Overstimulated Nervous System? What Losing My Remote Taught Me About Rest
The Medicine of Silence
It may come as a surprise that I often crave silence when I work with the voice.
Even when I'm not actively thinking, I feel my mind going, searching, collecting information, and it's overwhelming. If you've felt that hum under your skin, you know an overstimulated nervous system doesn't switch off just because you finally have a free evening.
Here is what worked for me. An overstimulated nervous system, the state where your body stays on alert from constant input, settles when you stop adding more. For me that meant one evening with the lights, TV, laptop, and phone all off, and one morning drive with no music at all. In a 2006 study in the journal Heart, Bernardi, Porta, and Sleight found that two-minute silent pauses produced the lowest blood pressure and slowest heart rate of the entire experiment.
Below is the full story, what I think was happening in my body, and a few ways to try it yourself this week.
What does an overstimulated nervous system feel like?
An overstimulated nervous system feels restless and foggy, like your mind keeps hunting for the next input even when nothing is asking for your attention. Mine had been running that way for a few days. More like a month, if I'm being honest. I'm not the only one: in the American Psychological Association's Stress in America 2023 survey of 3,185 U.S. adults, run by The Harris Poll, 24% rated their average stress an 8 to 10 out of 10, up from 19% in 2019. "Stress in America 2023 survey"
About a week ago, I lost my TV remote. All I wanted was to sit down and splurge on an anime I was in the middle of. If you're curious, here's my latest watch history:
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale
I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taking the Final Boss
May I Ask for One Final Thing
The Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King
An Observation Log of My Fiancée, Who Calls Herself a Villainess
These were all so sweet and funny. Definitely anime for my ladies.
Back to the story. There I was, in the middle of the evening, walking room to room, retracing the previous night's steps. After five minutes I gave up and sat down at my laptop, still racking my brain for what to share in an email or blog after updating my website. I just stared at the screen, still fidgeting, still trying to DO something.
What happened when I finally stopped stimulating myself?
When I stopped adding input, my body settled and I fell asleep fast, which has, historically, not been easy for me. It took a few false starts to get there.
I got up for water. Did another search for the remote. Two minutes that time before I snapped out of it and headed back to the couch. I grabbed my phone, opened Instagram, and closed it again after two seconds. Why am I looking at Instagram?! Why am I even on my laptop right now when it's late enough to go to bed?
I got back up for water. Restless. Annoyed. Then it dawned on me: I needed to stop stimulating myself.
So I sat on my yoga ball with the lights off, the TV off, the laptop closed, and my phone on Do Not Disturb, and I took in the silence. I went to bed shortly after and fell right into slumber.
What is a low-stimulus morning?
A low-stimulus morning is a stretch of time with no music, podcasts, courses, or screens, where you let your senses rest instead of feeding them. The next day I chose one on purpose.
Usually I'm listening to music or catching up on one of the many programs and courses I've signed up for. Sometimes I'm revisiting old content I think will give me a breakthrough, and sometimes I'm quite literally trying to catch up.
Not that morning. I drove to work for 30 minutes with the windows down, feeling the breeze in my hair and the sunshine warming my face. Only ten minutes in, I found myself sharing with God what was on my heart, what was feeling heavy, and that I just needed to feel held.
Why did silence make me cry?
Silence made me cry because my nervous system finally had room to down-regulate, which means the parasympathetic nervous system (the body's "rest and digest" state) takes over from the sympathetic "fight-or-flight" state. Hospital for Special Surgery describes this calming as happening largely through the vagus nerve, which carries signals between your brain and body. "Hospital for Special Surgery describes"
The tears came right after I said I needed to feel held. My body was releasing all of that stimulus.
The research points the same direction. In the 2006 Heart study of 24 adults by Bernardi, Porta, and Sleight, the authors found that a two-minute silent pause between pieces of music brought a deeper relaxation response than the music did, and more than the five minutes of rest at the start of the session. Silence wasn't the absence of something. It was doing something.
Here's what I took from it. If we keep filling the moments we've been longing for, or the moments when we have nothing to do, with something else to do, something else to receive, something else to put into our brains and bodies, we never really relax. And then we wonder why we have so little energy. "2006 study in the journal Heart"
How can you stop overstimulating yourself this week?
Start with one moment, not a whole new lifestyle. Choose one of these and treat it like an appointment with yourself:
Close the loop in the evening. Lights low (candelight preferred), TV off, laptop closed, phone on Do Not Disturb. Sit for ten minutes with nothing to do. A couch, a yoga ball, or the floor all work. Your sleep may thank you: the CDC recommends adults get at least seven hours a night.
Take one input-free drive or walk. No music, no podcast, no course. Windows down if the weather allows.
Notice the reach. When you grab for your phone or laptop, pause and ask what you're hoping it will give you.
Let whatever comes up come up. Tears, yawns, restlessness, a sudden need to nap. It's all part of settling.
For a deeper dive into everyday wonder, see "Finding wonder in ordinary moments," and for the boundaries side of rest, "Self-love as boundaries and kindness."
What if you want to rest with me?
If you want to do this with support, I'm hosting the Field Clearing Experience, a live, 90-minute online session on Sunday, October 25, 2026, at 12:00 PM Eastern. It's an immersive experience for releasing what no longer serves you and resetting your emotional and energetic capacity, so you can move into fall and winter with real rest. Tickets are $11.
Think of it as a controlled burn for your inner field. Fall is a sort of pruning season, and we'll use it to clear space on purpose, at a restful pace, together.
FAQs: Overstimulation, silence, and rest
Q: What are the signs of an overstimulated nervous system? A: Common signs include restlessness, irritability, trouble relaxing even during free time, trouble sleeping, and feeling drained after screens or noise. If these persist or affect your daily life, talk with a healthcare provider.
Q: How long should I sit in silence to feel a difference? A: Start small. The two-minute silent pauses in the 2006 Heart study were enough to shift participants' blood pressure and heart rate, and Hospital for Special Surgery says even 5 to 10 minutes a day of calming, low-input activity can help your parasympathetic nervous system take over. Ten minutes in the evening, like my yoga ball night, is a good place to begin.
Q: Is it normal to cry when you finally slow down? A: It can happen, and it happened to me. When you stop filling every moment with input, feelings that were waiting can surface. Be gentle with yourself, and reach out to a trusted person or professional if it feels like too much.
Q: What is the Field Clearing Experience? A: It's a live, 90-minute online session on Sunday, October 25, 2026, at 12:00 PM Eastern, hosted by Nino of Nchanted Life. We release what no longer serves you and reset your emotional and energetic capacity at a restful pace. Tickets are $11.
Your invitation
You don't have to find the lost remote to find the rest. You can choose one quiet evening, one input-free drive, one honest moment of "I just need to feel held."
And if you'd like company while you do it, come clear the field with me on October 25.
What's one moment you could leave unfilled this week? I'd love to hear.
With Love,
Nino
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