Stress Relief: The Fight or Flight Reflex

Why is the stress of modern day so hard to handle? People often site stress as a reason for over-eating, drinking, smoking and a general desire to zone out instead of engaging in more healthful activities. As we know, these kinds of behaviors can lead to the diseases that most threaten our prospects of living a long and healthful life. Why is stress so powerful?

Reaction to stress is innate; we are hard-wired to react to perceived threats in our environment. But, our inborn stress response did not evolve in response to modern day conditions but prehistoric ones. In those times our survival depended on our swift response to physical danger, essentially from predators. If a tiger approaches, you don’t think, you run. What helps you is the flight or fight reaction also known as the stress response. The rapid release of adrenalin and cortisol into your blood stream cause changes within your body and mind, in the blink of an eye, that are designed to save your life. Here is what happens:

Blood sugar rises to fuel your brain with energy enabling you to think your way out of danger.   Cholesterol and fat are released into your blood to provide nutrients.   Blood clots more readily to reduce hemorrhage in case you are injured.   Long term memory shuts down, but short term memory is enhanced; you are very focused.   Heart rate and blood pressure increase to pump more oxygen to your lungs.   Blood is shunted to the large muscles of your body, like your thighs, to help you run.   Digestive and reproductive systems shut down, because they are not key to your survival at the moment.

All of these responses reflect the fact that you are in an emergency and need to get through this short-term crisis. When the crisis subsides, your body and its systems return to normal, within minutes to hours.

So really, our genetic make-up prepares us for survival by giving us a reflexive response to serious danger. So what are the dangers that trigger our stress response in modern day life? We don’t typically face tigers these days, but the stress response is present nonetheless. All kinds of situations prompt us into stress overdrive many times a day, resulting in numerous ailments.

Actually, the right amount of stress can actually be helpful. We have all experienced good stress: we feel challenged, clear, energetic, prepared, and ready to perform at our best. Our bodies and minds are up to the challenge we’re about to face. For example, during a public speaking engagement, or when an emergency room physician works to save a patient’s life, an athlete performs in an event or a student takes an important exam.

But what if we do not feel able to take charge of, or cannot change, a threatening situation? What if we cannot fight it or flee from it? What if we do not feel up to the challenge we have to face? What happens when psychological or social threats trigger the stress response? What happens when the stress response is rarely turned off? Those situations can lead to chronic stress and even illness.

While the stress response evolved as a short-term solution to a short-term problem, chronic stress is now often a long-term problem unto itself. It has been estimated that many of us experience the stress response as many as fifty times a day.

Each physical aspect of the stress response listed above is potentially hazardous to your health. It is no wonder that the long-term consequences of chronic stress can include:

• Diabetes
• High cholesterol and triglycerides
• Blood clots
• Impaired memory
• Sleep disorders
• Hypertension and heart disease
• Digestive and reproductive disorders
• Loss of libido

Many of these can put you at risk for heart disease and stroke. Moreover, immunity can be decreased, depression and anxiety can result and medical problems that you have may worsen.

Just as the stress response is our birthright, so is the relaxation response and the other practices described above that reverse the effects of stress. The only difference is that they have to be learned. Everyone can find a way to dismantle their own stress response, and, while it takes practice, it does not take long to appreciate the benefits of taking control and determining the quality of each day.