Fight or Flight – Survival Mode
Leftover from a long time ago, our bodies are equipped to deal with sudden threats to our lives. Much like animals, we all have the ability to stand and fight an aggressor or to flee. Without going into too much detail, your nervous system responds to a perceived threat by releasing hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) into your body. While the nervous system can go back to normal pretty quickly after a threat, the hormones that have been released into your blood stream persist for hours, causing your body to continue to be stressed long after the event is over.
While all of this is good when you are threatened with a life or death scenario, it is very bad if this occurs many times a day. These hormones are very powerful and cause a number of changes to your body in a matter of seconds, including:
- Speeding up your heart rate
- Increasing your blood pressure
- Increasing your breathing
- Tensing muscles
Shifting blood to your large muscles and to a section of the brain that handles primitive, non-thinking responses
Shifting blood away from your skin and internal organs as well as the section of the brain that allows you to think clearly.
If you are a person who is still angry about something hours after the event is over, you may be dealing with chronic stress. Chronic stress is the fight or flight response, but taken over a longer period. This kind of stress is especially hard on your body, as you can tell from the list above. It is very important to get chronic stress under control.
Now that you know a little more about the causes of stress, let’s take the next step in the Action Guide to actually determine your stress symptoms.
Next Section:
Are you aware of all the different symptoms of stress that you may be experiencing?
Previous Step:
Action – Strategies for Success
Take action in order to reduce or eliminate your stress.
Other Steps in this Section:
Once you know the causes of stress, you are better equipped to develop an action plan to address your stress.
The ABC Model helps you understand the causes of stress.
Activating Events are those events in your environment that cause you to get stressed.
Your beliefs or thoughts can be a major contributor to your stress.
Activating events coupled with your beliefs end up with the consequences of stress.
Understanding Your Stressful Situations
Once you become aware of your present situation, you can then begin to understand your stress.
Possible Solutions to Your Stress
Solving your stress depends on what works for you.
