Episode 111: Chronic Stress Symptoms: Why You Feel Fine Until You Don’t
Stress doesn’t always feel like stress. Many people living with chronic stress symptoms are still functioning, coping, and getting through their days until suddenly they can’t. In this episode of The Good Health Podcast, Nicole Good explains why stress is not just psychological, but a biological load that affects your nervous system, hormones, sleep, digestion, immunity, and recovery long before burnout or breakdown appears.
You’ll learn the difference between acute stress and chronic stress, why the body is designed to adapt to short-term challenges but not constant activation, and how stress chemistry like cortisol and adrenaline can mask what your body is really experiencing. We explore why so many people say “I feel fine” even while their system is under strain, and why that feeling of “fine” is often the result of compensation, not regulation.
This episode answers questions like:
“What are the first signs of chronic stress?”
“How does stress affect the body biologically?”
“Is stress only psychological or physiological?”
“Why does stress cause sleep problems and gut issues?”
“How can I tell if stress is harmful or normal?”
This episode will help you recognise the early and subtle signs of chronic stress without self-blame or fear. If you’ve been pushing through, normalising symptoms, or wondering why rest doesn’t seem to restore you anymore, this conversation offers clarity, validation, and a more compassionate way to understand what your body has been responding to. It also includes an invitation to the Good Health Studio, a paced and structured space for building stress resilience without switching your life off.
DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast and related website is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice. It is not intended to be used to diagnose or treat, instead it is designed to help educate and inspire. Always seek the advice of a professional medical practitioner or qualified health practitioner. Never ignore or disregard advice given to you based on information in this podcast or related website and do not delay in seeking medical advice.
Timestamps:
[01:30] - Chronic Stress as a Physiological State
Why chronic stress is not “in your head,” but a biological response involving the nervous system, hormones, immune function, and metabolism.
[04:25] - Acute vs Chronic Stress: What the Body Can Actually Handle
The difference between short-term stress that supports performance and long-term stress that leads to nervous system dysregulation and poor recovery.
[08:00] - “I Feel Fine”: Why Chronic Stress Often Goes Unnoticed
How stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline mask symptoms, allowing people to function while the body compensates under strain.
[13:00] - 5 Early Signs of Maladaptive Stress Responses
The subtle symptoms most people miss, including irritability, sleep disruption, poor recovery, gut changes, and rising inflammation.
[17:45] - How Chronic Stress Signalling Affects the Body
How ongoing stress reshapes nervous system bias, cortisol rhythms, immune activity, inflammation, and energy metabolism.
[22:00] - Regulation Before Optimisation: Supporting Stress Properly
Why healing chronic stress requires nervous system regulation first, not more effort, productivity, or willpower.
“One of the reasons chronic stress is so often missed is because people are still functioning. They’re coping, getting through their days, meeting responsibilities, and from the outside — and even from the inside — it looks like resilience. But coping doesn’t mean your body isn’t under strain. It often means your system has been compensating for longer than you realise.”
Essential learnings from this episode…
Chronic stress is a biological state, not a mindset problem.
Chronic stress symptoms arise from ongoing nervous system activation, hormone signalling changes, immune shifts, and metabolic adaptation, not personal weakness or poor coping.
Feeling “fine” does not mean your body is not under stress. Many people feel productive and capable while their body compensates under chronic stress, borrowing from recovery to maintain function.
The body is designed to handle short bursts of stress followed by recovery, but long-term activation leads to dysregulation and reduced resilience.
Irritability, poor recovery, sleep disruption, gut symptoms, and low-grade inflammation are early biological signals, not random or isolated issues.
Chronic stress doesn’t show up in just one symptom. It impacts sleep, digestion, immunity, inflammation, energy, and emotional regulation simultaneously.
True stress recovery begins by supporting nervous system regulation and safety, allowing the body to return to flexibility, repair, and resilience.
EPISODE 111
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