The January Reset No One Talks About:
Stabilising Your Nervous System First
Have you noticed what your social media feed looks like in January?
Mine is flooded with weight loss programs and exercise challenges. Sign up for this. Eat that. Commit to daily workouts. Add more, do more, be more. And honestly? I feel stressed just thinking about trying to fit any of it into an already full life.
I don’t think I’m alone in that.
The problem is that, at best, many of these approaches are band-aid fixes for a much deeper issue. At worst, they actively make things worse.
Let me explain.
Your nervous system influences every other system in the body. Its primary job is to keep you safe. And the body always prioritises survival over everything else. Hormones, digestion, repair and healing? They’re secondary.
When the nervous system perceives threat, the body seeks quick, easy-access energy (often carbohydrates), while storing or ignoring harder-to-access energy (stored fat). This isn’t your body being difficult. It’s doing exactly what it was designed to do.
The problem is that modern life feels threatening at a cellular level, even when it isn’t actually life-threatening. Your cells don’t understand deadlines, notifications, financial stress, poor sleep, or constant pressure. They just know they’re under strain.
And then January arrives with its “quick fixes”.
Most of these require enormous short-term effort with very little thought given to long-term sustainability. Getting up earlier, skipping meals, overhauling routines, buying expensive superfoods…it’s stressful before you even start.
In this already overloaded world, the missing piece is often the nervous system.
We expect our bodies to cope with chaotic sleep schedules, missed meals, rushed nutrition, and a constant onslaught of demands on our time and energy. And for a while, the body does cope. It keeps going. It does what we ask.
Until it doesn’t.
When the nervous system stays in survival mode, we often see:
Digestive issues such as bloating, constipation, diarrhoea or reflux
Poor recovery from illness which might mean a simple cold lingers or becomes something more serious
Sleep disruption that snowballs from a few bad nights into weeks or months
Hormones taking a back seat as the body prioritises survival over reproduction
Increased fat storage, particularly around the abdomen
In survival mode, energy is directed toward alertness and short-term coping… not digestion, repair or healing.
That’s the uncomfortable truth.
Now for the good news.
The nervous system responds beautifully to slowness, regular nourishment, and, quite frankly, doing less.
If that sounds impossible, hear me out.
Keep it simple.
Supporting the nervous system doesn’t require more effort. It requires consistency:
Simple, nourishing meals made from real food
Eating three regular meals a day to remove uncertainty
Gentle, enjoyable movement instead of punishing exercise
A daily pause to allow the body to downshift
Food doesn’t need to be gourmet. Think meat and three veg, chicken soup, basic salads heavy on herbs. Meals with adequate protein, vegetables and a small serve of starchy carbohydrates. Simple food that nourishes the body and settles the system.
Eat three meals a day. No fasting. No keeping your body guessing when food might arrive. That uncertainty flips the nervous system into hoarder mode and hoarder mode stores fat.
Move for the love of movement.
Walk in nature because you love nature. Swim because you enjoy the feeling of moving through water. Do yin yoga because your body softens and relaxes. This is not the time to push for PBs or exhaust yourself into compliance.
Doing less allows the nervous system to calm.
Calm allows trust.
And trust allows the body to let go.
Trust that it will be fed.
Trust that it can rest.
Trust that there is time and safety to digest, repair, metabolise and heal.
And that, quietly and steadily, is where real change begins.
If this resonates, take it as information, not another thing to fix.
When the nervous system settles, everything else becomes easier: digestion, hormones, energy, and even weight regulation.
If you’d like support creating a food routine that reduces stress rather than adding to it, you can learn more about my personalised approach to nutrition here.
This is part of a January series on sustainable health. Here’s the first if you are curious!
Find more below:
Metabolic Balance: What It Is, How It Works, and Why It’s Different