The Biology of Trauma® With Dr. Aimie

Stress was never the enemy. Your body was built to use it. What wears the body down is chronic stress with no recovery on the other side. Translational neuroscientist Dr. David Rabin splits stress into two forms. Eustress builds capacity. Distress, carried over time, moves the body toward disease.

➡️ Full show notes: https://www.biologyoftrauma.com/post/eustress-distress-difference-means-for-your-body-david-rabin

In This Episode You'll Learn:

01:25 — What does the equation eustress × time = ease actually mean?

06:19 — How does the meaning you carry from the past shape your stress response?

07:37 — Can a person experience post-traumatic growth decades later?

09:19 — What creates safety so the body can reorganize?

11:00 — Why is a soothing touch such a powerful signal of safety?

13:55 — Why is rest the key to resilience, and where do you start if you cannot rest?

Resources/Guides:

If you want to know whether what you are carrying is stress or something deeper, this free guide walks you through the difference. Get the Stress or Trauma? Guide

➡️ Full show notes with links and resources: https://www.biologyoftrauma.com/post/eustress-distress-difference-means-for-your-body-david-rabin

Cravings point to a need underneath. This episode covers the three unmet needs behind food. It looks at the childhood roots of reaching for it. And it helps you tell stress from something deeper.

➡️ Full show notes: https://www.biologyoftrauma.com/post/what-your-food-cravings-mean-nervous-system

In This Episode You'll Learn:

01:11 — The difference between hunger and an unmet need

05:27 — When a craving is really about connection or a memory

08:03 — What states does a parent go into when food becomes survival?

09:49 — Why children learn a parent's relationship with food so early

12:27 — How do our parents shape our earliest relationship with food?

16:18 — What happens to a parent in survival mode for food

19:00 — Why do we crave sweets when we feel low or shut down?

24:14— Why does the fear of connection drive us to food?

29:41 — How to draw your own craving map

Resources/Guides:

If you want to know whether what drives your reaching is stress or something your body is still carrying, this free guide walks you through the difference. Get Stress or Trauma? guide 

➡️ Full show notes with links and resources: https://www.biologyoftrauma.com/post/what-your-food-cravings-mean-nervous-system

An early read on your nervous system explains why reflux holds on. This episode covers reflux hypersensitivity, lost hunger and fullness cues, and the somatic tools that calm the gut, including diaphragmatic breathing after meals.

➡️ Full show notes: https://www.biologyoftrauma.com/post/nervoussystemandacidreflux-thegut-brainconnection

In This Episode You'll Learn:

01:10  — Why Molly Pelletier chose to focus on reflux and gut health

02:15 — How is acid reflux linked to the nervous system?

07:30 — Why is somatic work the missing link with reflux?

09:18 — What nutrition shifts actually help relieve reflux?

13:31 — What childhood patterns show up in stomach and reflux issues?

17:16 — Why can't some people feel when they are hungry or full?

22:12 — Which somatic tools help calm reflux?

26:52 — Which foods can trigger reflux during a healing phase?

30:32 — How do you know if reflux is affecting your sleep?

32:22 — What's the most important first step to calm reflux?

Resources/Guides:

Stress or Trauma? Read What Your Body Is Running (free): a Biology of Trauma® guide to tell whether your nervous system is running a stress response or a trauma response, and the sequence it needs next.

➡️ Full show notes with links and resources: https://www.biologyoftrauma.com/post/nervoussystemandacidreflux-thegut-brainconnection

This is where adoption, attachment, and addiction meet. An early attachment rupture leaves the nervous system braced and hypervigilant. A substance can feel like the first relief from that noise. Drawing on her own recovery, Lisa Coppola names the four hidden losses adoptees carry. She shares why recovery asks for more than abstinence. It asks for safe connection.

➡️ Full show notes: https://www.biologyoftrauma.com/post/adoption-attachment-and-addiction-why-adoptees-struggle-and-what-recovery-really-ask

In This Episode You'll Learn:

01:27 — What is the connection between attachment rupture and addiction?

07:28 — What do adoptees describe when a substance finally quiets the noise?

09:51 — The first loss: what is the loss of history?

11:34 — The second loss: why does the loss of trust live in the body?

14:07 — The third loss: how does early separation affect physical health?

16:24 — Is adoption at birth really a "safe window" for the baby?

20:20 — The fourth loss: what is the loss of self through disenfranchised grief?

22:37— Why does healing in recovery come from connection?

29:55 — What can happen when an adoptee reunites with biological family?

33:42 — What safeguards an adoptee from relapse in the hardest moments?

37:00 — What final message matters most for adoptees and attachment trauma?

Resources/Guides:

Stress or Trauma? Read What Your Body Is Running (free): a Biology of Trauma® guide to recognize whether your nervous system is running a stress response or a trauma response, and the sequence it needs next.

➡️ Full show notes with links and resources: https://www.biologyoftrauma.com/post/adoption-attachment-and-addiction-why-adoptees-struggle-and-what-recovery-really-ask

Vision is one of the primary signals your nervous system reads for safety or danger. Under stress, peripheral vision collapses and the body locks into central focus. Dr. Bryce Appelbaum walks through three eye exercises that begin retraining the eye-brain connection and the felt sense of safety.

➡️ Full show notes: https://www.biologyoftrauma.com/post/vagus-nerve-and-vision-how-your-eyes-signal-safety-to-your-nervous-system

In This Episode You'll Learn:

01:21 — What is neuro-optometry, and how is it different from a regular eye exam

03:46 — How do your eyes shape how you move through the world?

14:05 — Can an old concussion still be affecting you years later?

23:09 — How does early caregiving shape vision development?

33:31 — Eye exercise 1: How do you do peripheral pointing?

41:24 — Eye exercise 2: How do you do eye push-ups?

46:26 — Eye exercise 3: How do you do eye stretches and the 20-20-20 rule?

50:06 — What foods support eye and brain health?

Resources/Guides:

The Biology of Trauma® Professional Certificate Training trains health and helping practitioners in the same framework Lacey works from. If this episode resonated with how you want to work with clients, this is the path.

➡️ Full show notes with links and resources: https://www.biologyoftrauma.com/post/vagus-nerve-and-vision-how-your-eyes-signal-safety-to-your-nervous-system