Stress affects the physical and emotional wellbeing of millions of Australians and while it looks different for every one of us, more than half of us experience at least one significant personal stressor in any given year.¹ It might show up as tension in your shoulders and neck, a jaw that stays clenched long after the day is done or a back that won’t quite release, no matter how much we try to relax. These are the body’s quiet signals and there is real science behind why they show up the way they do.
According to Dr Hayley Dickinson, Research Scientist and part of the endota Wellbeing Conversation, understanding what is actually happening in the body when stress takes hold is the first step toward releasing it.
stress isn't just in your mind
“When we experience stress, the body is preparing us for action,” Dr Dickinson shares. “It has detected some kind of threat, in our environment, or in our psyche and it responds. Blood flow is redistributed around the body. It moves away from the skin, digestive system and reproductive organs and moves toward the muscles, the heart, the lungs, the brain.”² That response, Dr Dickinson explains, is the fight-or-flight mechanism, vital in short bursts, and exactly what the stress system is built for.
The problem is that modern stressors like deadlines, digital overload and relational pressure don’t resolve the way a physical threat would. There is no moment where the danger passes and the body can return to rest. The stressors linger and so too does the physical response.
“I think about my dog, Jessie. She could be fast asleep on the couch, but the moment she senses any movement, a rabbit in the garden, someone at the front door, she’s up and fully switched on. And the moment that threat passes, she’s back on the couch, completely at rest, showing no sign of stress. I don’t think that I know many humans who live that way, where we’ll have those busy, hectic, overstimulated moments and then meet them equally, or even more so with rest and recovery. We just haven’t really built our lives that way.”
why tension settles in the muscles
Stress and muscle tension tend to go hand in hand, and understanding why muscles tense up when stressed can help us begin to release it. When the stress response activates, the muscles brace for action, contracting and readying the body to move. In a moment of acute stress, that resolves naturally. But when stress becomes a constant, the body can struggle to find its way back. That ready-for-action feeling can follow us through the day and often into the night.
“Almost all of us hold tension and we don’t even know it,” Dr Dickinson explains. The shoulders creep up, the jaw stays clenched, the brow stays furrowed, these patterns settle so quietly into the body’s way of being that they stop registering as tension at all. They just become the way things feel.
Over time, that holding starts to cost us. It shows up as stress, muscle pain, fatigue and headaches or as a body that feels heavier and older than it should.³
the body gives us signals — are we listening?
When the body stays in a stress state for too long, it begins to communicate with us.
“When we stay in a stress state,” explains Dr Dickinson “some of the things that we might experience can be the feeling of being absolutely exhausted but sleep just doesn’t come easy. We might notice disruption in our digestive system. Skin that’s just not feeling its best, a little dull, a little blemished, a little dry. These are really beautiful signs that our body is giving us that says I cannot prioritise those things right now because I only have a limited amount of resources to allocate.”
This is where interoception becomes so important. As Dr Dickinson notes, “If we don’t take the time to come back to ourselves, to check in, see where we’re feeling — these are called interoceptive processes, the feeling of sensation within the body — we are forever going to struggle with those other biological and physiological processes in the body because they need us to be present.” It is not something most of us are taught, but it is something that can be learned. And it has to come before anything else, because we cannot release what we cannot feel.
“If we don’t take the time to come back to ourselves…we are forever going to struggle with those other biological and physiological processes in the body because they need us to be present.”
where tension hides — a simple body scan
One of the most accessible ways to begin building that awareness is a body scan. It requires no equipment and no prior experience, just a few minutes in an environment that feels safe and unlikely to bring interruption, with the phone set well aside.
The practice can begin at the crown of the head or at the toes, wherever feels natural, bringing slow and deliberate attention to each small area of the body in turn. As Dr Dickinson describes it: “Just bring attention to each small area of the body. Bring the attention to the brow and you might like to deliberately scrunch it, contract the muscles so that you really are bringing real attention and awareness to that area. And then with a deep sighing breath, let that tension go. Sometimes you won’t even know you were holding it until you have that let go moment.”
The practice continues through the face, around the eyes, the jaw, the neck and shoulders, moving at whatever pace feels comfortable. The goal is not to fix anything. It is simply to notice and in noticing, to communicate back to the nervous system that it is safe to rest.
releasing what the body holds
One of the most common questions is how to release stress from the body and touch is one of the most powerful places to start. When the body receives slow, gentle, rhythmic touch, it activates specific nerve fibres in the skin called C-tactile afferents.⁴ “Nurturing touch allows us to access the nervous system in ways that we perhaps otherwise can’t. When we receive slow, gentle, rhythmic touch, it accesses parts of our brain that ask us not where was I touched, but what does this touch mean for me?” When that touch feels safe, the nervous system begins to shift, breathing slows, heart rate lowers and the muscles soften.
The Organic Relax Massage is designed to support exactly this kind of shift, not as a way to switch off, but as genuine support for a nervous system that has been working too hard for too long. In research coordinated by Dr Dickinson, participants reported lower perceived stress and reduced muscle tension after their treatment, and heart rate decreased by an average of 10.6% during the massage.⁵ Participants also reported feeling more balanced and connected with themselves in mind and body. And those who arrived already carrying the most stress showed the greatest shifts of all.
And it does not always have to begin on a massage table. “Sometimes it’s about doing less, not more,” Dr Dickinson reflects, “and making those things that we do become much more intentional. How does this feel for me?” Something as simple as a morning skincare routine applied with genuine presence, feeling the warmth of the hands on the face, noticing the jaw, the cheeks and the brow can begin to activate those same pathways.
frequently asked questions
Why do I carry tension in my shoulders and neck?
The shoulders and neck are among the most common places the body holds stress and often people don’t realise they are doing it. When the body’s stress response activates, muscles throughout the body brace for action. If stress continues without real rest and recovery, those muscles may stay in that guarded state indefinitely to the point where it can simply start to feel normal.
Can stress cause physical pain in my muscles?
It can. When the body remains in a stress state, muscles stay in a kind of low-level readiness that may build into real soreness and fatigue. Stress hormones may also contribute to inflammation, which compounds the discomfort.⁶
What does chronic muscle tension feel like?
It often shows up as persistent tightness or achiness, particularly in the shoulders, neck, jaw or lower back. It may also feel like a body that never quite switches off: difficulty sleeping even when exhausted, or a heaviness that is hard to explain. Because it tends to build gradually, it may become so familiar that it stops registering as tension at all.
How do I release stress from my body?
Use a simple body scan as a starting point, bringing slow, deliberate attention to each area of the body, contracting and then releasing with a sighing breath. From there, intentional touch, whether that is a skincare ritual, self-massage or a professional treatment, along with breathwork and gentle movement, may all help support the nervous system back toward rest.
Can massage help with stress-related muscle tension?
Yes it can. Slow, rhythmic touch activates specific nerve fibres that signal to the brain it is safe to shift out of alert mode. The endota Organic Relax Massage is designed to support this nervous system shift.
What is a body scan and how does it work?
A body scan is a simple awareness practice that involves bringing slow, intentional attention to different areas of the body to notice where tension might be held, without trying to immediately fix anything. Deliberately contracting and then releasing muscle groups may help to build interoceptive awareness, the ability to sense what is happening internally. It is also a way of communicating back to the nervous system that it is safe to rest.
references
¹Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). Stress and trauma. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra. Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/mental-health/topic-areas/health-wellbeing/stress-and-trauma
²Chu, B., Marwaha, K., Ayers, D., & Sanvictores, T. (2024, May 7). Physiology, Stress Reaction. PubMed; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK541120/
³Chu, B., Marwaha, K., Ayers, D., & Sanvictores, T. (2024, May 7). Physiology, Stress Reaction. PubMed; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK541120/
⁴Ingvars Birznieks, & Ingvars Birznieks. (2025). C‐tactile afferents: The mystery of human emotional touch has been hidden hair‐deep. The Journal of Physiology, 603(16), 4441–4442. https://doi.org/10.1113/jp289528
⁵Dickinson H. Organic Relax Massage Feasibility Trial Report. endota; [2020]. Heart rate data based on n=9 of 16 participants for whom quality heart rate data was obtained. This was a small feasibility trial; statistical analysis was not performed.
⁶Chu, B., Marwaha, K., Ayers, D., & Sanvictores, T. (2024, May 7). Physiology, Stress Reaction. PubMed; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK541120/
Dr Hayley Dickinson is a women’s health scientist and reproductive physiologist with expertise in stress and nutrition. She is part of the endota Wellbeing Conversation, a group of experts who share evidence-based insights to help people better understand how their bodies and minds work.
