First responders live in a world most people never see. Police officers, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers, and emergency medical professionals routinely face high-stakes situations, unpredictability, trauma exposure, and life-or-death decision-making. The nervous system adapts to survive in these environments, but those adaptations don’t always turn off once the shift ends. For some first responders, chronic stress and trauma exposure can show up in unexpected ways