The Nervous System & Hormones Connection
Why your anxiety, cycles, and burnout might have more to do with your stress response than your hormones themselves.
We tend to think of hormones as these unpredictable, moody messengers that rule everything from our cycles to our cravings. And while they do carry major influence, what many women don’t realize is this: your hormones don’t act on their own. They respond. And what they’re often responding to… is your nervous system.
Let’s break it down.
Your Nervous System Is the Boss
At its core, your nervous system is the master regulator. It takes in information from your environment (like stress, safety cues, or lack thereof), processes it, and then signals your body how to respond. When your nervous system perceives threat—whether it’s a screaming inbox, a history of trauma, or simply never having a moment to yourself—it activates a survival response. This is where we see things like:
Elevated cortisol
Suppressed ovulation
Blood sugar swings
Thyroid disruption
Adrenal fatigue (or better said, HPA-axis dysfunction)
… In other words: stress doesn’t just “affect your hormones.” It runs the show.
The HPA Axis: Hormones’ Messenger Line
The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis is a feedback loop between your brain and your stress hormones. If your nervous system is stuck in a stress state, this axis stays “on,” flooding your system with survival chemicals that hijack your body’s natural hormone rhythm.
This is why so many women experience:
Irregular cycles
PMS, PMDD
Low libido
Fatigue that isn’t fixed with sleep
Hair loss, gut issues, and mood swings
The fix isn’t just balancing hormones—it’s shifting your nervous system state.
Regulation First, Then Balance
Here’s what I see in my practice: women who’ve tried every supplement, every hormone panel, every restrictive diet… but no one’s ever supported their regulation. No one has asked: What state is your nervous system living in every day?
Your body is always adapting to the signals it receives. If your nervous system is stuck in a fight-or-flight loop—constantly scanning for danger, pushing through overwhelm, never fully “off”—your hormones will adapt to that stress state, not a healing one.
This is where nervous system regulation becomes foundational.
Regulation means shifting from survival mode into a state of safety and connection—what’s known as the parasympathetic state, or "rest-and-digest." In this state, your brain stops pumping out emergency signals and starts prioritizing long-term functions like digestion, fertility, tissue repair, and emotional balance. This is the environment where your hormones can actually rebalance.
In my office, I use a gentle, frequency-specific technique called Torque Release Technique to work directly with the nervous system. This tonal approach helps the brain integrate stored stress, unwind tension patterns, and recalibrate how it processes input from the body and the world.
But regulation isn’t just about the adjustment—it’s about the whole experience of safety. That might mean slowing down, practicing breathwork, healing attachment patterns, or learning how to listen to your body’s cues again.
Because your hormones aren’t broken.
They’re responding to the story your nervous system is telling.
