Stress Response

Your survival and happiness in this world depend so much on the ability of your body to activate and terminate your stress response mechanism naturally and more effectively. The stress response is the natural way your body responds in emergency situations such as when you are under attack, feel threatened, upset, or when you sense danger. It served our forebears very well who had to face the threats of hungry wild animals in the jungles of the world. This natural mechanism of responding to danger from beasts and reptiles enabled our ancient human ancestors to become more energetic, alert, and focused to hunt and kill wild animals for food, multiply, fight for survival, or flee when the threat from the beasts became overwhelming. In this present age and environment where many people live a sedentary lifestyle working and living in houses well-protected from the threats of wild beasts and dangers, the fight or flee response is not very necessary as usual. However, the physiology of the human body has not adapted fully to the lifestyle of this technological age.

Although human beings in this present age do not frequently confront hungry and angry wild animals anymore like our ancient ancestors, the stress response remains the same. For example, your stress response is always activated when a car suddenly swerves into your own driving lane or when your shoe suddenly slides on a slippery snowy road. We no longer live under the threat of wild animals in the forest; however, our long work hours, long commutes, frustrating traffic jams, bad relationships and marriages, tough economy, mean bosses at work, errant kids, abusive spouses, negative newscasts from the media, abnormal and aggressive pursuit of material things, contributes highly to a life full of stress.

If you are constantly being stressed out, your adrenal glands become overworked which may lead to chronic adrenal fatigue and constant feeling of tiredness among other things. Health wise, we are all paying a great price for the constant or daily fight or flight response to the frenetic lifestyle imposed on the body by hustle and bustle of life in the fast lane and advanced technology. So far, the physiology of our body has not caught up with or adapted fully to the fast life of the present high-tech age. The natural reaction to both acute and chronic stress is commonly known in scientific terms as the “stress response.” This response to stress gives every human being, young and old, the ability to cope with daily problems and perform effectively under pressure, and carry daily burdens with patience and dignity.