Time Magazine Finally Spoke About Self-Silencing — But Here’s the Nervous System Link They Missed
Paige Elizabeth
Founder and Coach
When Time published the essay Self-Silencing Is Making Women Sick, I almost cheered.
Finally, a mainstream outlet naming what so many of us have felt in our bones: that the pressure to be agreeable, accommodating, and quiet isn’t just cultural — it’s biological sabotage.
The article lays out how women who suppress their needs and their voices are at higher risk for depression, anxiety, IBS, migraines, autoimmune disease, and even earlier mortality. And it’s true. But here’s what the article doesn’t explore: self-silencing isn’t just psychological. It is a nervous system crisis.
Self-Silencing = Nervous System Dysregulation
Every time you swallow your truth or bite your tongue, your nervous system registers it as a micro-threat. That threat flips you into sympathetic overdrive — “fight or flight” — even if you’re sitting perfectly still.
Stay in that state long enough and your body pays the price:
- Cortisol stays elevated.
- Progesterone and estrogen take a hit (your fertility is the first system the body sacrifices under stress).
- Digestion slows, sleep fragments, inflammation rises.
- The very systems that keep you resilient start to collapse.
This doesn’t just cause anxiety or night sweats. It sets the stage for bigger breakdowns:
- Thyroid dysfunction (the thyroid slows down under chronic cortisol load).
- Diabetes and blood sugar issues (stress hormones keep glucose high, making cells insulin resistant).
- Cancer risk (immune surveillance falters when the nervous system is in constant stress mode, and chronic inflammation fuels abnormal cell growth).
It’s not “all in your head.” It’s literally in your vagus nerve, your cortisol rhythm, your mitochondria — and eventually your organ systems.
My Experience With Women’s Bodies and Voices
I’ve coached women who believed they were “just getting older” or “in perimenopause.” But when we regulated their nervous system, their symptoms shifted:
- Night sweats faded.
- Cervical mucus returned.
- Cycles lengthened back to normal.
- Anxiety lifted.
And what changed? Not just supplements or diet tweaks — but their ability to speak. To set boundaries. To stop silencing their own needs.
Voice isn’t just empowerment. Voice is regulation. Speaking truthfully is one of the fastest ways to bring the body back into parasympathetic balance.
Why This Matters Beyond Perimenopause
Right now, the internet is saturated with “perimenopause” talk. Everything a woman experiences after 35 gets stamped with that label. But what if what you’re feeling isn’t menopause at all? What if it’s chronic stress showing up through your nervous system?
Self-silencing is the perfect example: a behavior driven by cultural conditioning that cascades into real, measurable health breakdown. And the solution isn’t just HRT or symptom management. It’s nervous system repair.
Practical Ways to Start
- Notice where you silence yourself. Every “yes” when you mean “no” keeps your system in survival mode.
- Use your actual voice. Reading aloud, chanting, or even speaking your truth in the mirror stimulates the vagus nerve.
- Choose safety over suppression. Your nervous system heals when it feels safe to exist as you are.
- Track your body’s signals. Sleep, mucus, energy, cycle length — these are real-time markers of nervous system health.
The Takeaway
Time was right: self-silencing is making women sick. But they missed the deeper truth: silencing isn’t just cultural, it’s biological.
Your nervous system is the control center of your health. And when you stop silencing your voice — when you finally let yourself speak — your whole body recalibrates.
Because speaking isn’t just about being heard.
Speaking is how women heal.
And when we speak, we don’t just prevent anxiety or burnout — we protect ourselves from thyroid crashes, diabetes, and even cancer.