Large studies show that symptoms of depression and anxiety are common around the menopause transition. That doesn’t mean “it’s all in your head”—it means your whole system is changing. Reviews and meta-analyses report high rates of low mood and anxiety in peri/postmenopause, confirming many women’s lived experience rather than dismissing it.
At the same time, sleep disturbances climb (we’re talking trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or both). Multiple reviews estimate that roughly half of midlife women struggle with sleep—often linked to night sweats, temperature changes, and stress. And when sleep goes, mood and cognition follow.
Why Mood, Gut & Sleep Collide: It’s Not Just Hormones
(And why the quiet nerve could be the missing piece)
You may hear that the mood swings, digestional hiccups and sleepless nights around mid-life are just hormones. Yes, hormones are shaping the stage. But often the main actor is a long, winding nerve called the vagus nerve — and the silent pressure of chronic stress or trauma magnifies everything.
Here’s how it works — and how insights from The Nervous System Reset help pull it all together.
The Usual Story… and what it misses
When women move through peri-menopause and menopause, they often experience:
- Lowered mood or anxiety
- Sluggish digestion, bloating, GI discomfort
- Poor sleep: falling asleep or staying asleep are harder
- Increased irritability or emotional reactivity
Hormone shifts (e.g., falling oestrogen) are big factors. They influence brain chemistry, body temperature regulation, sleep-architecture, and the gut microbiome. These changes are well documented.
But here’s what many explanations leave out: the background stress/trauma load and the nervous system’s role.
Because when you’ve carried chronic stress (work demands, family pressure, caregiving, financial uncertainty) or trauma (past abuse, major life shocks, ongoing high alert) your nervous system doesn’t reset easily. What happens is your body’s internal “thermostat” stays too hot or too cold—and that impacts mood, gut, sleep.
The nerve in focus: your vagus nerve
The vagus nerve runs from your brain, down through your neck, into your chest and gut. It’s like a major information highway connecting your brain, heart, gut and lungs. According to Jessica Maguire, it’s “the connection that links mind and body”.
When it’s working well (“good vagal tone”), it helps you:
- Shift out of fight-or-flight and into calm/rest/digest mode
- Digest food smoothly (signals from gut → brain saying “we’re fine”)
- Sleep more easily (parasympathetic system running)
- Regulate mood: you’re less thrown off by internal or external triggers
When it’s not working so well (“low vagal tone” or dysregulation) you might:
- Stay in a chronic stressed state (nervous system stuck in high alert)
- Digest slowly, feel bloated, gut-brain signals get garbled
- Struggle to sleep because your system never really “rests”
- Feel mood swings, anxiety, or low mood because your nervous system is over-reacting (or under-reacting)
Maguire explains that chronic stress and trauma leave a “neurological footprint” that alters how the vagus nerve and overall nervous system respond.
Putting the pieces together: Stress + Mid-life + Gut-brain
Let’s walk through a scenario:
Years of chronic stress or one or more traumatic events keep your nervous system in a heightened state — the “hot” mode (sympathetic) or the “cold/shut-down” mode (dorsal vagal) as Maguire summarises.
That means your body is not optimally digesting, healing, resting. Even if you don’t consciously “feel” stressed all the time, your nervous system is taxed.
Then comes the peri-/menopause transition: hormones shift, the microbiome may change, sleep is disturbed by hot flashes/skin changes/temperature regulation issues.
The vagus nerve (and broader autonomic nervous system) is already under strain from the chronic stress/trauma background, so it struggles to adapt and compensate for the new mid-life changes.
Result: slowed digestion, gut-brain miscommunication, poor sleep, mood fluctuations — and you might think “It’s just hormones” — but in fact your nervous system loop is a major player.
Because digestion, mood, and sleep are all highly sensitive to nervous system regulation:
- Gut: signalling via vagus nerve → inflammation, microbiome changes, motility slow down
- Sleep: if you’re stuck in sympathetic mode, you can’t shift into restorative sleep easily
- Mood: the brain constantly receives messages from the body via vagus; if those messages are stressed/inflamed/slow, mood gets affected
What to do: Supporting the nervous system + gut-brain-sleep loop
Here are practical, non-medical suggestions — many drawn from the wisdom of The Nervous System Reset — to support your system.
Awareness of internal state:
Maguire uses the “thermostat” metaphor: Are you too hot (over-activated), too cold (shut-down), or in a balanced “just right” zone?
- Pause during your day: How does your body feel? Heart rate? Gut? Breath?
- Naming your state helps you begin to shift it.
Vagus-friendly practices:
- Slow nasal breathing: Inhale for 4 seconds, exhale for 6 – 8 seconds. Long exhalations activate the parasympathetic system.
- Humming, chanting, or singing: Vibrations stimulate the vagus nerve through the vocal cords and larynx.
- Cold exposure: A splash of cold water on your face or a brief cool shower can “reset” vagal tone.
- Gentle movement: Yoga, tai chi, and mindful walking build nervous system capacity without overstimulation.
- Grounding touch: Place a hand over your heart or abdomen while breathing slowly — this communicates safety and presence.
- Co-regulation: Share calm with safe people, pets, or nature — social connection directly nourishes the vagus nerve.
Mind-Body Healing for Chronic Stress & Trauma:
Jessica Maguire reminds us that “we can’t think our way out of a dysregulated nervous system.” Healing must include the body.
These approaches help build your window of tolerance and restore emotional stability:
- Somatic therapy or breathwork: (TRE®, EMDR, Somatic Experiencing) — releases stored tension and resets autonomic patterns.
- Meditation with body awareness: focus on sensations, not just thoughts, to teach the nervous system safety.
- Trauma-informed yoga: gentle, slow practice helps restore vagal rhythm and sensory safety.
- Journaling or expressive writing: discharges emotional energy through safe expression.
How to Soothe and Strengthen the Gut–Brain Axis:
Your gut is far more than a digestion station — it’s a second brain, connected directly to your emotions through the vagus nerve. When stress or trauma dysregulates your nervous system, the gut is one of the first places to respond: bloating, constipation, IBS, cravings, nausea, or sudden sensitivities.
- Eat in a Calm State: Before eating, pause for 3 slow breaths. Feel your feet on the floor and consciously relax your shoulders. This simple act activates the vagus nerve, signalling to your body: “It’s safe to digest.”
- Feed Your Microbiome Diversity is key: Aim for 30 different plant foods per week — fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, seeds, and nuts. Add fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, or kefir for natural probiotics. Use prebiotic fibres like flaxseeds, artichoke, or garlic to nourish beneficial bacteria.
- Nourish the Gut Lining: L-Glutamine helps repair and seal the intestinal barrier. Zinc carnosine supports mucosal healing and immunity. Collagen or bone broth are rich in glycine and proline to rebuild tissue integrity. Aloe vera juice (unsweetened) soothes inflammation and supports the gut’s mucous layer.
- Support with Adaptogens & Nervous System Herbs: Ashwagandha and Reishi mushroom calm the nervous system, reducing stress-triggered gut reactions. Holy Basil (Tulsi) helps regulate cortisol and reduce gut tension. Chamomile, lemon balm, and peppermint soothe both digestion and mood — perfect tea allies.
- Mind Your Minerals & Nutrients: Stress and poor absorption deplete vital nutrients. Replenish with magnesium, B-vitamins, zinc, and omega-3 fatty acids, all of which play key roles in neurotransmitter balance, digestion, and vagal function.
Essential Oils & Adaptogens for Nervous System Healing:
When your nervous system has been under strain — from chronic stress, trauma, or hormonal shifts — your body forgets what calm feels like. Essential oils and adaptogens work together to remind your body of safety, helping your vagus nerve, adrenals, and emotional centres return to balance.
Essential oils act quickly, sending calming signals through your limbic system — the brain’s emotional hub — and influencing your vagus nerve within seconds of inhalation.
Adaptogens work deeply and steadily, helping the body rebuild resilience over weeks by regulating cortisol, stabilising blood sugar, and improving cellular energy.
Together, they help your body shift from survival mode to rest, repair, and restore.
Sleep hygiene & nervous system reset:
Sleep isn’t simply about closing your eyes — it’s about safety, rhythm, and regulation. If your nervous system has been living in survival mode for years due to chronic stress, trauma, or hormonal shifts, deep restorative sleep can feel almost impossible. That’s not because your body has forgotten how to sleep — it’s because it no longer feels safe enough to.
When cortisol stays elevated at night, or when the vagus nerve is underactive, your body remains on subtle alert — digestion stalls, heart rate stays high, and the brain continues scanning for danger.
This is why so many women in peri- and menopause describe nights of racing thoughts, restless legs, and waking at 2–4 a.m. — the “liver time” in Chinese Medicine, when detox, hormonal shifts, and emotional processing collide.
- Morning sunlight = circadian reset: Get 10–15 minutes of natural light within an hour of waking (no sunglasses, don’t stare at the sun). → Boosts serotonin, sets melatonin release for the evening, balances mood and hormones.
- Create calm before bed: Dim lights 1–2 hours before sleep; avoid screens and stimulating conversations. → Light tells your brain it’s still daytime. Darkness cues rest.
- Regulate the nervous system: Slow breathing (inhale 4 s / exhale 6–8 s), humming, gentle stretching, or journaling signal safety. → Activates the vagus nerve and lowers nighttime cortisol.
- Keep your sleep space sacred: Cool (16–19 °C), dark, device-free room. Diffuse Lavender, Frankincense, or Roman Chamomile to calm the limbic system.
- Balance blood sugar: Eat protein-rich meals through the day and avoid caffeine after 2 p.m. → Prevents 2–4 a.m. wake-ups caused by cortisol spikes.
Why this matters?
Because when you ignore the nervous system piece, you might treat mood, digestion or sleep as if they’re separate. But they’re deeply intertwined via the brain-gut-vagus axis. When all three suffer, life doesn’t feel balanced.
And during peri-/menopause you have a “perfect storm”: hormones shift, sleep and digestion may already be vulnerable, lifetime stress/trauma may have set the nervous system tone. Recognising the role of the vagus nerve and nervous system regulation gives you more leverage to support your system — not just wait for hormones to “calm down”.
Final thought
Mood dips, gut woes and sleep disturbances around midlife are not simply “a hormone problem” (though hormones play a big role). They are often the downstream expression of a nervous system under strain and a vagus nerve whose tone is weakened — by chronic stress, trauma, lifestyle load, and mid-life transitions.
The good news: you can build back that strength. By tuning into your nervous system, supporting your gut-brain axis, and giving your sleep and emotions the context they need to recover, you shift from “just coping” to “really living”.
Disclaimer:
This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or a qualified healthcare provider regarding any medical condition or before making significant changes to your diet, lifestyle, or supplement regimen.
If you are experiencing persistent anxiety, depression, or trauma-related symptoms, please reach out to a licensed mental health professional or trauma-informed practitioner. Healing the nervous system is a journey best supported through holistic care, community, and professional guidance.
References:
- Maguire, Jessica. The Nervous System Reset: A Step-by-Step Guide to Healing Chronic Stress and Trauma. Grand Central Publishing, 2024
- Kong, C. Y. et al. “The Vagus Nerve and the Gut–Brain Axis in Health and Disease.” Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2022.
- Lovell, B., & Wetherell, M. A. “The Cost of Caregiving: Endocrine and Immune Implications in Women Experiencing Chronic Stress.” Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2018.
- Zhao, H. et al. “Changes in Gut Microbiota and Their Metabolites in Perimenopausal Women.” Clinical Endocrinology, 2023.
- Thayer, J. F., & Lane, R. D. “A Model of Neurovisceral Integration in Emotion Regulation and Dysregulation.” Journal of Affective Disorders, 2009.
- Cannon, W. B. The Wisdom of the Body. W.W. Norton & Company, 1932.
- Irwin, M. R. “Sleep and the Immune System: Pathways and Consequences.” Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2019.