Perimenopause, Menopause, and the Nervous System: Why Fight, Flight, and Freeze Increase—and How Somatic Therapy Helps

Why Do I Feel Like My Body Is Suddenly on High Alert?

Many women entering perimenopause or menopause describe a sudden shift in how they experience their body and emotions. Anxiety may appear out of nowhere. Sleep becomes elusive. Irritability feels sharper. Emotions feel closer to the surface—or, at times, completely absent. Some women experience moments of panic, heart racing, or a sense of being overwhelmed by everyday stressors that once felt manageable.

For others, the experience is quieter but just as unsettling: fatigue that doesn’t lift, brain fog, withdrawal, or a sense of feeling disconnected from themselves.

When these changes happen, it’s common to wonder:
“What is wrong with me?”
“Why does my body feel like it’s betraying me?”

The truth is, what many women experience during perimenopause and menopause is not a personal failure or emotional weakness. It is often a nervous system response to profound internal change.

A Brief Overview: Fight, Flight, and Freeze

The nervous system is designed to protect us. Through the fight, flight, and freeze responses, the body mobilizes when it senses threat—whether that threat is external (danger in the environment) or internal (changes happening within the body).

• Fight may show up as irritability, anger, tension, or a low tolerance for stress.

• Flight often looks like anxiety, panic, restlessness, racing thoughts, or insomnia.

• Freeze can appear as exhaustion, numbness, brain fog, shutdown, or feeling emotionally flat.

These responses are not signs that something is wrong. They are adaptive survival mechanisms. The nervous system doesn’t distinguish between an external threat and unfamiliar internal sensations—it simply responds.

What Changes in the Body During Perimenopause and Menopause

Perimenopause and menopause bring significant hormonal shifts, particularly in estrogen and progesterone, which play important roles in nervous system regulation.

Estrogen supports serotonin, mood stability, sleep quality, and stress tolerance. As estrogen fluctuates and declines, the nervous system can become more sensitive to stress. Cortisol levels may increase, sleep may become fragmented, and the body’s ability to regulate itself can feel compromised.

These changes affect:

• the brain’s stress response

• the vagus nerve

• emotional regulation

• temperature regulation

• sleep and energy levels

From a nervous system perspective, the body is not breaking down—it is adapting to change. But adaptation can feel destabilizing, especially if the nervous system already carries a history of chronic stress or trauma.

Why Hormonal Shifts Can Trigger Fight, Flight, or Freeze

The nervous system is constantly scanning for safety. During perimenopause and menopause, unfamiliar internal sensations—hot flashes, heart palpitations, dizziness, sleep deprivation—can be interpreted as threat.

When the body doesn’t recognize what’s happening, it may respond with survival energy.

This is why many women say:

• “I don’t feel like myself anymore.”

• “My reactions feel bigger than the situation.”

• “I feel on edge all the time.”

If there is a history of trauma, chronic stress, or long-term self-overriding, these responses can feel even more intense. The nervous system isn’t overreacting—it’s responding to uncertainty.

How Fight, Flight, and Freeze Can Look During Perimenopause and Menopause

Fight

• irritability or rage

• tension in the jaw, shoulders, or chest

• impatience or emotional reactivity

• feeling easily overwhelmed by others

Flight

• anxiety or panic attacks

• racing thoughts

• restlessness

• insomnia or difficulty winding down

Freeze

• chronic fatigue

• brain fog

• emotional numbness

• withdrawal or shutdown

• feeling disconnected from the body

Many women move between these states rather than staying in just one. This fluctuation can feel disorienting and exhausting.

Why “Pushing Through” Often Makes Symptoms Worse

Our culture often encourages women to override their bodies—to stay productive, pleasant, and resilient no matter what. During perimenopause and menopause, this approach frequently backfires.

When the nervous system is already under strain, pushing through increases activation rather than restoring balance. Symptoms intensify not because you’re failing, but because the body is asking for a different kind of support.

Listening, slowing, and responding with curiosity are often far more regulating than forcing calm.

How Somatic Therapy Supports Nervous System Regulation During Hormonal Transition

Somatic therapy works bottom-up, engaging the body and nervous system rather than relying solely on insight or cognitive strategies.

In therapy, clients learn to:

• track internal sensations

• recognize nervous system states

• increase tolerance for internal experiences

• respond to the body rather than override it

Just as importantly, somatic therapy emphasizes co-regulation.

The Role of Co-Regulation in the Therapy Space

Co-regulation refers to the way one nervous system can help another settle. In a trauma-informed therapy relationship, the therapist’s presence, pacing, and attunement provide a sense of safety that the nervous system can borrow.

For many women—especially those who have spent years self-regulating or caring for others—this experience is profoundly healing.

During perimenopause and menopause, when internal cues feel unreliable, co-regulation helps restore trust. The nervous system learns that it doesn’t have to manage everything alone. Regulation becomes relational, not something to achieve through willpower.

Over time, this supports greater emotional flexibility, steadiness, and self-compassion.

How Yoga-Informed Somatic Movement Supports Nervous System Regulation

While I am not a certified yoga instructor, I incorporate gentle, yoga-informed somatic movement into my therapeutic work when appropriate. This is not about teaching yoga poses or performance-based movement. Instead, it draws from principles such as breath awareness, slow movement, and inward listening to support nervous system regulation.

These movements are offered within a trauma-informed therapeutic framework, emphasizing choice, pacing, and safety. Clients are invited to notice sensation rather than push through discomfort, and to respond to the body’s cues rather than override them.

Yoga-informed somatic movement can help reduce sympathetic activation, support vagal tone, and rebuild trust in the body—particularly during perimenopause and menopause, when internal signals may feel unfamiliar or unsettling.

These practices are offered as therapeutic support and are not a substitute for medical care or formal yoga instruction.

Signs Your Nervous System May Need Support During Menopause

• feeling chronically overwhelmed

• increased emotional reactivity

• difficulty resting or sleeping

• persistent fatigue

• feeling disconnected from your body

• swings between anxiety and shutdown

These signs are not indications that something is “wrong.” They are invitations for support.

Reframing Menopause as a Nervous System Transition

Rather than viewing menopause as a breakdown, it can be helpful to understand it as a recalibration. The nervous system is adjusting to a new internal landscape.

This transition often brings grief, identity shifts, and emotional complexity alongside physical symptoms. With support, it can also become a period of deeper self-connection, boundary clarification, and renewed relationship with the body.

Supporting Your Body Through Change

If perimenopause or menopause has left you feeling unrecognizable to yourself, you are not alone—and you are not failing.

Your body is responding to change. With education, co-regulation, and gentle somatic support, it is possible to restore a sense of safety, steadiness, and trust.

Your body isn’t betraying you—it’s asking for a different kind of care.