Lets look at three different scenarios.

A sales rep. is having a difficult time during the recession. The last three months sales were disastrous. He is about to meet an important, big new client who could be his saviour. Success will decide whether he still has a job or not.

A man is desperately and madly in love with this attractive and popular woman. He cannot see a future without her but there are other men trying to attract her attention. He has a ring, the red roses lie by the door and table carefully set for two. She is due any minute and he will propose to her and he does not know whether she will say yes or no.

A woman walking home alone late at night. The streets are poorly lit. Suddenly she hears footsteps ahead of her. She can see a group of people wearing hoodies walking towards her. Behind her she now hear more footsteps. She turns around to see a group of youths walking towards her.

In all three situations a person becomes very alert and focussed even though potential danger is only in one of these scenarios. The body goes into the fight and fright reaction.

This is a reaction in humans and animals that developed a long time ago to protect us from life threatening dangers. In this reaction, the brain triggers the release of the hormones adrenaline and cortisone. These hormones cause a remarkable change in the body.

The heart rate speeds up, the breathing become faster and deeper, the mouth becomes dry, the pupils dilate, skin becomes cold and clammy and hairs on the back of the neck stand up.

You may even want to vomit, open your bowels or urinate. This is the brain trying to lighten the load to move faster during ‘flight’.

These changes are preparing the body for action. You are in a state of heightened awareness. Your senses are very sharp. Your sense of smell, sight and hearing are all sharpened. Your body is now functioning at it optimum.

Your heart, beating faster, pumps more blood to the brain and the muscles. By breathing faster and deeper, more oxygen is transported by the blood to the muscles and brain. In addition blood is shunted away temporarily from other vital organs such as the gut, the kidneys and the immune system to enable more blood supply to the muscles.

Although the fight and fright reaction is primeval and developed when early humans had to confront huge and dangerous reptiles and mammals, it is still present today. The only problem, however, is that the brain cannot differentiate between real and perceived dangers or threats. The reaction remains the same.

In all three scenarios above, the fight or fright reaction is triggered.

Panic attacks are in reality fight or fright reactions and, during an attack, to the individual the threat or danger is very real. Rational thoughts go out the window and there is nothing to fight and no where to run to.

In stress, the fight or flight reaction is triggered even thought there is no threat to our lives and can be harmful to the body. If persistent, it can cause diseases.

Understanding how the fight or fright reaction is triggered in stress will help you make some sense of the symptoms you experience with stress and may enable you to find a way to control them.

This blog will help you find a system that help you for a better and stress free life.

Dr. Phil Hariram