The fight or flight response is the automatic reaction of the body when we perceive we are under attack and survival is threatened. It has evolved as a protective mechanism that prepares the body to face a dangerous situation.

A couple of scenarios

Let’s think about being at work in your office. The fire alarm goes off and a colleague shouts from the corridor that there is a fire in the kitchen.  Your rush down the three flights of stairs to leave the building. When you arrive at the meeting point, you get to know that the fire brigade has arrived and the fire is  under control. You relax and have a nice chat with a few colleagues while waiting to go back to the office.

The fire alarm is the signal that something potentially dangerous is happening. Your body automatically increases the heart and respiratory rate, blood pressure and blood sugars to have readily available energy for you to run out of the building as fast as you can. You might feel tense, maybe shaky, with cold hands and feet and an uncomfortable dry mouth. When you realise that there is no threat, you relax and the body, again automatically, brings everything back to normal.

Let’s think about another scenario. You are in the same office. Stress levels have been high for months due to new targets to achieve tight deadlines. You feel you are not performing well enough and you might be made redundant. Your body reads this as a threat and, again, gets you ready to fight or run away. This gives you an initial boost. You become more focused, motivated and determined.

However, this time the hyperactivation of your body is long term and very rarely followed by time to restore your energies. It becomes always more difficult to switch your mind off, you feel tense, digestion is slow and your breath is tight even when you are not in the office. You don’t sleep well, you are tired all the time and this reduces your performance at work, creating a vicious circle that affects your physical and mental health and seems difficult to stop.

A way out

One of the keys to breaking free from destructive stress sits in the word “perceived” – the body will activate the fight or flight response when it perceives it is under attack, on a physical or emotional level. This means that it is not what happens but how we interpret what happens that determines the response.

If you are in your empowered self, in the calm, lucid, confident self, you can succeed in every situation, no matter how difficult that appears. It is about building up and caring for your resilience, your ability to bounce forward and upwards whatever life throws your way.

Sometimes, just taking a step back and observing the situation from a different perspective can bring fresh insight and the time you need to recharge your batteries. Experienced professionals are also there to help you go back in the driver’s seat and fulfil your aspirations.

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