body prepares to respond, shifting into a state commonly described as fight, flight, or freeze.

For someone who’s experienced repeated trauma or other distressing events, that response can sometimes remain active at a low level or reappear when something triggers it. The trigger may not always be obvious.

Over time, this heightened state of alert can manifest in several physical ways, including:

• Tightness in the shoulders or other muscles
• Headaches
• Jaw clenching or teeth grinding
• Fatigue and exhaustion
• Difficulty sleeping
• Chest tightness or shallow breathing
• Stomach pain or other digestive issues
• Changes in appetite

These reactions can be uncomfortable, but it can help to remember what the body is trying to accomplish. The stress response is fundamentally a protective mechanism.

Instead of viewing it as the body working against you, consider that your brain and nervous system are attempting to keep you safe. Sometimes, however, that protective system reacts to something that isn’t actually dangerous or responds more strongly than the situation requires.

Learn to Recognize Your Body’s Signals

Developing greater awareness of physical sensations can help you identify when your nervous system is becoming activated.

You might suddenly realize that you are holding your breath, taking short and shallow breaths, or tightening your jaw. Your shoulders may rise toward your ears, or you may notice tension in your stomach or chest.

Learning to recognize those signals creates an opportunity to respond before the stress response intensifies. This type of body awareness doesn’t mean you need to immediately eliminate every uncomfortable sensation. Try to notice what you’re experiencing without judging it or trying to make it disappear. Simply observing can remind you that the sensation is temporary.

The desire to quickly escape an uncomfortable physical or emotional state can contribute to urges to misuse substances. Practicing the ability to sit with discomfort and watch it change can offer another way to respond.

Use Mindfulness to Bring Yourself Back to the Present

Grounding techniques can help signal to the nervous system that you’re safe in the present moment. A few helpful techniques include:

• 4-7-8 breathing: Breathe in for four seconds, hold for seven, and slowly breathe out for eight. Making the exhale longer than the inhale can help encourage the body to shift toward a calmer state.
• Take note of your physical surroundings: If you’re sitting, feel your feet touching the floor and your body supported by the chair. Look around and identify what you can see, hear, smell, or feel. Using all of your senses helps redirect attention from a perceived threat or past experience to what’s happening in the present.
• Incorporate physical movement: Stretching, yoga, walking, dancing, or going for a jog may help release tension and reconnect you with your body. Different strategies work for different people, so finding the techniques that feel most effective for you may take some experimentation.

Give Yourself Compassion as You Heal

Trauma recovery doesn’t have a finish line. The brain has a long memory, and a trigger may cause an unexpected reaction months or even years after an experience occurred.

Try approaching the response with curiosity and self-compassion. Grounding strategies can help manage symptoms in the moment, while professional support can provide additional coping skills and, when someone is ready, help address the underlying trauma contributing to those responses.

Becoming more aware of what your mind and body are communicating can help you return to a greater sense of safety.

If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction or co-occurring disorders, call the New England Recovery Center today at 1-877-MyRehab.