I believe we have been trained to think stress is a personal flaw. That if you are overwhelmed, you simply lack discipline. That if you are anxious, you just need better coping skills. I refuse that explanation. Manufactured stress is built into the structure of modern life, and until we name that clearly, we will keep blaming ourselves for symptoms that are environmental.
The Architecture of Overwhelm
Look at the pace you are expected to maintain. You are reachable at all times. You are measurable at all times. You are comparable at all times. Notifications interrupt you before your thoughts can land. News cycles reset before your nervous system can settle. Productivity culture rewards exhaustion as if burnout were a badge of honor. I cannot ignore how incompatible that is with human biology.
The nervous system was designed for rhythm — effort followed by rest, stimulation followed by recovery. When recovery disappears, stress becomes baseline.
And here is where reversal begins: you restore rhythm intentionally.
You do not wait for culture to slow down. You create slow pockets yourself. You silence nonessential notifications. You stop consuming breaking news before bed. You protect one hour of digital quiet each day. These are not dramatic moves. They are biological corrections.
Agitation as a Business Model
I believe constant stimulation is not accidental. It is profitable. Digital platforms monetize engagement, and engagement increases when emotions are activated. Outrage spreads faster than nuance. Fear spreads faster than calm. Urgency spreads faster than patience. Agitation captures attention.
So you reduce exposure.
You curate your inputs. You unfollow accounts that trigger comparison. You remove apps that exist solely to hijack attention. You choose long-form over rapid-scroll. Every reduction lowers the volume of artificial threat signals hitting your nervous system.
In Nervous System Peacekeeping, I wrote about how prolonged low-grade fight-or-flight reshapes the body. Cortisol does not politely disappear at sunset. It alters appetite, blood sugar, sleep cycles, and immune response. I have seen how easily people normalize feeling wired and exhausted at the same time, assuming that tension is simply adulthood.
It is not adulthood. It is dysregulation.
Rebuilding Regulation
And dysregulation can be reversed.
You start with sleep. You guard it. You dim lights after sunset. You stop doom-scrolling in bed. You anchor wake and sleep times. You allow your body to relearn safety in darkness.
You stabilize blood sugar. You eat real food with protein and fiber instead of chasing caffeine spikes. You hydrate before you caffeinate. These are physiological stabilizers, not wellness trends.
Stress is not just emotional; it is chemical. It alters inflammation pathways. It fragments restorative sleep. It amplifies every environmental burden. In Why Are People Getting Sick Younger?, I explored how toxic load, nutritional depletion, and lifestyle acceleration compound over time. Stress multiplies every one of those factors.
So you reduce load where you can.
You walk outside without earbuds and let your eyes track distance instead of screens. You put your feet on grass. You breathe slowly enough to signal safety. You build small rituals of predictability — morning light, evening quiet, regular meals. Predictability calms the nervous system because predictability reduces perceived threat.
I refuse to accept a culture that dysregulates people and then sells them coping strategies for the dysregulation. Tools are helpful, but tools without structural awareness become bandages.
I believe the most subtle part of manufactured stress is the self-blame it creates. If you are overwhelmed, you assume you are inefficient. If you are fatigued, you assume you lack resilience. That narrative keeps the architecture invisible.
When you see the architecture, you stop personalizing every symptom.
Manufactured stress weakens when awareness strengthens.
I refuse to call constant dysregulation normal. And I believe you deserve a body that feels steady instead of constantly braced for impact.
With love and truth,
—Donna 💚
Sources & Further Reading
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Chronic stress puts your health at risk
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20046037 -
Science behind chronic stress
https://news.asu.edu/20240426-science-and-technology-science-behind-chronic-stress -
Environmental and psychological factors influencing stress
https://www.oxjournal.org/environmental-and-psychological-factors-influencing-stress/ -
Chronic stress, inflammation, and societal impacts
https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2024/03/12/chronic-stress-inflammation-societal-environmental-impacts -
Connection to nature linked with lower stress and anxiety
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-56968-5
