Your Body Is Keeping Score: Why Tension Lives in Your Shoulders

And How to Finally Let It Go

It’s 3:17 a.m.

You’re awake again. Heart pounding for no reason you can name. Your mind is already three steps ahead, spinning through tomorrow’s doctor appointment, the conversation you need to have with your son, and whether you remembered to pay that bill.

You tell yourself to go back to sleep. You’ve been awake less than a minute. There’s no reason you can’t just drift off again.

But your body has other plans. Your chest feels tight. Your jaw is clenched. And your shoulders—when did they creep up toward your ears like that?

You try to relax them. They drop for maybe ten seconds. Then they’re right back up where they were, holding tension you didn’t even realize you were carrying.

This isn’t insomnia. This is your body refusing to believe it’s safe to rest.

And the thing most doctors won’t mention: those shoulders that won’t drop? That’s not age. That’s unprocessed stress that’s been living in your body for months, maybe years.

In our recent article about understanding stress after 60, we talked about how chronic stress gets stuck in your nervous system. But today, let’s talk about where that stress actually lives in your body—and what you can do about it right now, even if you’re lying awake at 3 a.m. with shoulders up by your ears.

The Stress Your Body Won’t Let Go

Something rarely discussed in medical offices: your body stores emotional experiences as physical tension.

When you got that scary diagnosis five years ago, your shoulders braced for impact. When you spent three years caregiving for your spouse, your neck and upper back held the weight of that responsibility. When your best friend died and no one asked how you were doing because “that’s just part of getting older,” your jaw locked down to keep from crying.

And the problem? Those moments passed, but your body never got the memo.

According to research on somatic experiencing and trauma, when stress responses don’t complete their natural cycle, the physical tension remains stored in the body. Your muscles are still bracing. Still holding. Still protecting you from dangers that are long gone.

Think of it like this: imagine you’re holding a glass of water. When the glass is half full, you can carry it all day without thinking about it. But when the glass is already full to the brim—when you’ve been holding tension for years—even one more drop makes it overflow.

That’s why the smallest things set you off now. Why you can’t seem to relax even when there’s nothing specific to worry about. Why your body feels like it’s constantly on guard.

Your nervous system isn’t broken. Your glass is just full.

And the tension you’re carrying? It has a favorite place to hide: your shoulders, your jaw, your neck, your upper back.

Why Your Shoulders Are Always Up By Your Ears

Let’s get specific about what’s happening in your body right now.

Your shoulders aren’t randomly tense. They’re responding to a very specific signal from your nervous system that says: “Danger. Protect yourself. Brace for impact.”

This is called the “startle reflex”—the automatic response where your shoulders rise and your neck contracts to protect your head and vital organs. It’s brilliant when there’s actual danger. It’s exhausting when it never turns off.

And what makes it worse for people over 60:

Your body holds tension longer than it used to. That fight-or-flight response that used to release after a few hours? Now it lingers for days. The physical recovery that used to happen overnight now takes significantly longer.

You’ve accumulated more losses. More grief. More disappointments. More betrayals. More diagnoses. More funerals. Each one added another layer of bracing that never fully released.

No one taught you how to discharge stress from your body. You learned to “push through” and “stay strong” and “handle it.” But you never learned how to let your body complete the stress cycle and actually release the tension.

So it stays. In your shoulders. In your jaw. In your neck. Building up, year after year, until you can’t remember what it feels like not to be tense.

The Hidden Costs of Chronic Muscle Tension

This isn’t just about discomfort. Chronic muscle tension has real consequences:

It disrupts your sleep. Your body can’t fully relax into deep, restorative sleep when your muscles are constantly contracted. Even when you’re “asleep,” your body is still working, still holding, still braced.

It creates pain. Tension headaches. Neck pain. Upper back pain. Shoulder pain. What you think is “just arthritis” or “just getting older” is often chronic muscle tension amplifying everything.

It keeps your nervous system activated. When your muscles are tight, your brain receives the signal: “We’re still in danger. Stay alert.” It’s a feedback loop. Tension creates stress. Stress creates tension.

It affects your breathing. Tight shoulders and chest muscles restrict your ability to take full breaths, which keeps you in shallow, anxious breathing patterns—which keeps you stressed.

It steals your energy. Chronically contracted muscles burn through your energy reserves. That exhaustion you feel? Part of it is your body working overtime to hold tension it doesn’t need to hold.

You’re not imagining that everything feels harder. Your body is literally working against you, using precious energy to maintain tension patterns that no longer serve you.

The Release Your Muscles Are Asking For

Massages feel good. But the reality: you can’t fix chronic tension by having someone else work on your body. You have to teach your body how to release it from the inside out.

This is called somatic release—using gentle movement to help your nervous system recognize it’s safe to let go.

The technique I’m about to show you works because it doesn’t force anything. It doesn’t tell your body to relax (which never works). Instead, it exaggerates the tension first, then shows your body what release actually feels like.

Your nervous system learns through contrast. It needs to feel the difference between “holding” and “releasing” to remember that releasing is even an option.

Try This Right Now: The Shoulder Roll Sequence

You can do this sitting, standing, or even lying down. No equipment needed. No special clothing. Just you and your body.

Step 1: Exaggerate the Tension (10 seconds)

Lift your shoulders up toward your ears. Really lift them—as high as you possibly can without straining. Feel how much tension you can create. Hold this for 5-10 seconds. Notice what this feels like. You might realize: Oh. This is what I’ve been doing all day without realizing it.

Step 2: The Drop (Immediate Release)

Now let them drop. Just release them completely. Let gravity pull them down. Don’t control the descent—just let go. Feel the difference. That sensation—that’s what “released” feels like.

Step 3: Slow Backward Rolls (5-10 times)

Roll your shoulders backward in slow, smooth circles. Lift them up, pull them back, drop them down, and bring them forward. Slow and deliberate. Not rushed. Feel every part of the circle. With each roll, imagine you’re wringing tension out of your shoulders like water from a towel.

Step 4: Slow Forward Rolls (5-10 times)

Now reverse the direction. Roll forward: up, forward, down, back. Same slow pace. Same deliberate attention. If you hear crunching or crackling, that’s normal. That’s years of held tension starting to release.

Step 5: Rest and Notice (30 seconds)

Stop moving. Let your arms hang naturally by your sides. Take three slow breaths. Notice how your shoulders feel now compared to when you started. Even if the change is subtle, it’s there. Your nervous system just learned something.

Do this sequence three times a day: once in the morning before you get out of bed, once midday (set a timer on your phone), and once before bed.

It takes 90 seconds. That’s it. And after a week of consistent practice, you’ll notice something remarkable: your shoulders won’t creep up toward your ears as often. And when they do, you’ll catch it earlier.

Why This Works (Even When Nothing Else Has)

This isn’t a distraction technique. This is physiological intervention.

When you exaggerate the tension and then release it, you’re sending a direct signal to your nervous system through something called proprioception—your body’s sense of where it is in space and how much tension it’s holding.

Your nervous system doesn’t speak English. It doesn’t respond to “calm down” or “just relax.” But it does respond to physical sensation.

When you show your body what tension feels like (by exaggerating it) and then immediately show it what release feels like (by dropping the shoulders), you’re teaching it the difference. You’re reminding it that releasing is an option. That it doesn’t have to hold on so tight.

Research on progressive muscle relaxation shows that this tension-and-release pattern consistently reduces both physiological markers of stress (cortisol, heart rate, blood pressure) and subjective feelings of anxiety in adults across all age groups.

And the beautiful part? It works whether you believe in it or not. Your nervous system doesn’t care if you’re skeptical. It responds to the signal.

Combining Tools: Breath + Movement = Nervous System Reset

Remember the breathing technique we covered in our previous article? The slow 4-2-6 breath that directly calms your vagus nerve?

Something powerful: you can combine them.

After you do your shoulder rolls, take three slow breaths:

Breathe in slowly through your nose for a count of 4
Hold gently for a count of 2
Breathe out slowly through your mouth for a count of 6

This combination—releasing physical tension through movement, then signaling safety through breath—is one of the fastest ways to shift your nervous system out of fight-or-flight and into rest-and-digest.

You’re speaking your body’s language. And your body listens.

The Question You’re Probably Asking

“But what if I’ve been tense for so long that this feels impossible?”

That’s exactly why this works. You don’t need to be naturally relaxed or “good at” releasing tension. You just need to practice the contrast. Tense, then release. Tense, then release.

Your body has been practicing “tense and hold” for years, maybe decades. It’s very, very good at that pattern. Now you’re teaching it a new pattern: “tense and release.”

It won’t happen instantly. After the first time, you might feel only a small difference. That’s okay. That small difference is your nervous system learning.

After a week of practice, the difference becomes more noticeable. After two weeks, your body starts to remember what “released” feels like and seeks it out on its own. After a month, you’ll realize your shoulders aren’t living up by your ears anymore—at least not constantly.

This is neuroplasticity in action. Your body learning something new at 70, at 75, at 82. Because learning doesn’t stop. Your nervous system is still capable of change.

When Your Body Finally Lets Go

What people report after practicing this consistently for a few weeks:

“I didn’t realize how much tension I was holding until it wasn’t there anymore.”

“My neck pain decreased by half—and I wasn’t even doing it for the pain, I was doing it for stress.”

“I sleep better. Not perfect, but better. I can actually feel my body relax into the bed now.”

“I catch myself before my shoulders get up by my ears. I can feel it starting and just do a quick shoulder roll, and it stops the spiral.”

“I feel like I’m living in my body again instead of fighting against it.”

That’s not dramatic transformation. That’s sustainable, realistic change. The kind that actually lasts because it’s working with your body, not against it.

What You Actually Need (It’s Simpler Than You Think)

You don’t need:

• A yoga mat

• A gym membership

• Perfect flexibility

• An hour of free time

• To sit on the floor

• To become a different person

You need:

• 90 seconds, three times a day

• A willingness to try something different

• Permission to care for your body instead of just pushing through

That’s it. That’s the barrier to entry. Can you give yourself 90 seconds?

Going Deeper: What Else Is Possible

This article gives you one powerful tool—shoulder rolls that release chronic tension and teach your nervous system it’s safe to let go.

But there’s so much more that can help you find lasting relief.

If you’re resonating with what you’re reading here, we’ve created something specifically for people who want comprehensive, practical tools that actually work with aging bodies and real limitations:

“Finding Calm: A Gentle Guide to Stress Management for Seniors.”

This 114-page guide goes far beyond what we can cover in a single article. Inside, you’ll find:

• Complete somatic practices including jaw release, hand squeezes, gentle spinal twists, and full-body tremoring—all designed for bodies with real limitations (arthritis, limited mobility, chronic pain)

• Detailed breathwork techniques that go beyond the basics, with modifications for COPD, asthma, and other breathing challenges

• Body scan scripts you can follow word-for-word to locate and release tension you didn’t even know you were holding

• Emergency calm techniques for when stress spikes suddenly and you need relief right now

• How to build your personal calm toolkit using the Three-Technique Rule so you’re not overwhelmed by too many options

• The science explained simply so you understand exactly why these practices work and can trust the process

• Printable quick-reference cards you can fold up and keep in your wallet for moments when you need help immediately

This isn’t generic stress management advice. This is specifically written for the realities of life after sixty, with deep understanding of what you’re actually facing—the body that won’t cooperate, the losses that compound, the stress that has nowhere to go.

Because you’re not too old to feel at home in your body again. You’re exactly the right age to finally give yourself permission to release what you’ve been carrying.