How to Regulate Your Nervous System as a Stressed Mum

Motherhood is a constant cycle of giving—physically, emotionally, and mentally. But when the demands never stop, your nervous system stays stuck in stress mode. If you’ve ever felt constantly on edge, easily overwhelmed, or emotionally drained, your nervous system is likely dysregulated.

When this happens, it can feel impossible to stay calm, present, and patient. The good news? You can retrain your nervous system to feel more grounded.

This guide will explain how your nervous system works, why it becomes overwhelmed, and practical ways to regulate it—so you can move through motherhood with more ease, resilience, and peace.

Understanding the Nervous System & Mum Stress

Your nervous system controls your fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response—the automatic reactions your body has to stress.

Here’s how it works:

✔ Fight mode – Snapping, feeling irritable, needing control.

✔ Flight mode – Feeling anxious, restless, unable to relax.

✔ Freeze mode – Feeling numb, stuck, or emotionally checked out.

✔ Fawn mode – People-pleasing, struggling to set boundaries, ignoring your own needs.

As a mum, your nervous system is constantly being activated—from sleep deprivation to overstimulation, decision fatigue to emotional labour. If it never gets a chance to reset, you stay in survival mode, leading to burnout.

How to Regulate Your Nervous System as a Mum

1. Shift Out of Survival Mode with Deep Breathing

When stress spikes, your breathing becomes shallow and fast—which signals to your brain that you’re under threat.

💡 Try this simple exercise:

• Breathe in for four seconds

• Hold for four seconds

• Exhale for eight seconds

• Repeat for five rounds

  
  

This technique tells your nervous system: You’re safe. You can relax now.

2. Reduce Sensory Overload

Mums are constantly overstimulated—crying babies, never-ending noise, messy spaces, multiple people needing your attention at once.

To reset, try reducing sensory input for a few minutes:

• Dim the lights in a room.

• Put on noise-cancelling headphones or step outside.

• Close your eyes and focus on your breath.

  
  

Even two minutes of stillness can help calm an overstimulated nervous system.

3. Use the 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique

When anxiety takes over, grounding brings you back to the present.

✔ Look around and name:

• 5 things you can see

• 4 things you can feel

• 3 things you can hear

• 2 things you can smell

• 1 thing you can taste

  
  

This method helps break the stress loop and re-centre your mind.

4. Shake Off Stress with Movement

Stress is stored in the body. If you don’t release it, it builds up—leading to tension, headaches, and irritability.

Instead of ignoring it, try shaking it off (literally).

💡 Try this:

• Stand up and shake your arms and legs for 30 seconds.

• Stretch your spine with a big inhale and exhale.

• Put on your favourite song and dance for one minute.

  
  

Movement completes the stress cycle and signals to your body that the danger has passed.

5. Hug Yourself (Or Someone You Love)

Physical touch instantly calms the nervous system by releasing oxytocin—the “safety” hormone.

✔ Give yourself a big, deep hug for 30 seconds.

✔ Hug your child, partner, or pet.

✔ If you’re alone, press your palms together and hold gently—this mimics the calming effect of touch.

6. Practice "The Long Exhale"

When your child is screaming or everything feels overwhelming, your body tenses up automatically. Instead of reacting, try this:

• Take a deep inhale through your nose

• Exhale slowly and fully through your mouth

• Repeat three times

  
  

Long exhalations lower heart rate and reduce stress hormones, helping you respond rather than react.

7. Let Go of the Guilt & Prioritise Rest

Many mums struggle to slow down because society has conditioned us to believe that rest equals laziness. But your nervous system needs rest to function.

💡 Try reframing rest as:

✔ Productive – A well-rested mum makes better decisions

.✔ Necessary – You can’t pour from an empty cup.

✔ A right, not a luxury – You don’t need to “earn” rest.

Start small—five minutes of stillness, a quiet cup of tea, putting your phone away at night. Your body will thank you.

Final Thoughts: You Deserve to Feel Safe & Calm

Your nervous system is not broken—it’s just overwhelmed. But with small, consistent changes, you can retrain your body to feel safe, grounded, and at ease.

✔ You deserve rest.

✔ You deserve peace.

✔ You deserve to feel like YOU.

If you’re craving support, tools, and a community of mums who get it, join Carol App today. Let’s take the weight off together.

📲 Download Carol App for FREE on IOS and Android now and start regulating your nervous system today.