How do we support young people through the mental health challenges they face today? In this insightful episode of Taboo Talk with Sarah, Sarah dives deep into the impact of chronic stress, the nervous system, and the simple yet powerful steps we can take to reclaim balance in our lives. Sarah explores how modern life has conditioned us to operate in a constant state of high alert, leading to anxiety, burnout, and a host of physical and mental health challenges. She shares actionable strategies to reset the nervous system, improve sleep, and reconnect with natural rhythms for overall well-being. If you're struggling with stress, fatigue, or simply feeling out of sync, this episode is packed with valuable insights to help you thrive. 💜 You are not alone, and neither are the young people in your life. Together, we can make a difference.
📌 Key Takeaways: ✔️ The Impact of Chronic Stress – Why our nervous system gets stuck in high alert and how it affects our mental and physical health.
✔️ The Role of the Gut-Brain Connection – How gut health influences mental clarity and emotional stability.
✔️ Natural Rhythms & Healing – Why exposure to natural light, proper sleep, and mindful living are crucial for stress management.
✔️ Practical Stress Reduction Strategies – Simple steps to break free from chronic stress and start thriving.
✔️ Supporting Our Youth – How parents and communities can help young people build resilience and find balance.
💬 Standout Quotes: 🗣️ “We’ve become so used to living in a state of high alert that relaxation feels uncomfortable.”
🗣️ “Mental and physical health are deeply connected—when one suffers, so does the other.”
🗣️ “Small, consistent changes can make a huge impact on stress, sleep, and overall well-being.”
⏳ Key Moments in the Episode: ⏱ 00:00 – Welcome & Introduction to the Episode
⏱ 05:30 – Why We’re Stuck in Fight or Flight Mode
⏱ 12:45 – Understanding the Gut-Brain Connection
⏱ 18:10 – The Role of Natural Rhythms & Circadian Cycles
⏱ 22:35 – How Stress Affects Mental Health & Physical Well-being
⏱ 28:50 – Simple Steps to Reset Your Nervous System
⏱ 33:20 – Final Thoughts: You Are Not Alone
🌟 Notable Mentions:
✔️ Amari Products – Natural solutions for stress, gut health, and mental clarity.
✔️ Experts Mentioned – Ari Witten, Jason Prow, Alex Howard on the importance of aligning with natural rhythms.
✔️ Mental Health Support Services – If this episode brought up heavy emotions, please reach out:
National Support Services (Australia):
📞 Lifeline Australia – 13 11 14 | Lifeline Online Chat
📞 Beyond Blue – 1300 22 4636 | Beyond Blue Online Chat
📞 Suicide Call Back Service – 1300 659 467 | Suicide Callback Online
📞 Kids Helpline – 1800 55 1800 | Kids Helpline Online
Tasmania-Specific Support:
📞 Access Mental Health Helpline – 1800 332 388 | More Information
📞 Emergency Services – In crisis, call 000
📢 Call to Action: ✨ Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.
📌 Subscribe & leave a review to help us reach more people with these important conversations.
💬 Join the conversation! DM Sarah or connect on social media—your story matters.
📍 Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify & YouTube!
#TabooTalkWithSarah #StressRelief #MentalHealthMatters #GutBrainConnection #CommunityHealing #BreakTheSilence #YouAreNotAlone
Sarah Jordan-Ross (00:01) Hey everybody, welcome back to Taboo Talk with Sarah. The podcast that breaks the silence, fosters hope and talks about the tough stuff so you never have to feel alone. For those of you who are new here, I'm your host, Sarah Jordan Ross. I'm a wife, mom to three amazing boys and I have been in the health and wellbeing space for 25 years as a remedial massage therapist, wellness coach and strong advocate for
having those difficult conversations because I think that's where healing starts. Now in my last episode, I talked with John O'Neill about youth mental health and how so many of us, young people and adults alike, are struggling because we've become used to living in a state of constant high alert.
get into a state where our nervous system switches off. We've become normalized to stress and busyness to the point that it's rest and relaxation that feels uncomfortable for us.
I get it, I've been there, but we run into problems when we stay in that heightened state for too long. And today we're going to talk about what happens when we do that and what we can do to start realigning with our body's own natural systems and get back into more of a state of balance so that
that seesaw between I've got to run away from the saber-toothed tiger that's trying to eat me, that is our nervous system response to stress, and I'm safely back in my cave and I can relax and my body can repair. Because that's how it's supposed to work. We're not supposed to all our time running away from a saber-toothed tiger, but a lot of times...
We do.
Before we get into all of that, I'm going to talk a little bit about something that's made a big difference in my own journey. Now, if you've been listening for a little while, you know I'm all about natural solutions for most things, particularly for stress, for our gut health, and for our mental clarity because they're all linked together.
And that's why I love Amaro's products so much that I became a brand rep or actually a brand ambassador. Is a better way to put it. So when we're talking chronic stress, poor sleep and feeling constantly wired, which is what happens when our body is in that fight and flight state for too long. We're talking about what happens with our gut and our brain.
what happens with our hormones and what's happening within our nervous system. And that's where Amari's products really shine. Happy juice is my go-to for stress relief because that specific blend of nootropics and gut brain support helps to keep us balanced even on the craziest days. And as a mom of three boys, it can get crazy sometimes.
Mentor Sink is a we use to help with that communication between the gut and the brain because sometimes they don't talk to each other as well as they should. And then one of my favorites is Kids Calm.
Now, it's a non-melatonin based sleep aid that helps to naturally get your kids to relax and unwind. And let's be honest, when they relax and unwind and they're getting good sleep, so do we. So it's perfect for those days when you just need a little help getting them to calm down.
and the difference that these products have made in my life is why I became a brand ambassador. If you would like to know more about that, I've put some links in the comments below and in the show notes so you'll be able to find that information there. Because when we're talking about reclaiming our balance, we need to start from the inside out and
We start with making small changes. It doesn't have to be something huge. So here's the thing. When we're in constant fight or flight, when we're in that high alert, where's the danger coming from? Our nervous system gets stuck. It gets stuck on overdrive, which means we're getting poor sleep because our body just doesn't know how to shut down anymore.
it doesn't know how to get into that rest and repair state because it very rarely if ever really gets there. We have increased anxiety because our stress hormones, particularly cortisol, are constantly flooding our bodies.
That then leads to fatigue and burnout because our body is using all its energy to run away from that saber-toothed tiger that's trying to eat us. It's using all of its energy to stay in survival mode and it never gets into that rest and repair state. So we end up burning ourselves out.
when we're burnt out, our immune system gets weakened as well. But the big thing, and I think it's sometimes the trigger for the rest of it, one of the basic things that happens when we're in fight and flight, our digestive system has all of the blood from it diverted to the muscles so we can fight the threat or run away from it.
Because when you're running away from a threat, digestion's not seen as being all that essential.
a huge percentage of our neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, GABA are manufactured in our gut. So we need our gut healthy and we need those communication channels between our gut and our brain working. Otherwise we run into problems.
But the thing is, we have gotten so used to living in that constant state of high alert that we don't even realize anymore it's not normal. And sometimes what can happen when we do have those brief moments where we are calm and peaceful, where things aren't crazy, that's where we get uncomfortable because, hang on, waiting for that other shoe to drop, what's going to?
What's gonna go wrong?
That's not normal and we need to start doing things about it to start getting back in sync with our bodies and in sync with how our natural cycles are supposed to work.
So experts like Ari Witten, Jason Prow, Alex Howard, emphasize the importance of reconnecting with our natural rhythms. Our circadian rhythm, so our sleep-wake cycles. Our natural rise and fall in energy. And getting in tune with those and working with them instead of working
against ourselves. So one of the biggest disruptors to that is the fact that we spend an awful lot of time inside in blue light rather than outside in natural light. So what can we do about that and why is that even important? Natural light regulates our sleep-wake cycles.
It tells our body when to wake up and when to go to sleep. At one point, we lived in tune with those natural rhythms. We got up with the sun, we went to bed with the sun.
and we spent the majority of our time outside, our working time outside, that has shifted and we spend a significant amount of time inside and we don't get that natural daily exposure to the sun or at least not in the ways that we once did. Now, lack of sunlight affects our mood as well as our sleep, partly because it affects
our sleep. And too much artificial light, particularly at night, adds a further disruption. I want to talk a little bit about a thing called SAD, or Seasonal Affective Disorder, and the connection that it has to our sleep-wake cycles and to our mood.
When people don't get enough natural light, they end up getting sad. Sad is more common in the darker months of the year where we're not getting outside and not getting that natural light.
And what happens is we sleep more, but we don't feel rested. Aaron's, we suffer from more insomnia or we go to sleep okay, but then we wake up constantly because our system is just dysregulated. And then because we're not sleeping properly, we're wandering around tired.
and foggy and just having trouble getting anything done. That sleep deprivation then worsens any anxiety and depression that you have going on. The chronic stress weakens your immune system. So then you end up getting every cough and cold that's going around. And those mental health problems of
depression, fatigue, anxiety, they lead to physical problems as well.
a study in the journal of the American Medical Association actually found that people with depression are more likely to be hospitalized because of...
heart disease, autoimmune conditions and chronic pain. So why is that? It's because our mental and our physical health are intimately linked. If you're having a problem in one area, chances are you're having a problem in another.
So what can we do about it? We can learn a lot from people who live in what are called the blue zones. Now people in these areas live very long, very healthy lives. So what is it they're doing different to the rest of us? Well, some of it is that they spend more time outside moving with those natural rhythms of light and dark.
they prioritize rest and recovery rather than glorifying busyness. So they're not big on being busy for busy sake. They weren't just as hard as the rest of us, just in different ways. And they actually take that time out to get into rest and repair. They also eat in alignment with their natural ebbs and flows of energy. They're not
overly prone for eating really late at night. Because you're supposed to be sleeping then.
They also have really strong social connections. It's not unusual to find groups in these areas of the world having meals together, celebrating life together, but not just on big occasions like birthdays and Christmas, but just whenever because they can.
Guess what? You don't have to move to the blue zone to get these same kind of benefits for your health. You just need to start tuning into your body and to its natural rhythms and the natural rhythms of the world around you. So simple, easy things you can do. Start with getting more natural light.
And it doesn't have to be a huge amount of time spent outside. But first thing in the morning, go outside. Get that kick of natural light.
When you have a break in your day, go outside, get a breath of fresh air and see the sun. Now I know when I worked in England, I made a conscious effort, particularly in the winter, to take my breaks outside because I knew if I didn't, because of my work hours and that the sun keeps really strange hours in the Northern Hemisphere in winter.
What's this thing with not being up before 9 o'clock and being gone again by 3? I knew if I didn't make an effort to go outside, I could go weeks without seeing the sun. And that's not good for me and I know that. It's not good for anybody. So just get outside, get some sun. It helps with your vitamin D levels too. And a lot of Tasmanians, vitamin D levels can get pretty low. So...
Just make sure that you're getting a little bit of time outside. If you are in an area where sun exposure can be a problem, put a hat on, wear your sunscreen. It's more about seeing that light and the effect that that has on you. And it being natural light instead of a computer screen.
prioritize getting restive sleep.
to get your sleep cycles right. So simple little things, set yourself up with a really good bedtime routine.
Go to bed at the same time. Set up your environment so it's somewhere you want to be. And maybe get those forms of artificial light like computers and devices outside of the bedroom so that it is a place for that restorative rest, not I'm just gonna check my emails and get more stimulated before you go to sleep. So you want to
minimize that heightened arousal before you go to sleep because that's just going to keep you awake for longer.
So you want to have that, that you're calming down and spend more time in nature.
If sitting beside a river or going for a walk in the bush or watching the waves on the ocean is what makes you calm and peaceful then do more of that. It helps to reset your nervous system. It helps to bring those stress levels down. It helps to level out your cortisol production because you're not
always stressed, you're getting into that rest and repair state. And that's what's really important is knowing when you're functioning on high alert or when you're resting and making sure that you spend a little bit more time in the rest and repair state than you do running away from sabre-teethed tigers.
because we're not supposed to run on empty. We're not supposed to be stressed out of our brains all of the time. There is time when we are meant to be in fight or flight. Stuff happens and you need that little bit of stress to get things done. But you also need to give your body time to repair.
And it's generally pretty good at that when we give it the right things it needs to support it. So that's what you need to start doing is remembering that.
You deserve to thrive, not just survive. And your body is constantly talking to you, telling you what it needs. So tune in and listen to it and give it the support and help that it needs.
So that's, they're the small steps that you can take to realign your body with its natural rhythms and start shifting from being in survival mode to being in thriving mode.
just take one small step because change happens one small step at a time and it's important just to take those steps and they don't have to be huge sweeping changes they can just be a little thing like adding a walk into your day getting outside going to bed a little bit earlier
switching off your devices so you're not being exposed to blue light for so much of the time.
Just take those little steps because they are what really matters. But until next time, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other and remember your story matters. So please keep telling it. If anything I've said today has resonated with you
please give us a like and a share. Put your comments below of what really resonated with you and what you'd like me to talk about in future episodes. Just so I can make this podcast be what you guys really want it to be. That I can be talking about the things that really matter to you.
Until then, I will see you next week. Take care of yourselves and please just keep talking because your story matters and we want to hear it. Bye for now.