What Happens in our Brain and Body During a Stress Response?
We have all heard the term “fight or flight” response, but what does this really entail? It is also known as the “stress response” or increased sympathetic activity. In todays post, I’m going to briefly identify what this response is and discuss how it is now known that many individuals spend a large portion of their day in some degree of this increased sympathetic tone, which can have an impact on how they function throughout the day.
The autonomic nervous system governs the function of our organs and body systems, regulating physiological processes including heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, digestion, sexual function and so on. We have two branches of our autonomic nervous system that are always working together to try to keep our system balanced, or in homeostasis. The two branches include the parasympathetic nervous system (we have commonly heard this referred to as the “rest and digest” system) and the sympathetic nervous system (commonly referred to as the “fight or flight” system). Today, we will focus on the fight or flight response.
During the fight or flight response, the amygdala and the hypothalamus (both parts of the emotional system in the brain, the Limbic system) are activated and this leads the sympathetic nervous system to release stress hormones into the blood stream, and the pituitary gland to signal the release of many other hormones into the blood stream, including cortisol (also known as a stress hormone). This results in physiological changes within virtually all body systems, including increased heart rate and respiration, increased blood pressure, decreased digestion, increased muscle tone, changes in the way sensory information is perceived (ie. tunnel vision and auditory exclusion), etc. In our brains, this response results in changes in arousal level, cognitive function, memory processes and behavioural strategies among other things. This is a system wide response, and has a huge impact on how our body systems function.
This response can occur to varying degrees along a continuum and can occur in response to a thought, to something we perceive as threatening in our environment, getting stressed at work or in traffic, and various other triggers. In the past, this has been a largely adaptive response. For example, if you were out hunting and came across a predator, it would be very important to engage this response to mobilize energy to your body systems that would help you to survive this encounter. Once you found safety, your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems would come into balance and homeostasis would be quickly restored. However, these days in our fast-paced society, it is known that individuals spend a large portion of their day in some degree of this response, whether it be getting stressed at work or in traffic while rushing from one place to another. It has become, in many instances, a maladaptive response and this can result in dysregulation within our nervous system. This can have a huge impact on how we function throughout the day, how we think and feel, and how we move our bodies.
Luckily, our bodies want to be in a state of harmony and balance. We can most certainly do things to help keep our bodies and nervous systems regulated. There are many strategies and techniques that can be utilized to help to restore balance and keep your nervous system in a more coherence and regulated state throughout the day. These include practices such as meditation, awareness of breathing, breathing techniques (can be done as exercises or throughout the day as situations arise), spending time in nature, moving our bodies in ways we enjoy, heart coherence techniques, techniques aimed at increasing heart rate variability, changing how we perceive “stress”, gratitude practices and changing habits and daily routines to give space for more “calm” throughout the day, to name a few. I will spend some time going over these strategies in upcoming posts. Becoming aware of what situations, thoughts/thinking patterns, and scenarios lead you to experience this physiological response throughout the day, and well as becoming aware of how your body and mind feel when you are in this state is a great place to start.
