Rewiring the Warrior: A Data-Driven Breakthrough in Beating Operational Stress

How WHOOP and a Stellate Ganglion Block Helped Me Reset Operational Stress and Increase Performance

Author’s Note: This article is a collaboration between Dr. Chris Frueh and myself, the author of Operator Syndrome. Over the last several months, I’ve had numerous conversations with Dr. Frueh regarding his research findings and how they translate to the law enforcement community.

“I published the first medical case series on the use of the stellate ganglion block (SGB) for PTSD symptoms, and since then, we’ve published ten studies, including clinical trials, and have performed over three thousand SGBs. The SGB is a medical procedure where an ultrasound-guided injection of a long-acting local anesthetic is performed in the side of the neck to temporarily ‘block’ the nerve that controls the ‘fight or flight’ response.

This nerve (the cervical sympathetic chain) is a two-way conduit, where the parts of the brain that control the fight-or-flight response (the central autonomic network) communicate with the body, and the body communicates back to those parts of the brain.

We hypothesized that by temporarily blocking or ‘turning off’ the two-way traffic between the body and those parts of the brain, the fight-or-flight response is allowed to reset, resulting in long-term relief of the associated anxiety symptoms. Over thirty peer-reviewed medical publications show that SGB is safe and results in significant long-term improvement in chronic anxiety symptoms associated with PTSD. The SGB involves only very minor discomfort and takes less than fifteen minutes to perform, with lasting benefits being seen in as little as thirty minutes.”

— Sean Mulvaney, MD, former U.S. Navy SEAL and U.S. Army physician

In law enforcement, like the military, you’re trained to push through anything—gunfire, trauma, sleep deprivation, and emotional chaos. But what we don’t talk enough about is what happens after the call ends, when the body and brain are left to process everything we’ve absorbed. For many officers and veterans, chronic stress isn’t the exception—it’s the baseline.

Long shifts, critical incidents, and constant vigilance rewire our nervous systems. We normalize poor sleep, irritability, anxiety, and emotional detachment. In a culture that rewards stoicism and resilience, the idea of physiological recovery is almost taboo.

But the toll adds up. And for those of us who’ve lived in that red zone for too long, the question becomes: how do we reset?

Recently, I put that question to the test using two powerful tools:

1. The WHOOP Band – a wearable that tracks physiological stress, recovery, and strain in real-time.
2. A Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB) injection at the VA.

What I found wasn’t just encouraging—it was measurable.

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What Is Stellate Ganglion Block Therapy?

Dr. B. Christopher Frueh explains that stellate ganglion block (SGB) therapy—also known as cervical sympathetic blockade—is a medical procedure. As Dr. Mulvaney describes, it involves an injection of a local anesthetic into the stellate ganglion, a bundle of nerves in the neck belonging to the sympathetic nervous system.

This system controls our “fight or flight” response—an evolutionary mechanism critical for survival. However, in people with PTSD and anxiety, this system is often overactivated. SGB is believed to work by reducing sympathetic nervous system activity, which leads to less arousal, inflammation, and pain sensitivity.

SGB is a brief outpatient procedure with virtually immediate relief for most people. Although the medicine typically wears off after several months, many report that by then, they are sleeping and functioning better—and that many benefits remain. A bilateral SGB (administered on both sides of the neck on separate days) may enhance and extend the benefits. The treatment can be repeated as needed.

SGB is often paired with ketamine infusion therapy, and the two may have synergistic effects. Originally used in medicine nearly a century ago for treating certain types of headaches, SGB is considered quite safe. I often recommend it to soldiers and responders as a first-line treatment because it’s fast-acting, effective, and treats symptoms including PTSD, anxiety, anger, and insomnia.

It doesn’t dull the senses—on the contrary, it sharpens them. By reducing physiological arousal and improving sleep, it enhances concentration, memory, organization, and planning. In short, it’s a powerful performance enhancer.

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How WHOOP Tracked the Shift

To validate what I was feeling, I used WHOOP’s Stress Monitor feature to track my daily stress levels before and after the SGB injection. The data paints a clear picture of the impact.

Before the SGB (Baseline Stress)

Date	Stress Score	Time in High Stress Zone	Comparison to Typical Day
Mon, Apr 28	0.9 (Low)	—	—
Tue, Apr 29	1.4 (Medium)	1 hr 19 min	11 min lower
Wed, Apr 30	0.7 (Low)	4 hr 19 min	44 min higher
Thu, May 1	1.1 (Medium)	3 hr 59 min	47 min higher

Despite some scores reading “low” or “medium,” the time spent in the high-stress zone was consistently above average, showing a body stuck in a state of sympathetic overdrive.

After the SGB Injection (May 2)

Date	Stress Score	Time in High Stress Zone	Comparison to Typical Day
Fri, May 2	0.2 (Low)	2 hr 44 min	36 min higher
Sat, May 3	0.4 (Low)	4 min	1 hr 32 min lower
Sun, May 4	0.6 (Low)	1 hr 26 min	1 hr 27 min lower
Mon, May 5	1.7 (Medium)	1 hr 54 min	26 min higher
Tue, May 6	1.5 (Medium)	29 min	1 hr 8 min lower
Wed, May 7	1.0 (Low)	1 hr 39 min	1 hr 14 min lower

Key Insight: Immediately after SGB on May 2, my stress score dropped sharply. Time in high-stress zones decreased dramatically, especially on May 3 and 6. Even when stress levels rose slightly due to operational demands (e.g., May 5), overall regulation remained better than pre-SGB.

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Why This Matters for Law Enforcement, Veterans, and First Responders

The mission-first mindset often leaves little room to process trauma or track recovery. But the brain and body don’t forget. High cortisol levels, poor sleep, anger, and emotional numbing can become permanent fixtures of life on duty—and the damage accumulates.

This is why physiological tools like WHOOP and treatments like SGB are so vital for tactical professionals:

• WHOOP helps you see what you can’t feel—subtle signs of overtraining, poor recovery, and unchecked stress.
• SGB helps reset the system—offering a clinical way to bring your body back to baseline.

Together, they offer a measurable path forward—not just for performance but for overall wellness and longevity in a profession that rarely stops to breathe.

For too long, we’ve accepted chronic stress as just “part of the job.” But it doesn’t have to be. With science-backed interventions and tools like WHOOP, we now have the ability to see stress, track it, and reset it—not just for ourselves but also for our families, our teams, and the communities we serve.

This isn’t about weakness. It’s about optimization.

It’s time to lead the way in the conversation on recovery—because warriors don’t just survive. They adapt. And now, they track it too.

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B. Christopher Frueh, Ph.D., is a novelist, clinical psychologist, and professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii. He has over thirty years of professional experience working with veteran and military communities; has conducted clinical trials, epidemiological, and neuroscientific studies; and has co-authored over 325 scientific publications. This article was adapted from his book Operator Syndrome (2024; Ballast Books).

Ayman is a combat veteran and seasoned law enforcement leader with over 20 years of operational experience. He served in Iraq as a U.S. Army soldier and translator during the height of the war against Al-Qaeda, gaining firsthand exposure to combat stress and leadership under fire.

In law enforcement, Ayman has worked in diverse high-risk roles including SWAT, DEA Task Force Officer, DEA SRT, plain clothes interdiction, and currently serves as a patrol sergeant. His experience offers deep insight into the physical and psychological demands faced by tactical professionals.

Ayman holds a Master of Science in Counterterrorism (MSC) and is the founder of Project Sapient, a platform dedicated to enhancing performance and resilience through neuroscience, stress physiology, and data-driven training. Through consulting, podcasting, and partnerships with organizations across the country, Project Sapient equips military, law enforcement, and first responders with tools to thrive in high-stress environments.

Follow Project Sapient on Instagram, YouTube, and all podcast platforms for engaging content. Feel free to email Ayman at ayman@projectsapient.com.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.