What does it mean to be in fight-or-flight mode?
Plus, how to turn it off and return to a restful state.
Our bodies have some pretty amazing built-in survival responses. It’s what’s kept our ancestors alive throughout the centuries in the face of innumerable threats.
You may have experienced your own fight-or-flight mode being activated. You might even be in a low-grade state if you’re experiencing chronic stress. Today, we’ll be diving into how this innate stress response works, where it comes from, and how to tell your body that it’s safe to return to balance.
What is the fight-or-flight response?
There’s a psychological reaction that naturally occurs when faced with something terrifying. It’s triggered by a release of stress hormones that tell your body that it’s time to fight or flee (hence, the name “fight-or-flight”).
This psychological response prepares the body to react to danger. According to Verywellmind.com, American physiologist Walter Cannon was the first to describe the fight-or-flight response. Cannon realized that a chain of rapidly occurring reactions inside the body helped to mobilize the body's resources to deal with threatening circumstances.”
This rapidly occurring chain of reactions means that the body's sympathetic nervous system has been activated by the release of stress hormones.
These hormones include:
Adrenaline
Noradrenaline
Cortisol
These stress hormones tell the sympathetic nervous system to stimulate the pituitary gland and adrenal glands. What follows is increased blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing rate. This state lasts for however long it takes the parasympathetic (more on this soon) nervous system to return to its pre-arousal levels. This can usually take between 20-60 minutes even after the threat is gone.
Physical symptoms of being in a fight-or-flight response can include:
Dilated pupils
Flushed skin
Rapid heart rate + breathing
Trembling
Now, let’s talk about the nervous system:
The autonomic nervous system has two branches:
The Sympathetic branch acts as the body’s accelerator
The Parasympathetic branch is the body’s breaks.
When the sympathetic branch of our autonomic nervous system (ANS) is activated, it moves blood into our muscles for quick action, partly by triggering the adrenal glands to release adrenaline and cortisol which speeds up the heart rate and increases blood pressure. The parasympathetic branch of the ANS promotes self-preservation, digestion, and wound healing, and triggers the release of acetylcholine to put a brake on arousal, slowing the heart down, relaxing muscles, and returning breathing to normal.
If you have ever taken a yoga or meditation class, you likely practiced breathing. When we take a deep breath in, we activate the Sympathetic nervous system, and the burst of adrenaline speeds up your heart, and exhaling, in turn, activates the Parasympathetic Nervous System. I’m going to provide you with some tips you can use to calm your nervous system in just a bit.
The benefits of the fight-or-flight system
If you’re not already convinced, our bodies really are amazing! We all come with a built-in system designed to help us survive. It’s a natural mechanism that we tap into when faced with a danger that primes us to respond to a threat.
While this nervous system response is key to our survival as a species – the stressors we’re facing today are different than they were for our ancestors. Many times, our bodies “think” they have to be in a state of fight-or-fight when, in reality, the situation at hand is not actually putting their life at stake.
Instead of being faced with a hungry lion, perhaps we’re dealing with a harsh bosh or toxic family member. Our bodies don’t know the difference, psychologically speaking.
What ends up happening when we are in a constant state of fight-or-flight is that our bodies become exhausted. This makes us prone to chronic stress and puts us at risk of physical and mental health issues.
How to fix this:
The parasympathetic branch of the nervous system promotes self-preservation, digestion, and wound healing, and triggers the release of acetylcholine to put a brake on arousal, slowing the heart down, relaxing muscles, and returning breathing to normal.
So how do we activate the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system so that we can bring the body back to balance and healing?
Practice Deep breathing: You can reset your entire nervous system through breathwork. While releasing stress through meditation and mindfulness is incredibly important, deep breathing allows tension and trauma to be released through the body. Millions of people have had great success with Wim Hoff’s breathing method, which you can try here.
Self-care: tend to your own needs, feelings, and desires. This allows you to have more control in regulating your emotions, instead of letting them take over you.
EMDR: This is a heavily-researched and highly-effective type of therapy used to treat trauma, anxiety, substance abuse, addiction, depression, unresolved memories, and other mental health concerns. We offer EMDR here at Ray Family Therapy
Connect with nature: Gardening, walking along the beach, or going on a hike are just a few ways to feel connected to the Earth. Sometimes our thoughts can feel all-encompassing and being in nature can be a reminder that we are not alone.
Safe and sound protocol: a non-invasive and pleasant music intervention that reduces stress, lessens auditory sensitivity, facilitates social engagement and resilience, and promotes well-being. We also offer the SSP here at Ray Family Therapy.
For more practical ways to balance your nervous system, feel free to visit this article I wrote a little while back.
I hope this blog post helps you feel more empowered when it comes to understanding your body’s stress response. There are actionable things you can do – like deep breathing, connecting with nature, and EMDR – to help your body get the memo that it can cam down and exit the fight-or-flight state.
Helping your body relax and enter the parasympathetic (AKA “rest and digest”) state allows your body’s natural healing abilities to kick in.
Our bodies are wise. With some curiosity and willingness to learn more about them and how we can help them feel safe, we open up a whole new world.
If you’d like to learn more about EMDR, the Safe and Sound Protocol, and how it can help you calm your nervous system, feel free to get in touch or call us today.