How Does Your Body Remember Trauma?
Most of us recognize trauma as a mental health issue. While there’s no doubt that experiencing a traumatic event takes a toll on your mental well-being, it’s important to understand that it impacts your body, too.
Unresolved trauma can actually get trapped in your body, causing a myriad of health issues—some of which can even manifest years after you first experience the trauma.
Understanding how your body remembers trauma can help you start to process and eventually resolve it. If you have underlying conditions and you’re not sure where they stem from, consider that it could have something to do with your mental well-being and the traumatic experience(s) your mind and body are holding onto.
Let’s take a closer look at how your body remembers trauma and what you can do to release it.
Changes in Your Brain
The reason the body remembers trauma is often the result of real, physical changes in the brain caused by traumatic experiences. The three areas of your brain impacted by trauma are the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex.
The amygdala is responsible for emotion regulation. When you go through a traumatic experience, it overstimulates the amygdala and causes it to grow in size. This can impact how your memories are stored and often makes memories of the traumatic event more vivid and extreme.
The hippocampus shrinks after a traumatic experience as its connection to the amygdala weakens. That can create extreme reactions to triggers and might make you more susceptible to “re-living” negative memories.
The prefrontal cortex is the part of your brain responsible for rational thoughts and decision-making. However, after experiencing trauma, it’s harder for the prefrontal cortex to make sense of some things. That can result in you constantly feeling like you’re in fight-or-flight mode.
How Brian Changes Impact the Body
So, how do these physical changes in the brain impact the rest of your body?
First, understand when you experience triggers, you might also experience immediate physical reactions. Some of the most common include:
Chest pain
Muscle tightness
Brain fog
Headaches
You might also experience longer-lasting physical issues caused by trauma stored within the body. That often includes muscle aches and pains. They commonly occur in the stomach, low back, chest, and shoulders but can occur anywhere.
It’s also common for trauma survivors to experience gastrointestinal issues, including frequent stomach aches.
What Can You Do?
If you’ve experienced trauma at any point in life and you’re concerned that your body is storing it somehow, the first thing to do is ensure there aren’t any other underlying health conditions causing those problems.
Once you’ve been cleared of other conditions, the best thing you can do is develop a strategy that focuses on healing your trauma while caring for your physical well-being.
Practicing self-care is important for your daily health. Things like getting enough sleep, staying physically active, and maintaining a healthy diet can help you feel better physically. Exercise can also help to release some of the strain and tension in your muscles caused by trauma, too.
Most importantly, consider reaching out for professional help. It’s possible to heal from trauma—mentally and physically. But it’s very difficult to do on your own, especially if you’ve been struggling with its effects for years.
Working with a therapist will allow you to get to the root of your trauma issues while learning how to manage your symptoms and eventually heal. Your trauma doesn’t have to define who you are or confine you to a limited life of physical pain. Feel free to contact me for more information about trauma therapy if you’re ready to start the next chapter of your life and find freedom from the past.