Many of us live with a constant undercurrent of stress.
Restless sleep, anxious thoughts, low energy, or feeling constantly “on edge” often get dismissed as normal. But when these symptoms linger for weeks or months, they may be signs you’re stuck in survival mode.
Survival mode is controlled by your autonomic nervous system. Instead of operating from a place of safety, growth, and connection, your body shifts into patterns of fear, protection, and scarcity. Learning to recognize these signs is the first step toward moving out of survival mode and restoring balance, resilience, and calm.
Signs You’re Stuck in Survival Mode
According to Polyvagal Theory, survival mode occurs when your nervous system detects threats, real or perceived, and automatically activates protective responses. These shifts aren’t conscious choices; they’re automatic survival strategies. The two main responses are:
Sympathetic Activation (Fight/Flight):
Your body mobilizes energy for action. Signs may include:
- Racing heart or shallow breathing
- Restlessness, anxiousness, or irritability
- Digestive upset
- Difficulty sitting still or relaxing
This state often feels like being constantly “on edge” or unable to calm down.
Dorsal Vagal Activation (Shutdown/Freeze):
When a threat feels overwhelming, your nervous system can hit the brakes. Common signs are:
- Exhaustion, numbness, or brain fog
- Hopelessness or disconnection
- Low blood pressure and poor digestion
- Cold hands and feet or chronic fatigue
This state often feels like being drained, checked out, or unable to engage with life.
Repeated patterns of anxiousness, constant hyper-vigilance, or overwhelming fatigue are all strong signs that your nervous system is stuck in survival mode.
Why Survival Mode Matters
Remaining in survival mode comes at a cost. When your nervous system stays in this state, it diverts energy away from growth, recovery, digestion, and immune function. Over time, the effects of survival mode can lead to burnout, chronic illness, and mental health challenges. Instead of supporting healing and connection, your body is locked into preparing for danger.
The good news: you can shift out of survival mode. By activating your vagus nerve, the key regulator of the parasympathetic “rest and digest” state, you can guide your body back toward balance, resilience, and thriving.
What to Do When You’re Stuck in Survival Mode
One of the most powerful ways to reset your nervous system is through the breath. As I explain in my book, Activate Your Vagus Nerve, nearly every practice for calming the survival response comes back to this foundation. The vagus nerve, your body’s main switchboard for regulating safety and stress, responds directly to how you breathe.
Breathing with awareness and intention helps signal to your brain and body that it is safe. Slow, deep diaphragmatic breathing lowers heart rate, increases vagal tone, and resets the stress response. Practices such as resonance breathing (inhaling and exhaling to a set rhythm), humming with breath, or extending the exhale are simple but powerful ways to guide your system back to balance.
A parasympathetic breath pattern has three key characteristics:
- Nasal breathing: Breathing through the nose supports oxygen regulation and activates calming pathways.
- Diaphragmatic breathing: Engaging the diaphragm (rather than relying on chest, shoulder, or neck muscles) signals relaxation and reduces tension.
- Longer exhales: Inhalation activates the sympathetic nervous system, while exhalation activates the parasympathetic system, including the vagus nerve. Extending the exhale is one of the quickest ways to shift out of survival mode.
Check your breathing pattern right now…
- Put one hand on your chest and the other hand on your belly
- Take three breaths in and out, through your nose
- If your chest hand rises more, you’re in a stress-driven breathing pattern. If your belly hand rises more, you’re using your diaphragm and activating the parasympathetic system.
Conscious breathing is the most accessible daily tool we have to shift out of survival mode.
Electrical Vagus Nerve Stimulation: Accelerating the Shift
While the breath is foundational for calming the vagus nerve, many people find that non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) or electrical vagus nerve stimulation (eVNS) can help accelerate their recovery from survival mode. Devices such as Truvaga provide gentle, targeted stimulation to the vagus nerve, enhancing its signaling capacity and reinforcing the body’s natural shift into parasympathetic “rest-digest-recover” states.
When paired with breathwork and other lifestyle practices, vagus nerve stimulation acts as a catalyst, helping the body break free from chronic patterns of stress more efficiently. Many individuals report improvements in mood, energy, digestion, and overall resilience with regular use.
The Path Forward: From Survival Mode to Thrive
Survival mode is not a personal flaw. It is your body doing its best to protect you, often long after the immediate danger has passed. By recognizing the signs, whether it’s the hyper-alert tension of sympathetic fight-or-flight or the drained exhaustion of dorsal vagal shutdown—you can begin to apply practical tools for change.
Start with the breath. Layer in small daily practices that remind your nervous system it is safe. Support your journey with new technologies, such as Truvaga, when appropriate. Over time, you can retrain your body to spend more time in the thrive state—where healing, creativity, and connection flourish.
To help you begin, here’s a simple breathing practice you can use anytime to reset and rebalance.
4-7-8 Breathing: A Simple Practice to Reset and Rebalance
Here is a practical breath exercise drawn from my first book, mentioned above. The 4-7-8 breathing pattern helps balance your autonomic nervous system by elongating the exhale, the key trigger that activates the calming vagal response.
How to practice:
- Find a comfortable seated position with your spine erect but relaxed.
- Close your eyes gently and settle into natural breathing for a few moments.
- Inhale quietly through your nose for a count of 4.
- Hold your breath softly for a count of 7.
- Slowly exhale completely through your mouth for a count of 8, making a soft whooshing sound.
- Repeat this cycle 4-6 times or until you feel your nervous system soften and your body relax.
This simple rhythm signals safety, allowing your body to move out of fight, flight, or freeze states. With regular practice, it strengthens your vagus nerve’s ability to bring you back to balance during stress or overwhelm.
Prioritize daily breathwork like this, and consider integrating supportive technologies such as Truvaga for even deeper nervous system balance. Over time, you’ll witness your system shifting from survival mode toward a vibrant state of thriving.
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