Get Your Nervous System on Your Side (feat. Alyssa Chang)

Your shoulders are up by your ears, your stomach is in knots, and willpower alone isn't fixing it. Here is the plot twist: your nervous system is not working against you; it is working overtime for you. It is time to learn its language. On this episode of Salad with a Side of Fries, host Jenn Trepeck welcomes neuroscience health coach Alyssa Chang, creator of The Regulation Method™, for a hands-on conversation about stress, pain, burnout and your nervous system. You will try live eye and tongue drills, meet the threat bucket, find out why breathwork backfires for some people, and see how the people around you shape your calm. What You Will Learn in This Episode: ✅ Why nervous system regulation means shifting out of stress, not staying calm all day ✅ How the threat bucket fills with everyday stress until chronic pain, fatigue, or anxiety overflow ✅ Why breathwork can backfire and how to match drills to your own nervous system ✅ Which quick eye circles and vagus nerve tongue drills ease muscle tension at your desk The Salad With a Side of Fries podcast, hosted by Jenn Trepeck, explores real-life wellness and weight-loss topics and debunks myths, misinformation, and flawed science surrounding nutrition and the food industry. Let’s dive into real-life wellness and weight loss, including drinking, eating out, and skipping the grocery store. TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Why nervous system regulation means shifting out of stress instead of staying calm all day long 04:26 From collegiate volleyball to metabolic damage: Alyssa Chang’s story of chronic sympathetic overdrive 07:10 What the nervous system is and why its main job is keeping you safe, alive, and hardwired for survival 13:47 Brain and body as a relationship: intellectualizing, dissociation, and building tolerance for sensations 16:44 Client story: nervous system exercises bring a chronic pain flare and blood sugar back into healthy range 20:07 First step to regulate your nervous system: a live vision therapy demo; neck rotation check and eye circles to release muscle tension 23:44 Why muscle tension follows the brain: peripheral vision, screen time, and quick vision breaks 27:15 How the brain turns input into symptoms, plus the around-the-world tongue drill for the vagus nerve 29:36 The threat bucket explained: how everyday stressors fill it until pain or anxiety overflows 32:09 Why breathwork helps some people and triggers others: interoception, hyperventilation, and CO2 34:59 How to scale breathing exercises to your nervous system and experimenting safely with breathwork classes 37:00 Co-regulation explained with a Ted Lasso scene and why your community shapes your calm 40:17 How type A, competitive achievers can slow down and rewire the brain with neuroplasticity KEY TAKEAWAYS: 💎 Pain, headaches, and fatigue signal a brain working to protect you, not proof your body is failing you. 💎 Intellectualizing is a survival strategy, so build your capacity to feel sensations in small, safe, consistent doses. 💎 Always assess, apply a tool, and reassess, because the same drill can calm one person and overload another. 💎 Co-regulation matters. The people around you can settle or stir your nervous system, so choose your community with care. ABOUT THE GUEST: Alyssa Chang is a Neuroscience Health Coach based in Honolulu, Hawaii, and the creator of The Regulation Method™, a framework designed to help people better understand the brain-body connection and the patterns driving chronic stress, pain, fatigue, and burnout. With over 14 years studying the brain and body, Alyssa helps people understand why they can know exactly what they “should” be doing for their health and still struggle to create lasting change. Her work explores the gap between knowing what to do and helping the brain and body actually feel safe enough to do it. RESOURCES: Sponsored by Dash Dog Food - text DASH to 833-801-0500 to get 60% off your first box! Become a Happy Healthy Hub Member (https://asaladwithasideoffries.com/me...) Jenn’s Free Menu Plan (https://www.tlsslim.com/bettermylifen...) A Salad With a Side of Fries (https://asaladwithasideoffries.com/) A Salad With A Side Of Fries Merch (https://asaladwithasideoffries.com/me...) A Salad With a Side of Fries Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/saladwithas...) About Uncomplicating Wellness (https://asaladwithasideoffries.com/un...) Text ‘Book’ to 833-801-0500 Nutrition Nugget: Slowmaxxing (https://open.spotify.com/episode/0qL2...) GUEST RESOURCES: Alyssa Chang - Website (http://www.coachalyssachang.com) Alyssa -Neuroscience Health Coach - Instagram (  / coachalyssachang  ) Coach Alyssa Chang - YouTube (   / @coachalyssachang114  ) A...