Ambient Stress in High-Achieving Women: What I Shared in Forbes and Why It Matters
Chloë Bean, LMFT is a licensed somatic trauma therapist based in Los Angeles, specializing in anxiety, burnout, trauma, and nervous system healing for high-achieving women. Her work integrates somatic therapy, EMDR, and IFS to support lasting regulation, resilience, and relational healing.
Why Ambient Stress Quietly Pushes the Nervous System Toward Burnout
This past August, I was featured in Forbes discussing ambient stress, the subtle, ongoing nervous system strain that builds without a clear breaking point. Unlike acute stress, ambient stress operates in the background. It slowly drains energy, narrows emotional capacity, and keeps the body stuck in a low-grade fight-or-flight state.
Because it does not register as a crisis, ambient stress is easy to dismiss. Yet for high-achieving women balancing careers, relationships, and relentless internal standards, it often becomes the tipping point into burnout, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion. Understanding ambient stress as a nervous system pattern, not a personal shortcoming, is the first step toward real and sustainable healing.
What Is Ambient Stress?
Ambient stress is the low-level stress you may not even notice until your body forces you to. Unlike acute stress (think deadlines or emergencies), ambient stress builds slowly through:
Constant digital overload
Multitasking and overcommitting
Clutter, noise, and overstimulation
Perfectionism and social comparison
Emotional suppression and fawning in relationships
For women with a trauma history, these subtle stressors can feel even heavier. Your nervous system may already be wired for hypervigilance, which makes the background noise of stress feel impossible to shut off.
Why High-Achieving Women Are More Vulnerable
In my Los Angeles therapy practice, I see this pattern often: ambitious, successful women who are “doing it all” but secretly feel depleted, anxious, and disconnected.
Here’s why:
Perfectionism turns every to-do into a high-stakes performance.
Codependency or people-pleasing makes you take on more than your share at work and in relationships.
Toxic relationships keep you second-guessing yourself and walking on eggshells.
Unhealed trauma keeps your body in a baseline of chronic stress as your brain continues to operate in fight-flight-freeze aka survival mode, making it difficult to be present.
Ambient stress doesn’t just make you tired. Over time, it chips away at your resilience, leading to burnout, panic attacks, emotional numbness, and even chronic health issues.
Forbes feature — Chloe Bean, LMFT, shares how somatic therapy supports anxiety, burnout, and nervous system regulation.
Somatic Tools to Manage Ambient Stress
In the Forbes piece, I shared some of the somatic tools I use with clients to break the cycle of stress:
Micro-breaks: Just 60 seconds to breathe, stretch, or do a quick body scan can reset your nervous system.
Set sensory boundaries: Reduce background noise, harsh lighting, and digital clutter. Your body needs calm spaces to down-regulate.
Gentle movement: Walking, stretching, yoga, or tai chi help release built-up tension.
Vocalization: Humming, sighing, or singing stimulate the vagus nerve and help your body feel calmer.
Make time for joy: Even one small moment a day that isn’t about productivity can help rebalance your nervous system.
Why This Matters for Your Healing
Ambient stress may sound “minor,” but its effects run deep — especially for women who already feel like they can’t slow down without everything falling apart. Healing isn’t about eliminating stress entirely; it’s about teaching your body how to return to calm, connection, and safety.
This is where therapy comes in. Approaches like Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, and Internal Family Systems (IFS) can help you:
Release stored trauma that keeps your body in stress mode
Stop people-pleasing and over-functioning to earn love or approval
Reconnect with your authentic self instead of living in constant performance mode
Ready to Begin?
If you’re tired of feeling “on edge” all the time and want to finally heal the deeper roots of anxiety, perfectionism, or burnout, I’d love to support you.
I offer in-person therapy in Los Angeles and virtual therapy across California.
In Case You Missed It:
You can read the original Forbes article here: What Is Ambient Stress? And How to Tackle It
Many of my clients struggling with ambient stress also notice they’re caught in people-pleasing patterns — saying yes when they mean no, taking on too much, or losing trust in themselves.
That’s why I created a free workbook, “Am I a People Pleaser?” You’ll also find it in the footer of my site — it’s filled with reflective prompts to help you understand your patterns and start building healthier boundaries.
I offer anxiety, trauma & relationship therapy in West Los Angeles and virtually throughout California. Book a free 15-minute consultation here.
Chloe Bean is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist practicing West LA, California. She integrates Somatic Experiencing, IFS Therapy, and EMDR with traditional therapeutic approaches to support comprehensive healing from trauma, anxiety, burnout, body image issues, disordered eating, perfectionism, breakups, and toxic relationships.
Frequently Asked Questions About Ambient Stress & Therapy
What is ambient stress?
Ambient stress is a chronic, low-grade state of nervous system activation. It often feels like a constant background tension rather than acute anxiety. Many people experience it as jaw clenching, shallow breathing, trouble sleeping, irritability, or a persistent sense of being “on edge” even when life looks stable on the surface.
Unlike short-term stress, ambient stress lingers in the body and nervous system, especially for high-functioning or high-achieving individuals.
How do I know if my stress is ambient or something more serious?
Ambient stress tends to be subtle but persistent. You may be functioning well at work or in relationships while feeling internally tense or depleted. Signs include chronic muscle tension, difficulty relaxing, racing thoughts at night, or feeling disconnected from your body.
If you are experiencing panic attacks, severe burnout, intrusive thoughts, or chronic anxiety that interferes with daily functioning, it may indicate deeper nervous system dysregulation or unresolved trauma. In those cases, therapy can provide structured, long-term support.
Can therapy help with ambient stress?
Yes. Therapy can be highly effective for ambient stress, especially when it is approached through trauma-informed and nervous system-based modalities. Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, and Internal Family Systems (IFS) help address stress patterns stored in the body, not just the mind.
Rather than relying on surface-level coping strategies, therapy works to regulate the nervous system so your body no longer stays stuck in fight, flight, or freeze.
Why do high-achieving women experience so much chronic stress?
High-achieving women often learn to override their nervous system signals in order to perform, care for others, or maintain control. Perfectionism, people-pleasing, and overfunctioning can temporarily create safety, but they also mask deeper stress and emotional load.
Success does not cancel out trauma or chronic stress. Therapy helps uncover these patterns and supports a shift from performing for safety to reconnecting with your authentic needs and boundaries.
What is the difference between somatic therapy, EMDR, and IFS?
These approaches work differently but are often used together for deeper healing.
Somatic therapy focuses on how stress and trauma are held in the body and helps release stored activation through gentle, body-based awareness.
EMDR helps reprocess overwhelming or unresolved memories so they no longer trigger the nervous system in the present.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) works with the inner “parts” of you that protect through overworking, pleasing others, or staying hyper-vigilant.
Together, these modalities support nervous system regulation, emotional integration, and long-term resilience rather than short-term symptom management.