How Do I Switch Off My Brain After Work?

You close the laptop… but your mind doesn’t switch off.

Instead of relaxing, you’re mentally replaying the conversation that didnt go so well. You wonder if your tone in that email came across how you wanted it to. Running through tomorrow’s to-do list like a background app you can’t shut down.

You’ve technically “finished work” but your nervous system doesn’t know that.

If you’ve ever asked yourself, “How do I switch off my brain after work?”.

You are in the right place and this is something that a lot of people ask me.

See your switched on, your busy, your a perfectionist and you always give your all. Whilst this has so many advantages in your life, the downside is - your always primed to be on and active and your brain has gotten so used to this it has forgotten how to power down or more accurately for many it doesn't feel safe to power down because WHAT IF .. what if you miss something important? What if taking your foot off the gas costs you later?

This is the loop high-functioning, high-achieving women get caught in, not because you’re doing something wrong, but because your nervous system has adapted to a constant state of hypervigilance.

You don’t choose to stay switched on. Your system has simply decided it’s safer that way.

But here’s what I want you to know: Your ability to rest isn’t a luxury. It’s absolutely necessary and equals better performance all around. In your role at work, in your parenting, etc 

And when your nervous system learns that it’s safe to slow down, your brain will finally stop running the show on autopilot.

This isn’t about forcing stillness or chasing another “wind-down” routine. It’s about creating the conditions where your system no longer feels the need to stay alert.

Let’s explore what that can look like for you

1. Create a Clear Transition Ritual

If you go from delivering high-stakes decisions, supporting your team, and navigating back-to-back meetings… straight into replying to WhatsApps, managing your children’s emotions, or figuring out what to do for dinner without even pausing to breathe, your system stays locked in performance mode.

You might have shut your laptop, but your body is still in go-mode.

Solving. Holding. Anticipating.

This is where burnout quietly builds not in the doing, but in the absence of true decompression.

Instead, introduce a 5–10 minute intentional buffer between “work you” and “evening you.” Not as a luxury, but as a line in the sand.

Try stepping outside. Shaking out your body. Washing your face. Putting on different clothes. Lighting a candle. Sitting in stillness and asking:“What do I need right now, before I give to anyone else?”

This isn’t indulgent. It’s strategic nervous system regulation and it’s needed, because you carry a lot.

You lead. You support. You hold it all together at work, at home, and in your relationships. And yes, you are impacted by all of it. But here’s the truth most women in your position overlook:

They’re impacted by you too.

The more resourced and regulated you are, the more sustainable your leadership becomes. Pour into yourself first and everyone around you benefits.

2. Close Mental Loops, Not Just Your Laptop

Your brain doesn’t stay switched on because you’re disorganised, it stays on because it’s trying to protect you.

Unfinished thoughts. Loose ends. Conversations you’re still replaying. Your mind holds them all because it’s scanning for potential problems and trying to plan fix and find solutions ahead of time.

This is the mental load that high-functioning women carry often invisibly.

So, instead of pushing it down or trying to “think positive,” give your brain what it really wants: reassurance that nothing will be forgotten. So, it can actually let go of the million thoughts and tabs open in your mind. Here are some of my favourite ways to do this and the ones that work best for my clients:

Before you end your workday, take 5 minutes to sit and ask yourself:

• What still feels unresolved from today?

• What thoughts keep circling in the background?

• What decision, task, or conversation is taking up space in my head?

Then bring some structure and softness to what comes up:

• Can I plan this in for tomorrow or next week?

• Is this actually urgent? or just loud?

• What can I let go of right now, knowing it’s safe to come back to it later?

• What can I say to the part of me that feels like this is urgent / life threatening?

Try:"Thank you for trying to keep me on track—I hear you. And I’ve got it covered. Nothing is going to fall apart while I enjoy my evening."

This isn’t about doing more. It’s about giving your system a moment to breathe. A moment of acknowledgement that says: “I’ve heard you. I’ve got this and gives reassurance thats its ok to let that go for now.”

You’re not ignoring your responsibilities. You are creating space to meet them with clarity instead of chaos.

3. Stop Trying to Earn Your Rest

This one runs deep.

So many women subconsciously believe they must deserve rest. That stillness is only allowed once everything is handled, cleared, solved, and settled.

But that moment? It rarely comes.

There’s always more to do. Another message to respond to. A child who needs you. A project that lingers.

Which is why your relationship with rest must change at the identity level.

True freedom begins when you allow yourself to rest, not because you’ve ticked every box, but because you are human, not a machine. Because you are enough, right now, as you are.

Rest is not a reward. It’s a requirement for sustainable success, emotional mastery, and long-term happiness, balance and health.

And the irony? The more you rest, the more effective, creative, and grounded you become.

Calm is actually your power. But the truth is hear that currently your system sees it as the threat! Quite the opposite to what it is so it is important that you start to shift your relationship with rest and start to change the narrative that you are tell yourself and start to edge out of the patterns that are keeping you stuck.

You Don’t Need to Do Less. You Need to Feel Safe to Pause.

When your system learns safety. Your brain stops spinning. Your evenings feel restorative. And your energy returns in a deeply resourced, grounded way.

This is success without self-sacrifice. And yes - it’s available to you.

If your brain won’t switch off even when your body is exhausted, this is your invitation.

You don’t need more willpower.You need real insight into why your system won’t slow down, and what to do about it.

Take the Work-Life Harmony Quiz, it’s free, quick, and designed specifically for women like you who want clarity, calm, and sustainable success.

Discover where your internal load is coming from and I'll guide you through the first steps to shift it for good. 

Take the Work-Life Harmony Quiz now —this is where everything starts to change. And if you know you want to dive straight into working together more deeply, personally and privately with me in my 1-1 support, then apply for a connection call here 

With so much love,

Speak soon, Emma.

Can Hormone Changes Cause Anxiety? What Every Woman Needs to Know

You manage the household, the group chats, the last-minute curveballs like it’s second nature.

And yet your heart is racing for no reason.Your sleep is broken.You feel overwhelmed by things you’d usually handle with ease. You snap at your partner, then overthink it for hours.

You’re wired, but exhausted.

And quietly, beneath the surface, a question starts to rise: Could this be hormonal?

If your thinking this, then read on because you are absolutely on to something. 

For women, hormonal shifts aren’t just biological they are emotional, physical, neurological, and deeply personal. And when left unspoken or misunderstood, they can drive chronic anxiety, burnout, and emotional dysregulation that no amount of mindset work alone can fix.

Let’s break it down.

Yes Hormone Changes Can Cause Anxiety (and Here's Why)

Hormonal anxiety isn’t in your head, It is in your body. It is in your nervous system.

Here’s what the research shows:

1. Cortisol: The Burnout Hormone

Cortisol is your body’s primary stress hormone. When you’re constantly under pressure emotionally, mentally, or physically your cortisol levels can stay elevated for long periods of time. 

Chronic cortisol dysregulation has been directly linked to anxiety, panic, insomnia, and emotional reactivity.Stuides have found that women with anxiety disorders often show a flattened cortisol rhythm - meaning their stress response system is overworked and misaligned.

In this state - your body isn’t getting the natural rise-and-fall pattern of cortisol that should energise you in the morning and help you wind down at night. Instead, your nervous system stays dysregulated, like an engine that can’t switch off or even switch on properly.

Here’s how this may feel:

• Waking up exhausted even after a full night’s sleep

• Afternoon crashes that feel like you’ve hit a wall, mentally and physically

• Feeling wired at night, tired but unable to switch off or fall asleep

• Heightened anxiety in the morning, often with no clear trigger

• Low resilience to stress, the smallest thing can feel overwhelming

• Brain fog or difficulty focusing, especially in the morning

• Digestive issues or appetite changes tied to stress

• Increased emotional reactivity, you know it’s not a big deal, but your body reacts like it is

• Dependency on caffeine to function, and/or alcohol to unwind

• A sense that your inner state never quite matches your outer demands

  
  

2. Progesterone: Your Natural Calm

Progesterone is a key hormone for nervous system soothing. It interacts with GABA receptors in your brain (which promote calm and relaxation). But in perimenopause or during high-stress periods, progesterone levels drop. Research shows us that fluctuations in progesterone are linked with problems with mood especially in midlife - peri and menopause.

The decline in progesterone can cause:

• Racing thoughts

• Sensitivity to noise or conflict

• Irritability and panic

• Sleep disruption

3. Estrogen: Powerful for your mood 

Estrogen isn’t just about reproduction, it’s a key player in emotional and cognitive stability. It influences neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and GABA, which directly affect your mood, motivation, and sense of calm.

When estrogen spikes or crashes especially in the days before your period, or during perimenopause and menopause you might feel like you’ve lost your emotional footing.

What this can feel like:

• Sudden mood swings or emotional outbursts

• Crying more easily, or feeling numb and disconnected

• Heightened anxiety, especially in the lead-up to your period

• A sense that you’re not yourself but can’t explain why

• Racing thoughts, restlessness, or emotional sensitivity

• Feelings of overwhelm even with simple tasks

Estrogen is meant to support your emotional resilience. But when your system is under pressure or when you’re going through a natural transition like perimenopause those shifts can feel destabilising, fast, and out of proportion to what’s actually happening.

Why “Coping” Isn’t Working?

You’ve likely tried the tools - meditation, journaling, supplements, powering through.

But if you’re still stuck in cycles of anxiety, overthinking, panic, burnout, and emotional whiplash you need to know that its not because you are doing anything wrong, it's more likely that you are doing too much, without the right support that actually addresses the underlying cause.

Because anxiety isn’t in your head and it’s not a mindset issue you can ‘fix’ with positive thinking.

It lives in your body. It’s rooted in your nervous system, and shaped by the interconnected systems that influence how safe, calm, or under threat you feel - from your hormones to your stress response to your subconscious patterns.

And your body will always speak louder than your intentions especially when you’re operating from survival mode.

This Isn’t Just About Hormones. It’s About Wholeness.

In my work with successful, emotionally intelligent women, hormone-influenced anxiety is one of the most misunderstood and often mistreated experiences.

Because what you’re feeling isn’t just in your mind. And it isn’t something a mindset hack can solve. It’s a full-body experience that requires a full-spectrum response.

You don’t need another productivity tip or coping strategy. You need a supportive, embodied, and sustainable approach that supports the systems underneath the symptoms so that your nervous system, emotions, and subconscious patterns are no longer working against you.

That’s where The Freedom Formula™ comes in.

It’s my signature 1-1 approach that blends:

• Clinical-level emotional transformation and regulation

• Nervous system support and burnout recovery

• Subconscious reprogramming

• And guidance that honours the hormonal shifts affecting how you feel, think, and how you show up

So you can:

• Sleep deeply and wake clear

• Focus without spiralling

• Regulate your emotions with ease

• Lead with clarity, and live with freedom

This isn’t about fixing you. You’re not broken. It’s about freeing you from the inside out.

Ready to Reclaim Calm?

If you’re navigating anxiety, overwhelm, and hormonal shifts and you know that there is so much more to life than just coping then, this is your personal invitation to book your connection call.

From our call, you will get a better understanding of what is going on with you, you will leave with a weight being lifted off your shoulders and having clarity of the pathway forward.

Now its your choice - are you ready to reclaim your life?

Book your Connection Call.

Why Am I So Exhausted Even Though I’m Getting Enough Sleep?

The unspoken fatigue of high-performing women and what’s really behind it.

You tick all the boxes. You’re getting seven, maybe eight hours of sleep. You eat well. You exercise when you can. And yet you wake up already tired.

Not just physically, but in your bones. A kind of weariness that sleep doesn’t touch.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. More and more women; especially those in leadership or running their own business are quietly battling an exhaustion that runs far deeper than rest. It’s not a sleep problem. It’s a regulation problem. A pressure problem. A nervous system problem.

The reality is - Your mind is never off. And your body feels it.

Even when you’re resting, your nervous system is still “on.” That running mental to-do list, the overanalysis, the pressure to show up perfectly. This all keeps your system in a chronic stress response. You may look composed on the outside, but inside, your body is operating in high-alert mode.

This is called high-functioning anxiety. And while it’s not a formal diagnosis, it’s a lived experience that leaves many women mentally active and emotionally wired around the clock. When your nervous system never shifts into true parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) mode, your sleep isn’t restorative.

You might be in bed for hours, but you’re not actually recovering.

And this compounds over time.

The hidden cost of emotional labour

You carry a lot - decisions, teams, households, unspoken expectations. This emotional load is rarely acknowledged, but it’s very real. In fact, studies have shown that emotional labour (the invisible work of managing feelings, both yours and others’) can be as draining as physical labour. And it rarely turns off when you leave the office or log out.

That’s why you wake up feeling like you’ve run a marathon. Because you have; just not the kind that leaves visible markers.

Stress changes your biology

This isn’t just “in your head.” Chronic stress disrupts the very systems that give you energy - hormonal regulation, your sleep cycle and how your body creates. When these systems are dysregulated, you can feel flatlined.

Foggy.

Snappy.

Like you’re operating at 60% with no idea how to get back to 100.

Sustained stress creates wear and tear on your body. Not all at once but slowly, quietly, over time.

It doesn’t always show up as a dramatic crash. More often, it’s a gradual depletion that’s easy to overlook… until burnout becomes the only language your body can speak.

For me, it looked like my body was just stopping. I couldn’t function the way I used to, no matter how much I pushed. And I hear the same from the women I work with: “I can only manage one thing a day.” “I can’t think clearly.” “Even making a meal feels overwhelming.”

This isn't a weakness.This is what happens when your system has been under pressure for too long and it’s asking - well demanding a different way forward.

Sleep doesn’t heal survival mode

Here’s the truth: you can’t out-sleep a dysregulated nervous system.When your body is wired for survival, rest feels unsafe. This is why so many high-achieving women lie awake with racing thoughts or wake up already bracing for the day ahead.

You don’t need more sleep.You need a new relationship with your body’s stress signals.You need regulation. Reconnection. Real restoration.

So what now?

If you’re tired of being tired, the answer isn’t more bubble baths or productivity hacks. It’s deeper than that. You need to create emotional safety in your body again. To stop surviving your success, and start living in it.

Because you weren’t made to run on empty.You were made to experience all life has to offer - abundance, freedom, joy, happiness, fulfillment and connection 

And yes, this is absolutely possible for you.

You know your mind and body need something else - now it's your turn!

If you’re ready to break the cycle of high-functioning exhaustion, I invite you to book a confidential Connection Call.

This is where everything begins to shift.

Because calm is your power. And it’s time to come home to it.

With so much love,

Emma.

Anxiety and Burnout Freedom Therapist and Hypnotherapist