Book Now!Have you ever laid in bed exhausted, only to feel your heart racing, your jaw clenching, your mind spinning faster with every passing minute, and that the sheets are just too damn hot? I have. And if you have too, you know the frustration, it feels like your body didn’t get the memo that it’s bedtime.
There are many reasons for the body to experience insomnia, one major player being the fight-or-flight response hijacking your night, and you sweat glands. Let’s unpack what’s really going on, and how new research (plus some somatic therapy tricks) can help you finally find rest.
Here’s the science-y part: when your body senses stress, whether it’s a looming deadline, financial worry, or even an unresolved memory, your sympathetic nervous system (SNS) takes over. Adrenaline and cortisol flood your bloodstream. Your muscles tense. Your heart speeds up. Your brain goes on high alert.
That’s great if you’re about to sprint away from danger. But when you’re lying under a weighted blanket at 11:00 p.m.? Not so much.
Worse, over time your brain can start associating the bed itself with stress. Instead of being a place of safety, it becomes a trigger. This is called conditioned hyperarousal, and it’s a core feature of chronic insomnia.
Here’s what’s happening in your body when fight-or-flight collides with bedtime:
1. Cortisol stays elevated: Normally, cortisol decreases at night, paving the way for melatonin to rise. But when you’re experiencing stress, cortisol hangs around like an overstimulated roommate.
2. Melatonin gets suppressed: Cortisol and adrenaline interfere with melatonin production, the hormone that tells your body, “Okay, lights out.”
3. Core body temperature doesn’t drop: Deep sleep requires a cooling of the body. Stress keeps your system “heated” and alert.
4. Muscle tension feeds arousal: That tight jaw, clenched shoulders, or fluttery chest is quite literally sending a message to your brain: “Not safe. Stay awake.”
This isn’t “in your head.” It’s in your nervous system.
Recent studies are painting a clearer picture of how movement and body regulation can bring sleep back online:
1. Strength training in older adults improved sleep quality by 35% more than aerobic exercise. Researchers suggest that engaging large muscle groups may help recalibrate the nervous system and deepen slow-wave sleep. (NIC)
2. Daily exercise and circadian rhythms: A 2025 University of Texas study found that regular daily movement smoothed melatonin release and stabilized body temperature cycles, two cornerstones of sleep regulation. (UT)
3. Somatic therapies like Somatic Experiencing and body-based mindfulness show promise in easing chronic stress patterns by down-regulating the amygdala (which, among many jobs, is our “danger” alarm) and activating the ventral vagal system - the branch of the parasympathetic nervous system linked with safety and social connection.
Together, the science is clear: the body isn’t just a passenger in sleep, it’s the driver.
Somatic therapy takes a body-up approach in addressing stored tension, stress, and fear. Trauma researchers like Peter Levine have shown that when animals experience threat, they often shake or tremble afterward, releasing the excess energy (Beyond the Podcast). Humans moving within today’s modern battlefield on the other hand, tend to hold it in or lack a perceived safe space for release. That held energy shows up as in ways such as tight muscles, elevated heart rate, restless tossing, or the classic “tired but wired” feeling.
By gently tuning into the body, rather than fighting against it, we can help the nervous system switch from survival mode into rest mode.
Here’s a somatic-inspired practice you can try tonight. It blends awareness and body science in a surprisingly effective way:
1. Get Comfortable: Lie down, close your eyes, and take a slow breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Ideally five seconds in, and seven seconds out.
2. Find the Tension: Scan your body. Maybe it’s your jaw, chest, or shoulders. Just notice one spot that feels tight or restless.
3. Find the Calm: Now shift your focus to a part of your body that feels neutral or relaxed, maybe your hands, your feet, or your belly.
4. Pendulate: Gently move your attention back and forth, tense spot, calm spot, tense spot, calm spot. This is called pendulation in somatic therapy.
5. Release on the Exhale: Imagine tension slowly draining from the tight spot into the calm one. . Each breath out, picture that excess energy melting away. Or, if it works better, that on each exhale the calm spot is covering and soothing the tense spot.
6. Rest in Balance: After a few rounds, let your attention rest in the easeful spot. Notice the shift.
7. Take Stock: does the tense spot feel a little smaller? A little more manageable?
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Insomnia isn’t about weak willpower or bad sleep hygiene. It’s often about a nervous system stuck in fight-or-flight. The good news? Your body has built-in ways to reset.
1. Science shows movement, strength training, and daily rhythm improve sleep quality (NIH).
2. Somatic practices help discharge stored tension and retrain the nervous system toward safety.
3. Small bedtime rituals, like the tension-to-ease exercise, can gradually rewire the body’s sleep response.
So tonight, instead of fighting for sleep, invite it gently. Try one of these exercises, listen to your body, and allow yourself to drift into rest when it feels ready. Sometimes the softest approaches are the most powerful. Sleep will come, not by force, but by ease.
Living and working in Tkaronto (Toronto), on the traditional and ancestral territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit (under Treaty 13), and the unceded territory of the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. It is also now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.
Monica is an actor, writer, and in-training Certified Health and Wellness Coach with a specialization in Women’s Health. Before moving into health and wellness, Monica completed her BFA from the University of British Columbia, followed by extensive training in movement-based practices such as the Lucid Body Technique and Rasa Aesthetics. During this time, battles with chronic health conditions would lead her down the path of holistic wellness, Polyvagal Theory and Somatic practices.
With a goal to make wellness practices holistic, accessible, and rooted in compassion, Monica utilizes her background across physical practices, behavior change, and coaching to promote a self-efficacy model of wellness within her work. She is excited to be learning and working alongside SSC to promote healthy workplaces, community, and connection.
