How to reverse your biological age? Somatic coach offers tips

Khaleej Times

7 days ago

After over a decade in corporate leadership, London-based Somatic & Nervous System Coach Estee Lantos found herself facing a wake-up call—her body was aging faster than it should, and chronic stress was taking a toll she could no longer ignore. What followed was a radical shift: she left her high-powered role, reversed her autoimmune condition, and began aligning her life with a more feminine, regulated, and sustainable rhythm.
Today, she helps individuals and organisations reclaim vitality through nervous system regulation, somatic healing, and biohacking from the inside out. We sat down with Estee to explore her journey, the science behind stress, and what it really means to 'regulate' in a dysregulated world.
Your personal wellness journey is deeply intertwined with your professional evolution. What was the defining moment that made you leave corporate leadership and fully commit to healing?
You could say it was meant to be, timing-wise, as our company had just been acquired. After supporting the integration journey, it became a natural opportunity for me to take the leap and move closer to a more aligned path with deeper purpose. In parallel, I had measured my own biological age and realised that stress had caused me to age faster—I was eight years older than my chronological age. So I committed to reversing this, and after succeeding, I decided to turn that process into a programme to help others too.
What does it truly mean to have a "regulated nervous system," and why is it such a game-changer in today's high-stress world?
It means that you are flexible enough to return to calm states after facing challenges (whether that's emotional or physical). Having a regulated nervous system is transformative for different reasons, including better overall health (mental & physical), stronger relationships and more authentic connection with others, improved decision-making, creativity, and more resilience to further stress.
You mention reversing your autoimmune condition and biological age—what were some of the core practices that helped you achieve that?
It was a holistic approach—but the key strategy was to address factors where I do have influence. Because we all have certain genetic risks, but you can change a lot by working on other factors such as addressing the triggers coming from your lifestyle, improving your gut health, or improving your relationship with yourself. Plus continuing to focus on various health optimisation practices I have already been doing—including prioritising sleep and my circadian rhythm, cycle syncing—following the infradian rhythm of the female body, spending time in nature, etc.
When I say addressing the triggers, in my case, that was stress and also gluten. And so I cut out gluten completely, transformed my stress through body-based and somatic modalities which were so powerful that they are now part of my programme as well, and I'm teaching it to my clients. But triggers can be unique for everybody—so it's always important to understand your unique situation rather than following a one-size-fits-all approach. (It may be hormonal changes, toxins, infections, etc.)
For those unfamiliar, how would you describe the concept of nervous system regulation in simple terms?
It's having more conscious control over when to speed up and when to slow down. Because stress is not good or bad—it's just mobilisation energy. It's needed and helpful, but we need to be able to turn it off. There is constant two-way communication between your brain and the body—so with nervous system regulation interventions, we find a way to influence how we signal safety to our system, so we can turn the stress response off when we don't need it anymore. Sadly, in today's high-stress world, many people are stuck in stress mode and sometimes not even aware of it, as it's so normalised.
Can you explain how TRE (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises) works and what a typical session with you might look like?
During a typical TRE (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises) session, we begin with seven simple exercises—gentle stretches and muscle activations—to prepare the body for release. While lying on a mat, natural involuntary tremors are activated, allowing the body to discharge deep tension and stress. This tremoring is completely natural and safe (animals do it too after stress), and while no talking is required, memories or emotions may gently surface to be released. The process is very gentle, and in fact, most of my clients smile the first time they activate the shaking—it's a unique and often surprising experience to witness your body letting go in a safe container.
What are some signs that someone's nervous system is dysregulated, even if they 'seem fine' on the outside?
There are a bunch of different signs—I will leave the list below—but let me share one which to me was the most surprising: when I notice myself getting more clumsy than usual, it's a sign of that too. It's great that I know it now, as I can slow down, stop, and bring myself back to a more balanced state before it gets bigger.
But here are some of the most common ones I see with my clients:
Mental & Emotional
● Chronic anxiety, worry, or restlessness
● Harsh self-talk
● Mood swings, irritability, or feeling easily overwhelmed
● Emotional numbness, disconnection, or inability to feel joy
● Brain fog, poor concentration, or memory issues
Sleep & Energy
● Trouble falling or staying asleep
● Waking up tired or feeling unrefreshed
● Persistent fatigue or burnout, even with rest
● Sudden energy crashes or wired-but-tired states
Physical
● Chronic muscle tension (neck, jaw, shoulders, lower back)
● Digestive issues (bloating, IBS, nausea—linked to vagal tone)
● Headaches or migraines
● Sensitivity to noise, light, or touch
● Heart rate staying higher than usual, breathing remains shallow or quick
● Heart palpitations, etc.
Other
Procrastination, over-controlling, perfectionism, or hyper-independence; Difficulty relaxing or 'doing nothing'; Startling easily or always feeling "on alert".
You're both a biohacker and a coach grounded in trauma-informed methods—how do you blend hard science and somatic wisdom in your work?
Just reading this question lights me up because this intersection truly excites me. I believe the right combination of strategies is key—they can be very complementary—but we have to start with the foundations first. You can't biohack your way out of dysregulation from the outside in; it has to begin from the inside out.
In fact, I'm living proof, along with some of the people I've recently worked with, that doing just the cool biohacking stuff isn't as effective if your body is still stuck in survival mode or parts of you aren't fully integrated.
For me, it's about marrying data with felt experience, precision with compassion. This fusion allows us to tailor interventions that are not only scientifically sound but deeply human, empowering clients to reclaim nervous system resilience at every level. Plus, somatic wisdom is increasingly validated by hard science, so it's only a matter of time before science fully catches up.
There's a lot of noise in the biohacking space. What are three tools or practices you genuinely swear by?
It all comes back to giving yourself support to get the foundations right. Number one for me is sleep. I make sure to get morning light in my eyes, filter out blue light in the evening, and use mouth taping to encourage proper nose breathing throughout the night. I've been consistent with these habits for over seven years, and if I skip them, my sleep data clearly shows a drop in restorative sleep.
Since we've talked a lot about stress, I also recommend tracking heart rate variability (HRV) to understand your personal patterns and triggers—this is super helpful for managing and transforming stress.
But just as important are the other basics: eating real, clean, preferably organic whole foods, staying properly hydrated, moving regularly, and your community/connections.
You work with biological age testing—can you walk us through how stress shows up in those results and how your approach shifts it?
Chronic stress is inflammatory, and when we test biological age, we look at markers of sustained low-grade inflammation—often referred to as inflammaging. This type of inflammation is one of the hallmarks of aging and plays a key role in accelerating biological wear and tear.
How you nourish yourself, sleep, move, and respond to stress all deeply influence your internal environment—either fuelling or reducing that chronic inflammation. That's why, in my approach, I always start with the nervous system—helping clients shift out of survival mode and regulate their stress response using a combination of somatic and mind-driven tools.
Once that foundation is in place, we layer in tailored recommendations for cellular health, nutrition, movement, and recovery—evidence-based strategies that not only enhance overall well-being but can also measurably improve biological age markers over time. And all of it is based on each client's unique test results.