The Stress Reaction: Flight or Fight

So how do you think about stress? Stress is not an event; it is your reaction to an event. Stress is your body's "fight or flight" instinctive protective system for responding to any perceived threat or challenge. A stressor is anything that threatens to disturb your physical, mental or emotional balance. 

When you're faced with a situation that requires an adjustment in your behaviour, every part of your being automatically goes into a state of arousal.

This alert state is the stress reaction and it involves a definite, complex and almost instantaneous set of physical and biochemical reactions that affect your mind and emotions as well as your body.

Your autonomic nervous system is activated by signals from a part of the brain known as the hypothalamus. When it perceives a threat, real or imagined, it sends a message to the pituitary gland, which in turn secretes hormones that activate the adrenal glands.

The adrenal glands secrete other hormones like adrenaline and cortisol that increase your heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory and muscular activity and at the same time reduce the activity of your repro­ductive and digestive systems. It fires up for action.

Blood is redirected from some organs to your muscles as blood vessels automatically change their size in the different areas.

Fats are released into the blood-stream and glucose levels are increased so that your cells can quickly convert them into the energy they need.

Your pupils open wider, your ability to use oxygen increases, your strength is increased, and you become more alert.

In other words, you're turned "on". All this and more happens almost instantaneously and this is what is referred to as the body's stress reaction. Similar reactions occur in your body in response to mental and emotional challenges.

Whether you have to write a report by tomorrow morning, go to a friend's funeral, or play a game of tennis, similar responses come to your aid. It makes you alert and gives you the energy to meet the challenge.

The stress reaction is also known as the "fight or flight" response. Birds taking instantly to flight when startled or the arching of a cat's back are examples of this reaction.

 

 

 

Signals

 

The stress reaction is like an on/off switch. Not only does it need a signal to turn itself "on," it also needs some sort of signal before it will turn itself "off."

In this society, there are innumerable signals or life events that trigger the stress reaction, that turn "on" the state of alert. What tends to be missing are the signals to turn it "off."

This is because many of the problems faced by those living in contemporary society are not resolvable in a clear, unambiguous way. The stress mechanism doesn't get a definite signal to turn itself off.

The result is that many of us tend to be "turned on" most of the time, or to put it in another way, you may tend to be stuck in the "on" position.

North Americans live in a chronic, low-level arousal state. The body has to work harder to maintain this continuous state of arousal. Over time, it can eventually wear itself down to the point that it actually begins to break down.

 

Stress & Illness

When Dr. Hans Selye published his theory of stress he offered it as a new model for understanding disease. Selye, whose name is virtually synonymous with stress, was a researcher at the University of Montreal.

In his work with lab animals, he found that stress was a natural response of the body to almost any demand.

When he correlated his results with research from studies involving human subjects, he realised that there was a connection between the pressures of daily life and certain diseases.

Today it is estimated that at least eighty percent of all illness are stress-related and there is general agreement that almost every illness is made worse by stress.

Disorders that have been most clearly linked to stress include cardio­vascular problems such as high blood pressure, increased heart rates and cholesterol levels, heart attacks; digestive tract problems such as ulcers, IBS and colitis; disorders of the immune system like arthritis, allergies and lupus; respiratory difficulties, and a host of other pains and ailments such as backaches, headaches and psychological disorders like depression.

Studies now suggest that stress may affect the development and progression of diseases such as cancer and AIDS.

 

Positive Stress

 

While it is true that stress is inevitable, the news is not all bad. Stress is not an enemy. In fact it is a perfectly normal response to almost any demand for action, whether that demand is physical, mental or emotional.

Without the stress reaction we would never get up in the morning. Stress is the mechanism that allows us to adapt to the challenges of life every day.

Stress is not only a friend, it's absolutely necessary and, as long as there are challenges in life, it's inevitable.

Events that we normally consider to be positive can also activate the stress mechanism.

For example, if you were lucky enough to make a fortune on the stock market, you may be subject to the same degree of stress or arousal as if you had lost a fortune.

Getting married, going on a holiday, having a baby, getting a promotion are other examples. Even though these are happy and welcome occurrences they still add to the stress load.

The key to understanding the phenomenon is that these events call for an adaptation or a change of behaviour in situations that are unfamiliar to you, so they too are perceived as challenging.

It's okay to be "turned on." This is what living is all about. Dr. Selye called stress the "spice of life" because it is also excitement, arousal, enjoyment, as well as the ability to face difficult or unfamiliar situations.

The problem is not being "turned on." You just don't want to be left "stuck on."

In order to turn the stress mechanism off, your body needs a clear signal indicating that the challenge has been dealt with and resolved and that the stress reaction is no longer required.

This is evident in extreme cases such as a narrowly avoided accident and the subsequent sigh of relief when the danger passes.

But for most of us, there's a kind of ongoing background level of stress. The "off" signal to this static doesn't occur frequently enough. In the end, stress can exceed our level of tolerance.

 

Chronic Illness

 

It becomes a vicious cycle. You worry and your body tenses up. As your body tenses, you feel more stressed and tend to stay anxious, which tenses you even more.

We get into negative patterns which self-perpetuate and are hard to break out of. For most of us, chronic stress is a pervasive background element in our lives.

Unless this background level of stress is deactivated on a regular basis, the effects of stress accumulate in the body.Our bodies need time to rest, recuperate, and repair damage.

If the body doesn't get this opportunity, it will gradually wear out. As Selye pointed out, "No living organism can exist continually in a state of alarm".

Some people can take more stress than others. Differences in age, physical condition, attitude, diet, genetic predisposition, life situation and a host of other factors all contribute to the variation in ability to handle stress.

If there are several sources of stress in any one day, without relief, their effect is cumulative. The same is true over a lifetime.

The effects of today's stress are added to past stresses, whether they are biochemical, physical, emotional or mental.

In his later years, Dr. Selye confessed that he may have made an error by labelling this phenomenon “stress”. He felt that he would have been closer to the mark if he would have labelled it “strain”.

It is the constant strain of the body working harder than it should, sometimes referred to as the “allostatic load”, that over time contributes to its harmful results.

As we grow older, this total cumulative effect becomes more evident. Our capacity and willingness to handle the stress of new and unfamiliar challenges is gradually eroded and our bodies reflect this with fatigue and increased susceptibility to illness of all kinds.

Turning Off The Switch - The Relaxation Response

 

The term "relaxation response" was originally coined in the 1970s by Dr. Herbert Benson, then Director of the Hypertension Unit of the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and a medical researcher at Harvard University.

Benson was particularly interested in the work of Swiss Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Walter Hess.

Hess' experiments, involving direct stimulation of the hypothalamus of laboratory animals, demonstrated that there was an innate physiological response, which reversed the processes involved in the stress reaction.

Benson, a cardiologist, wanted to find a way of deliberately eliciting this response for use in the treatment of hypertension patients. He noted that positive results had been reported by people who practised meditation techniques.

Benson spent several years investigating the factors, which elicit what he referred to as the "relaxation response."

In effect, Benson identified several methods for turning the stress switch "off." The relaxation response is now a widely accepted model and many of its implications are still being studied and understood.

 

How Relaxation Affects The Body

 

Like the stress reaction, the relaxation response is triggered by the autonomic nervous system but through the second of its two branches, the parasympathetic system.

The parasympathetic system counteracts the effects of the sympathetic system. The relaxation response balances out the effects of the stress reaction.

The relaxation response brings about real and measur­able physiological changes in the body. It measurably lessens the stress reaction and restores balance.

Heart rate, blood pressure, respiration and muscle tension are reduced. Metabolism slows down, blood sugar and oxygen levels drop.

Hormone levels are rebalanced and blood flow is redirected to functions temporarily suppressed or deactivated by the stress mechanism.

The immune, digestive, and reproductive systems are returned to a healthier level of functioning.

Brain waves slow down and mental processing is enhanced. The various organs involved in these systemic reactions have a chance to recuperate and the body naturally begins to repair itself.

You will never be free of stress nor would you want to be. As Selye pointed out, "Complete freedom from stress is death." What you want to do is learn to maintain your stress at an optimal level and keep your bodymind in balance.