The Experience Miracles Podcast

Your Teen’s Stress Isn’t ‘Normal’: Recognizing Hidden Nervous System Imbalances

Nov 5, 2024

Teen Anxiety Is Not Normal: The Nervous System Root Cause and Drug-Free Solutions

Episode 49, Experience Miracles Podcast | Host: Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP, Pediatric Chiropractor & Founder of PX Docs | Published: November 5, 2024 | Duration: ~44 min

Key Takeaways

  • Teen anxiety, depression, and chronic illness are not inevitable, they are signs of nervous system dysregulation and subluxation, not a normal developmental phase, according to Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP.
  • Anxiety disorders affect 31% of teens ages 13–18, with rates rising to 38% in girls following COVID-19, and 44% of teens reporting persistent sadness and hopelessness, statistics Dr. Ebel argues reflect a public health crisis rooted in neurological dysfunction, not genetics.
  • The three stages of subluxation progress from chronic stress (Stage 1) to dysregulation and organ dysfunction (Stage 2) to full neurological exhaustion and depletion (Stage 3), where both the fight-or-flight and calming systems shut down entirely.
  • Approximately 80% of teenage patients struggling with anxiety and depression present with severe constipation, a clinical finding that reflects how nervous system fight-or-flight response steals energy from the gut and gastrointestinal system.
  • The chemical imbalance theory is described as an accurate but incomplete explanation for teen mental health conditions: neurotransmitters become depleted because the nervous system becomes dysregulated first, which is why Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care addresses the root cause rather than the downstream symptom.

Why Is Teen Anxiety So Common, and What’s Really Causing It?

Teen anxiety, depression, and nervous system dysregulation are not a rite of passage, they are measurable, addressable neurological conditions that stem from the same root cause framework that affects younger children: The Perfect Storm of prenatal stress, birth trauma, and accumulated toxic load that continues to compound through childhood and into adolescence.

The same nervous system that was dysregulated in a colicky, constipated infant or a child with sensory meltdowns does not simply correct itself with age. Without direct intervention, that underlying subluxation, the neurological state of chronic sympathetic dominance and impaired vagus nerve function, progresses through three distinct stages, ultimately resulting in full neurological exhaustion and depletion. It is this final stage that parents describe as watching a dimmer switch dim on their child’s personality: the creativity, confidence, and connection that once defined their teen begins to disappear, replaced by anxiety, withdrawal, gut problems, and immune dysfunction.

What Dr. Tony Ebel argues parents must understand is that this is not genetic destiny, not “teenagers being teenagers,” and not a condition that requires lifelong pharmaceutical management. The nervous system, specifically the balance between the sympathetic (fight-or-flight) and parasympathetic (rest-and-regulate) systems, is directly addressable through Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care. When the nervous system is regulated, the downstream effects on mood, sleep, digestion, immune function, and cognitive performance follow.

Teenage Years Are Not Meant to Be Dreaded [00:00 – 04:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP: As a dad of two teenagers, with a third on the way, I go into this season knowing things are going to be different. Their communication changes. They text back in one word. They hang out with you less. They get judgier about your dad jokes. Those things are real and normal.

But the anxiety? The exhaustion? The gut issues? The inability to sleep? The shutting down of their whole personality? That is not normal. That is a nervous system that has been accumulating stress and dysfunction for years, and it has finally hit a tipping point.

There are millions of kids stuck in this storm of nervous system dysregulation, depletion, and exhaustion, and millions more parents accepting it as normal. This episode is about changing that.

Two Moms Who Changed Everything About How Dr. Tony Views Teen Health [05:00 – 12:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel: This perspective started with two back-to-back adjustments over ten years ago, when my own kids were still small. Two incredible moms, Lauren and Kelly, both came in on their own while their kids were in school. That’s something we always encourage: when parents come in without their kids, I can actually get better information and connection, and honestly, a better adjustment, because they have space to focus on themselves.

I was adjusting Lauren first. Her oldest had just become a teenager, and I said the classic thing: “Oh boy, look out.” She laughed nervously, clearly stressed about what was coming.

Then I walked into the next room and said the exact same thing to Kelly.

She stood up from the adjusting table, and she is tall, and she said with love, empathy, and complete certainty: “No, Dr. Tony, it doesn’t work like that in our family. I know our relationship will change in form as my kids become teenagers. But how much we love each other, how much we communicate, how much we respect each other and are each other’s best friends, that will never change.”

“Not in this house, not in this family. We will maintain optimal neurological health.”

That hit me and never left me. Fast forward to today: Lauren’s kids are serving in the Marines and earning athletic and academic scholarships. Kelly’s family has pastors and doctors. Both families had it dialed in. And the common thread was this perspective, that the teenage years are something to step into with intention, not dread.

The first step to changing your teenager’s health outcomes is changing the expectation. Just like we teach parents that colic, constipation, and chronic ear infections in infants are not normal and don’t just get better on their own, teen anxiety, depression, and chronic illness are also not something to simply wait out.

The Real Science Behind the Teen Anxiety Epidemic [12:00 – 21:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel: Here is what we actually know about the neuroscience behind the dramatic rise in teen anxiety, depression, behavior issues, aggression, autoimmune disorders, digestive disorders, and even epilepsy and seizures.

The nervous system runs on two modes: the sympathetic system, the gas pedal, fight-or-flight, protective mode, and the parasympathetic system, the brake pedal, rest, digest, sleep, and regulate mode. During the day, a healthy teen is naturally more sympathetic-leaning: paying attention in class, active in sports, engaged. But at night, and in moments of rest, the parasympathetic system should take over.

The vagus nerve is the primary driver of the parasympathetic system. When the vagus nerve is compromised, which is exactly what happens with subluxation, the brake pedal stops working. The teen stays stuck in fight-or-flight 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is vagus nerve dysfunction, and it is the root of most of what we label as teen anxiety.

Layered on top of the early-life nervous system stress these teens already carried, the high-stress pregnancies, birth trauma, colic, chronic ear infections, rounds of antibiotics that destroyed the gut microbiome and the ability to produce serotonin and dopamine, we have now added smartphones and social media.

The statistics are not abstract:

  • Anxiety disorders affect 31% of teens ages 13–18
  • Since COVID-19, 38% of teenage girls are affected
  • There has been a 37% increase in anxiety and depression rates
  • 44% of teens report feeling sad and hopeless on a regular basis
  • 61% report significant academic pressure
  • 91% of UK teens use social media three or more hours daily, with a direct causal link to anxiety, depression, and sleep disruption

“The neurology is basically all the same. It is a severe and significant imbalance in the brain and nervous system that leads to high levels of nervous system dysregulation.”

Nobody treats people online the way they treat them in person. Teens are still developing the maturity to understand that what other people think of them is not what defines them. So they go through that pressure all day at school, and then we plug them into it for the rest of the day at home. The nervous system was never designed for that level of constant social input and perceived threat.

How Nervous System Dysregulation Shows Up Physically in Teens [22:00 – 26:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel: Most parents and providers think of teen nervous system dysregulation as a mental and emotional health problem, anxiety, depression, mood swings, difficulty concentrating. Those are real. But the physical signs appear first.

When the nervous system is locked into chronic fight-or-flight, it needs enormous energy to maintain that state. And it steals that energy from other systems.

The gut is the first place it goes. Fight-or-flight decreases motility and gut function. Clinically, approximately 80% of teenage patients struggling with anxiety and depression also have severe constipation. What looks like a psychiatric condition is often neurogenic, driven by a nervous system that has pulled energy away from digestive function.

The immune system comes next. A hypersensitive, sympathetically dominant nervous system leaves the immune system suppressed and in a pro-inflammatory state. This is why anxious teens are also chronically sick, dealing with autoimmune conditions, or struggling with PANDAS/PANS in more severe cases. The inflammation further feeds the sympathetic response, a true vicious cycle.

Then come the adrenals, thyroid, and pituitary, the endocrine system. This is why teens cycle between hyper-aroused, angry, and wound up one moment, and completely depleted and shut down the next. In the most severe cases, this cycling gets labeled as bipolar disorder.

Finally, cognitive function suffers. When the nervous system is dysregulated, the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain, runs the show. The hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, where learning, memory, and decision-making happen, get shut down. A teen who appears unfocused, unmotivated, or emotionally reactive in class is often operating with a brain that literally cannot access its higher-order functions because the nervous system is in survival mode.

The Three Stages of Subluxation in Teenagers [26:00 – 35:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel: In Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care, we have a catch-all term for everything I have been describing: subluxation. Subluxation is not a bony structural problem. It is a neurological state, sympathetic fight-or-flight stress, stuck.

And subluxation progresses through three stages, each worse than the last.

Stage 1: Chronic Stress and Tension. The nervous system is stuck in fight-or-flight with too much sympathetic tone and too little vagus nerve, parasympathetic function. This is the foundation. When it persists without correction, it moves to Stage 2.

“Subluxation is synonymous with sympathetic dominance and dysautonomia, where the parasympathetic and the vagus nerve are shut down.”

Stage 2: Dysregulation and Disorganization. This is the rollercoaster stage. Parents describe not knowing which version of their teen they’re going to get on any given day, wound up and explosive, or shut down and withdrawn. At this stage, the gut dysfunction deepens, the immune system becomes chronically dysregulated, and autoimmune conditions and PANDAS/PANS frequently emerge.

Stage 3: Neurological Exhaustion and Depletion. This is where the majority of the perfect storm teenagers Dr. Tony sees in clinic are today. Both systems, the gas pedal and the brake pedal, shut down. The teen who used to be hyperactive and anxious is now not even that. They are fully shut down: no energy, no confidence, no drive. Parents describe losing their child’s whole personality.

This is the stage where psychiatric medications get introduced. And while that decision is completely understandable, when a child has been in the center of the storm for months or years, parents need a life preserver, those medications address a downstream chemical imbalance without touching the upstream neurological cause.

The chemical imbalance theory is accurate but incomplete. Neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine become depleted because the nervous system becomes depleted first. Medicating the depleted neurotransmitters without restoring nervous system regulation is treating the symptom while the root cause continues to worsen.

The Solution Framework: Perspective, Chiropractic Care, and Lifestyle [35:00 – 43:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel: Here is the sequence that actually works.

Step 1: Shift the perspective. Not in this house, not in this family. Teen anxiety, depression, exhaustion, and chronic illness are not normal developmental phases. They are signs of a nervous system that needs support. Once a parent truly adopts this perspective, everything else becomes possible.

Step 2: Prioritize Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care. Get to the directory. Get a nervous system assessment. This is not a treatment or a cure for anxiety or depression, it is direct care for subluxation and nervous system dysregulation. The nervous system is the root. Everything else is downstream.

I speak from personal experience here. At 19, I lost someone very close to me. I went deep into the storm, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t focus in class, almost dropped out of college. That is when chiropractic found me. Once my nervous system started to regulate and recharge, everything else became possible.

Step 3: Layer in lifestyle support. Sleep, nutrition, supplementation, hydration, these matter enormously. But here is the thing: it is almost impossible to make progress on sleep hygiene and nutrition when a teen’s nervous system is depleted and dysregulated. The nervous system drives cravings. The nervous system drives energy. The nervous system drives motivation. Fix the nervous system first, and lifestyle change becomes possible, not a battle.

Step 4: Bring the teen into the conversation. Share this episode with your teenager directly. Teenagers are sick of being sick. They are sick of being stressed. They are sick of being anxious. And they are old enough to understand exactly what is happening in their nervous system and exactly what they can do about it. They are looking for answers. Give them this one.

“Teenagers are ridiculously, incredibly resilient. The moment they understand what’s happening and get the support they need, we see these kids heal. It’s incredible.”

The PX Docs approach is to empower teens alongside their parents, educating, informing, and partnering with them to say: here is your way out of the storm. Get adjusted. Regulate your nervous system. Make better decisions from a better baseline. And then go after whatever God has called you to do, full send.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is teen anxiety really a nervous system problem, or is it just normal teenage hormones?

According to Dr. Tony Ebel, the neurological and hormonal changes of adolescence are real, but chronic anxiety, depression, exhaustion, gut dysfunction, and immune challenges are not inevitable byproducts of those changes. They are signs of nervous system dysregulation and subluxation that began accumulating in early childhood and have reached a tipping point. Teens with regulated nervous systems navigate the same hormonal shifts without the same chronic illness burden.

What are the physical signs that my teen’s nervous system is dysregulated?

Physical signs of nervous system dysregulation in teens include inability to fall asleep or stay asleep, chronic gut problems (stomach pain, bloating, reflux, constipation), frequent illness, immune dysfunction, energy swings between hyperarousal and complete depletion, and chronic headaches. Dr. Tony Ebel notes clinically that approximately 80% of teenage patients with anxiety and depression also present with severe constipation, a direct effect of the sympathetic nervous system pulling energy away from the gut.

Why does teen anxiety often come with gut problems and getting sick all the time?

When the sympathetic nervous system is chronically activated, it steals energy from the gut and the immune system, the two most energy-intensive systems in the body. This decreases gut motility and causes digestive dysfunction, while simultaneously leaving the immune system suppressed and in a pro-inflammatory state. Dr. Tony Ebel refers to this as The Perfect Storm: a vicious cycle where nervous system dysregulation causes physical illness, and physical illness feeds further nervous system stress.

What is subluxation and how does it affect teenagers?

Subluxation is a neurological state, not a structural bone problem, in which the nervous system is stuck in chronic sympathetic dominance (fight-or-flight) with impaired vagus nerve and parasympathetic function. It progresses through three stages: chronic stress and tension, dysregulation and organ dysfunction, and neurological exhaustion and depletion. Most teens Dr. Tony Ebel sees in a clinical setting are at Stage 3, where both the stress and calming systems have shut down, resulting in full personality and energy collapse.

Why don’t psychiatric medications fix teen anxiety on their own?

The chemical imbalance theory, that anxiety and depression are caused by depleted neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, is accurate but incomplete. Neurotransmitters become depleted because the nervous system becomes dysregulated first. Medications address the downstream chemical imbalance without resolving the underlying neurological dysfunction. According to Dr. Tony Ebel, this is why Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care is the essential first intervention, it addresses the root cause that medication cannot reach.

How do I find a neurologically-focused chiropractor for my teenager?

The PX Docs Directory lists trained, neurologically-focused chiropractors across the country. These practitioners are specifically trained in the assessment and care of subluxation and nervous system dysregulation in children and teens.

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