We’ve all heard the phrase “your body keeps score.” When we’re younger, it doesn’t exactly make sense. We think we’re invincible. We bounce back from stress, from sleepless nights, from next-day regrets. Then, as time passes, you realize maybe your body really does keep score. But what does that mean exactly?
The idea didn’t come from social media influencers, even if that’s where it lives now. It’s shorthand for something researchers have been studying for decades. Repeated stress and trauma don’t just affect mood or memory. They can change how the body responds to the world.
Stress is physical. When your brain senses threat, real or perceived, it activates the stress response. Cortisol and adrenaline rise. Heart rate goes up. Muscles tense. Digestion slows. In the short term, that’s helpful. Harvard Health explains that when this response gets triggered over and over, it puts strain on the body and is associated with issues like anxiety, sleep problems, depression, and cardiovascular disease.
For people who’ve experienced trauma, especially ongoing or early trauma, that response can stay stuck in the “on” position. The National Institute of Mental Health lists symptoms like hypervigilance, trouble concentrating, sleep disruption, and physical tension as common features of PTSD. These aren’t imagined reactions. They’re real, bodily ones.
Brain imaging research helps explain why. Studies published in journals like Nature Reviews Neuroscience and Neuropsychopharmacology show that trauma-related conditions are linked to differences in areas of the brain involved in threat detection, memory, and emotional regulation. That includes the amygdala, hippocampus, and parts of the prefrontal cortex. Those systems affect how quickly you react to stress and how long it takes your body to calm down.
Then there’s the long-term data. The CDC’s research on adverse childhood experiences shows that early exposure to stress and instability is associated with a higher risk of physical and mental health conditions later in life. Your body adapts to what it’s exposed to, even if that exposure happened years ago.
Online, “the body keeps score” becomes a catch-all. Every ache is trauma. Every bad day is evidence. That’s not what the science says. Repeated stress can change how reactive the body becomes. It doesn’t mean your body is out to get you.
The useful part is simple. Bodies learn. They adapt. They hold onto what helped them survive. If something feels off, it’s not a personal failure or a vibe problem. It’s information. And it deserves more than a viral phrase trying to explain your entire nervous system in four words.
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