ADHD, Anxiety, and Sensory Overload: A Nervous System Perspective

Dr. Joshua Beaudry
Aug 25
2 min read

Do you or your child struggle with racing thoughts, worry loops, trouble focusing, or feeling overwhelmed by the world around you? These challenges are often labeled as anxiety, ADHD, or sensory overload—but at their root, they’re signs of a nervous system stuck in imbalance.

At Life Springs Family Chiropractic, we take a nervous system perspective to uncover the real cause and restore balance.

Anxiety: When the Brain Won’t Calm Down

Common anxiety symptoms include:

Racing heart and tight muscles
Worry loops (thinking the same thought over and over)
Difficulty focusing

This often happens when the sympathetic system (fight-or-flight) is dominant over the parasympathetic system (rest-and-heal).

The amygdala is overactive → constantly scanning for danger.
The prefrontal cortex is weak → making it harder to regulate thoughts and emotions.
Brainwave imbalances (too much beta, too little theta, or alpha out of sync) keep the brain “stuck” in stress mode.

If you’ve tried medication and it hasn’t helped, it may be because the back of the brain is beta-dominant (stress) with not enough theta (calm). The ideal ratio is 1.8–2.2—and we often see it far outside that range.

ADD & ADHD: When Focus Won’t Stick

ADD and ADHD are not a lack of willpower—they’re a dopamine and norepinephrine imbalance, often tied to weak frontal lobe function.

The key measure is the theta-beta ratio in the brain’s motor and sensory motor cortex:

2.2–3.0 → classic ADD
> 3.0 → ADHD

There’s also a subtype called “Under-Task ADD”: the harder you try, the worse you do. Alarmingly, 90% of incarcerated individuals have this form—showing just how critical early detection and care can be.

Hormones matter too: low testosterone or DHEA → poor dopamine binding → ADD-like symptoms.

Sensory Overload: When the World Feels Too Much

Burnout and overwhelm don’t just come from emotions—they’re also tied to how the brain processes the world.

The nervous system has a hierarchy of processing:

Visual – the most efficient and calming
Auditory
Fine motor – tongue, hands
Gross motor – big muscle movements
Brainstem/primitive reflexes – least efficient, most draining

If primitive reflexes are still active, it means the nervous system is “stuck” in fight-or-flight. This makes the world feel louder, brighter, and harder to handle.

By gradually strengthening the cerebellum, motor cortex, and sensory systems, we can shift the brain out of stress and into resilience.