The response of “fight or flight” is inborn in all human beings. It is the basis for our survival instincts. When we fear danger we either have the feeling to fight against that danger or to flee from it. This response has protected humans for centuries against wild animals and other dangers. We still have this ability today even though we use it to protect us in different ways today than years ago.
Of course today we don’t use this response to save us from wild animals or those types of dangers, we have different dangers in our lives now. Traffic jams, heavy workloads, and stress over paying the bills are just a few reasons for us to have “fight or flight” responses today. Where having these responses some of the time is good thing, if we have them too often then we can get overloaded with anxiety. This can bring on other problems including panic attacks.
To better understand the “fight or flight” feeling, we have to take a closer look at what the body does when stress hits. When we go through high stress time whether caused by an event or an internal problem our hypothalamus gets stimulated. This in turn set off a series a nerve cell signals and release of chemicals that bring on this feeling to either fight the problem or flee it.
These chemicals that are released in the blood are called adrenaline, cortisol, and noradrenaline. Whenever this happen, the body will react in different ways. That is why we tend to fight the danger or flee from it.
Among the impulsive physical changes is the dilation of the pupils of the eyes, sharper eyesight, increase in breathing, and quick impulses. The blood also focuses more on the limbs and muscles area causing the body to fight or flee depending on the reaction of the body at such certain incidence. The mind might choose to fight with a physically fit and ready fighting spirit, or to flee if fighting is not the right action to take.
Responses like these may cause our nervous system to be impulsive which can lead to accidents, dangers, harming others, or to survive. This is what usually happens to each of us as we face different kinds of stress every day.
This response does not always mean we react wisely to situations. If we have too much stress and anxiety on us then we can go into panic attacks which elevates this flight or flee feeling to levels, that are not easy to cope with. This can make us lash out irrationally to those around us, perceiving a danger that does not exist anywhere but in our minds.
The “fight or flight” response can be our defense to survive whenever we are facing dangerous circumstances in life. This has been the trend ever since. But during some particular times that we are unable to control our own response, our immediate reaction could bring us closer to danger. The best thing to do is to determine how we can control our responses so we can use it for our own survival and protection.
