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How do our bodies respond to stress?

Posted in: Our thoughts and feelingsPhysical health
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One of the most common things to impact our general feeling of wellbeing is stress, and stress is both a psychological process as well as a physical one.

Our bodies have developed a very effective way of responding to an external threat – a response which connects, through our senses, our external world to our nervous system, our muscles, heart and a whole range of bodily functions.

Stress can be both helpful and harmful

Our stress response evolved in a very different setting to the one we now live in and different types of threats or stressors that we now face, such as social media, work pressures and economic uncertainty. Many of us know this response as the ‘fight or flight’ response. There are also other responses, which are often referred to as ‘freeze or flop’.

Short-term or low levels of stress can be helpful when it motivates us to act, but when it’s experienced intensely or over a prolonged period of time (perhaps due to work-related stress, bullying or concerns over finances), it can be damaging to both our mental and physical health and wellbeing.

Finding ways to relax and initiating our body’s ‘relaxation response’ is important for countering stress and protecting our mental wellbeing.

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Activating our fight or flight response

In response to a threat, our bodies may activate our fight or flight response. This response helps us exert ourselves in order to escape harm by activating biological systems that prime our bodies to move.

Adrenaline is released, which puts us on high alert. Our heart rate increases, and we breathe more quickly and deeply. Stores of energy (fats and sugars) are released into our bloodstream to help our muscles move more quickly.

On the flip side, processes like digesting, healing wounds or fighting infections are reduced, as these aren’t essential when we’re in fight or flight mode.

After we fight or flee, our nervous system resets and can get back to its normal regulation of biological process. This is sometimes referred to as ‘rest and digest’.

What happens when we don’t fight or run away

The problem is, we don’t tend to fight or run away from the problems we face in our modern world. And the stressors we face are different to those which our nervous system and the stress response evolved within.

So, what happens when we don’t fight or run away? All of this mobilised energy needs to go somewhere, and those systems we have side-lined in favour of our hearts, lungs and muscles will continue to be side-lined until this physical stress response has been resolved.

That’s why when we feel stressed for a sustained period of time, we are more likely to pick up infections (our immune systems aren’t functioning quite as they should) or have a higher risk of high blood pressure. We might also find that our digestive system is unsettled.

Moving to the ‘rest and digest’ mode

Regular exercise is the ideal answer to help restore the balance between fight and flight and rest and digest, but not all of us can do this all the time.

Other activities that help us to engage our rest and digest systems include calming exercises such as yoga or tai chi. Or we can do other activities that help us to relax, breathe calmly and allow our nervous system to reset and regulate.

Activating our freeze or flop response

Many of us are familiar with the term ‘fight or flight’. We might have other reactions when our stress response is activated, depending on the particular situation at the time. A ‘freeze or flop’ response results in our muscles tightening and heart rate decreasing.  And we then become physically unable to move or take action in response to the threat.

If we can’t fight or escape a threat – for example, a child facing a violent adult – we might go into a freeze response. This is protective in the moment, as we psychologically and emotionally ‘cut-off’ from what is happening to us to protect ourselves from harm in the only way we can in that moment.

We might also experience a freeze response to a less severe threat. It might be associated with feelings of fear or dread – stage fright is an example of a freeze response.

Flop responses can occur when a threat is so intense or severe and our stress response so highly activated that our bodies physically shut down, and we faint or go unconscious – for example, fear associated with a phobia can be so strong that we faint when confronted by it.

Managing stress

How we respond to stress can be shaped by our experiences in childhood, a crucial period for learning how to interact with others and the world around us and for shaping our brains.

But we can all learn to better manage our stress response. ‘Exercising’ our relaxation response by doing activities that help to calm us and make us feel good helps to regulate our feelings and calm our nervous system. It is an important aspect of managing stress and protecting our mental wellbeing. Here are some ways you can improve your mental wellbeing.

Our past experiences can affect how we respond to current or future stresses. Help is available to deal with past trauma or if you’re supporting someone who has experienced trauma.

Understanding trauma

Find out more about trauma, its effects and the treatments that can help on Mind’s website.

 

Visit the Mind website

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