How the Body Remembers: Recognising the Physical Signs of Unresolved Trauma

You don’t always know when trauma is still living inside you.

Sometimes it’s quiet and barely there: in the back of your neck, in the tightness around your chest, in the sleepless nights you can’t explain. You tell yourself you’re just tired, stressed, maybe getting older. But the body remembers things the mind tries to forget.

It carries what was too much, too soon, too long. And sooner or later, it starts to speak in sensations like headaches, tension, fatigue, and the exhaustion of being constantly on alert.

Maybe you’ve noticed it lately.

You wake up with your jaw aching from clenching it in your sleep. The coffee doesn’t taste right. In fact, nothing tastes right. Your shoulders burn from a pressure that no amount of stretching or massage will fix.

You tell yourself it’s nothing; it’s just life. But some part of you knows better.

Your body has been alerting you for a while now. You just haven’t known how to listen.

Why the body never forgets

When something traumatic happens and there’s no safe way to process it, the body does what it must: it protects you. Muscles brace, breath shortens, heart rate spikes, and your whole system prepares for danger.

In traumatic moments, this response helps you survive. But if the threat passes and your body never fully resets, that protective state can become a new normal. Over time, the nervous system learns to live in tension.

As trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk explains in The Body Keeps Score, even if you don’t consciously recall the event, your physiology still does. Unresolved trauma can shape how you breathe, move, eat, sleep, and how you experience the world.

Dr. Gabor Maté, a Canadian physician known for his work on mind-body health, writes about this same concept in his book When The Body Says No. According to Maté, suppressed emotions and chronic stress can contribute to physical illness. When we disconnect from our feelings to stay functional, our bodies often express what our words cannot.

What trauma looks like in the body

Everyone’s experience is different, but trauma often leaves patterns and clues in the body. Here are some of the ways it may appear.

1. Chronic muscle tension or pain

You might notice constant tightness in your neck, shoulders, or lower back. The body stays on guard, ready for something it can’t name.

2. Fatigue that doesn’t lift

Even rest doesn’t seem to replenish you. Your body might be in a state of ongoing alertness, using energy to manage threat signals that aren’t actually real.

3. Digestive issues

The gut is sensitive to stress hormones. People with unresolved trauma often experience nausea, bloating, constipation, or irritable bowel symptoms. When you live in survival mode, digestion takes a back seat.

4. Headaches or jaw pain

Clenching or grinding teeth can become habits that you may not even notice. Headaches may also become so consistent that they become part of your “normal.”

5. Irregular breathing or tight chest

Trauma can alter how you breathe. Taking shallow breaths or holding your breath are common when the body feels unsafe, even if there’s no immediate danger.

6. Sleep disruption

Falling or staying asleep can feel impossible. Nightmares, restless tossing and turning, and waking up too early can also be signs that your body doesn’t trust it’s safe to rest.

7. Frequent illness or weakened immunity

Long-term stress affects the immune system, leaving the body more vulnerable to colds and flus.

8. Disconnection from bodily cues

You might not notice hunger, thirst, or fatigue until they’re extreme. This numbing or detachment is often the body’s way of managing overwhelm.

The nervous system on high alert

Beyond physical pain, trauma changes the body’s patterns. You might not realise you’re stuck in fight, flight, or freeze responses that shape how you move through daily life.

Some people become hypervigilant. They constantly scan their environment for potential danger. Others feel numb or detached and struggle to experience joy. You may swing between the two: restless energy one day, complete shutdown the next.

Small triggers, like a tone of voice, a smell, or a crowded space, can evoke intense reactions that don’t make logical sense but feel uncontrollable. Your nervous system is simply trying to protect you using old information.

These physiological responses can influence behaviour in subtle ways:

• Difficulty sitting still or relaxing
• Overworking to avoid feeling
• Emotional eating or loss of appetite
• Using substances or constant busyness to self-medicate
• Feeling “spaced out” or disconnected from the present moment

If any of this sounds familiar, know this: these responses are adaptive, not signs of weakness. Your body has been doing its best to keep you safe. Healing begins when you start listening to what it’s been trying to say.

The power of noticing

Recognising the physical signs of unresolved trauma is about self-understanding. Many people spend years treating symptoms without realising they stem from unprocessed pain.

When you start to connect the dots between your physical experiences and emotional history, you begin to build compassion for yourself. You stop blaming your body for being tired, anxious, or in pain. You start to see those signals as communication, not failure.

This awareness can be life-changing. And the shift from judgement to curiosity is often where the healing actually begins.

Inviting the body back to safety

Healing from trauma is not about forcing yourself to “get over it” and “move on.” It’s about giving your body the safety and time it needs to let go of what it has been holding.

1. Trauma-informed therapy

Working with a therapist trained in trauma recovery can help you explore what your body and mind have been carrying. Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, and family therapy can be especially effective.

2. Somatic and body-based practices

Yoga, breathwork, and mindfulness can help you reconnect to your body. These tools are much more than just relaxation; they help retrain the nervous system to feel grounded and safe.

3. Safe connection

Healing often happens in relationships. Group therapy, support networks, or trusted friendships can remind you that it’s safe to be seen again.

4. Consistent self-care

Movement, balanced meals, consistent rest, and time outside in nature all support the body’s repair. Healing comes from steady, quiet and consistent actions.

As the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA, 2017) notes, trauma-informed care recognises that safety, choice, collaboration, and empowerment are essential for recovery. When treatment acknowledges both the emotional and physical impact of trauma, deeper healing becomes possible.

When it’s time to seek help

If your body feels constantly tense, if pain or fatigue persist despite rest, or if anxiety and numbness alternate daily, it might be time to reach out. You don’t need to face trauma alone, and you don’t need to have all the answers before you begin.

At Centres for Health & Healing, trauma-informed treatment helps clients safely explore both the psychological and physical aspects of their experiences. Through therapy, mindfulness, and holistic care, clients learn to calm their nervous systems, rebuild trust in their bodies, and reconnect with their lives.

Recovery is about awareness. But more than that, it’s about learning to live differently, knowing what you know now. Trust your body’s signals and reach out for help.

The team at Centres for Health & Healing can help you begin the process of healing from trauma and reconnecting with your body and mind.

You deserve to feel at home in your own body again.

References:

• van der Kolk, B. A. (n.d.). The body keeps the score. Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/resources/the-body-keeps-the-score
• Maté, G. (n.d.). When the body says no. Dr. Gabor Maté. https://drgabormate.com/book/when-the-body-says-no/
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2014). Trauma-informed care in behavioral health services (Treatment Improvement Protocol Series 57, HHS Publication No. (SMA) 13-4801). Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207191/
• Ogden, P. (2021). The different impact of trauma and relational stress on physiology, posture, and movement: Implications for treatment. European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 5, 100172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejtd.2020.100172
• Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. (2017). Life in recovery from addiction in Canada. https://www.ccsa.ca/sites/default/files/2019-04/CCSA-Life-in-Recovery-from-Addiction-Report-2017-en.pdf