There’s a growing movement to “Make America Healthy Again” by improving our food, air, water, and even medicine.
It’s well-intentioned — and much needed.
But here’s the inconvenient truth:
Even when we make all the “right” lifestyle choices, many of us still struggle with fatigue, anxiety, digestive issues, or restless sleep.
Why is that?
Because there’s a hidden factor at play, and that is:
Autonomic nervous system dysregulation.
In this new guest interview, I dive deeper into this topic with good friend and senior student, Joe Martino. Together, we unpack why even the healthiest habits often fall short when the autonomic nervous system lacks coherence and flow (aka: is dysregulated).
When the autonomic nervous system is stuck in a state of tension, collapse, or a mix of both as a result of chronic stress and/or stored trauma, true healing can’t happen.
Or, as Joe puts it: “When you’re in survival, your body prioritizes survival, not rest and repair.”
Energy gets diverted to scanning for threats, worrying, and pumping out stress chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline — leaving little for real recovery.
That’s why, even if you’re doing all the “right” things, you can still wake up exhausted, anxious, and burned out.
It’s like having a rogue app running in the background on your computer, draining your precious resources without you even knowing it.
The good news? You CAN shift from ‘survive mode’ to ‘thrive mode.’
NOTE: although politics are briefly referenced at the beginning, our talk is actually NOT political! It covers my 25+ years in the health, nutrition, fitness, mind-body, and now healing trauma, nervous system health, and neuroplasticity worlds and my observations around what is good about this ‘MAHA’ movement and what it still misses – you guessed it: nervous system regulation.
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Mentions and additional resources:
➤ Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study main site
➤ Video: The ACE Study. Connections with Psychological Trauma & Physical Illness
➤ The undeniable link between early childhood stress and chronic illness
➤ Window of Tolerance – Are you truly regulated… or just managing dysregulation?
➤ Book: The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, MD
