Last Updated on March 27, 2026
Many people feel exhausted day to day, but also feel like they still can’t fully rest. Sleep feels light, and stress may linger. Even during quiet moments, the body feels keyed up, like it never quite knows how to power down.
Zoa Conner, who holds a PhD in physics and now works in functional wellness, describes this as a systems problem, not a personal failure.
“Well, so your biology is designed to keep you alive,” Zoa says. “This is, in general, a good thing, but what happens now in our modern world is that so many things trigger this biological system, your stress system.”
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The Stress System Was Never Meant to Be ‘On’ All the Time
Zoa explains that the nervous system evolved to respond to true danger, not constant stimulation.
“So many things trigger this biological system,” she says. “Things that aren’t actually a danger to staying alive, but you still respond in the same way.”
Everyday moments—arguments, rushing, notifications—can activate the same response once reserved for survival threats.
“All of these things are activating this stress side of the nervous system,” Zoa says. “And it’s designed to keep you safe from things like saber-tooth tigers and avalanches. But now the avalanche is just your phone beeping, and it happens all the time.”
When that system never gets a break, the body struggles to access the side responsible for rest and repair.
“You never get a chance to go to the other half of your nervous system,” she explains. “The one that’s supposed to help you calm down. That’s supposed to help you heal the body. That’s supposed to help you digest and sleep.”
Why ‘Trying Harder’ Often Backfires
When the body stays in a stress state, people often reach for anything that promises relief.
“And so that’s when we reach for something that will help us calm down,” Zoa says. “Damn it.”
Even healthy tools can become counterproductive when overused. “Even things like exercise, you can overdo because then you can hurt yourself or you can wire yourself up even more and still don’t get a chance to calm down,” she says. The actual issue is imbalance.
The Hidden Stressors You Don’t See
Many nervous-system conversations focus on reducing external inputs. Zoa agrees that this matters—but says it’s only part of the picture.
“You can find out information about how to calm your nervous system all over the place on the Internet,” she says. “A lot of them are talking about taking away the inputs.”
But she encourages people to look inward as well.
“You also have to look at what’s happening on the inside of the body,” Zoa explains. “What are the internal stresses that you’re not necessarily aware of, but that are contributing to your nervous system staying on high alert?”
Those internal stressors can include infections, lingering inflammation, or environmental exposures that never fully resolved.
“These can be things like a bacterial or viral infection, mold exposure that you didn’t think was a big deal,” she says. “And then you don’t realize that your whole body is still responding to it a decade later.”
How Mineral Depletion Shows Up in Daily Life
One of the most common internal stressors Zoa sees is mineral imbalance. “It shows up in so many ways,” she says. “We don’t have long enough for me to list them.”
Minerals, she explains, act like catalysts inside the body.
“Minerals are like the spark plugs that get that process to go,” Zoa says, referring to digestion, circulation, muscle movement, and energy production.
Stress increases the demand for those minerals. “When you are in a stress state, you burn through those minerals faster,” she explains. “You have more things to do to keep you alive.”
As depletion builds, symptoms often become physical.
“My muscles and my joints are not as comfortable. I’m not as strong. I feel more tight. I feel more achy,” she says.
Then, cognitive and digestive symptoms can follow. “You don’t digest as well,” Zoa explains. “Your brain, you can’t think if you don’t have the right amount of calcium and magnesium.”
Balance Matters More Than One ‘Magic’ Mineral
When it comes to minerals, Zoa says the real work is understanding ratios and interactions.
“You can have problems simply because you have too much of something,” she says. “Just like you can have problems from having not enough of something.”
She often starts with sodium and potassium. “That ratio is so important,” Zoa explains, “it’s called the life and death ratio because it’s that important.”
From that ratio, she says, you can see whether someone is struggling—or stabilizing.
Liver Load, Sugar, and Nighttime Wake-Ups
Zoa describes the liver as central to many common symptoms.
“One connection might be constipation to a sluggish liver,” she says.
Sleep disruptions can also point there.
“When you wake up between two and 3 AM,” Zoa explains, “on the traditional Chinese medicine clock, that’s liver time.”
Supporting the liver, she says, can be surprisingly practical. “Think about what you’d do if you had a car engine that was getting all kinda gunky,” she says. “How would you clean it out?”
She says that simple practices like castor oil packs and adequate dietary fats can help. “That does not mean go to Chick-fil-A every day for lunch,” Zoa says. “That means nuts and avocados and olive oil.”
Sugar, she notes, places a similar load on the liver as alcohol. “But in your liver’s department,” she says, “they’re kinda the same.”
Cravings as Information
Zoa encourages curiosity instead of judgment around cravings, whether they’re for sugary treats or a drink.
“It’s important to think about who is making the request for that sugar,” she says.
She suggests experimenting. “If you’re feeling like you have a sugar craving, then what do you feel if you have something that’s a little more tart?” Zoa says. “Does that satisfy you?”
And when things don’t go perfectly? Don’t berate yourself. “That’s not helpful,” she says.
Why Environment and Travel Matter
Zoa also looks at wellness through the lens of environment.
“If you are a city dweller,” she says, “lots of metal and shiny things around you, lots of noise and cars and people, that’s gonna put many nervous systems into a stress state.”
Changing environments can help—or make things worse. “Some nervous systems get more agitated when you take away their stimulation,” she explains.
From her perspective, the goal isn’t forcing yourself into what should feel relaxing.
“It’s not nature’s fault,” Zoa says. “It’s the nature in combination with how you are responding right now today.”
Travel, she believes, should support wellness—not drain it. “It should add to your wellness,” Zoa says. “It should not detract.”
Listening Instead of Forcing
Throughout her work, Zoa comes back to one core principle.
“If you don’t even really have a clear idea of what your needs are and what optimizes your wellness,” she says, “you can’t stick up for yourself.”
The wired-but-tired feeling isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s information.
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