Fight, Flight, or Freeze?
Stressors activate a stress response in the body. They are both internal and external. Our senses can trigger stress, or anything we imagine could do us harm. Examples of external stressors include work, family, time, money, health, discrimination, or other cultural expectations. Internal stressors could consist of body image, self-criticism, memories, or worry about the future. The body interprets stressors as a potential threat.
“Stress is the neurological and psychological shift that happens in your body when you encounter one of these threats.” It’s evolved as a response over time and exhibits itself in increased heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, hypervigilance, difficulty with memory, and pain sensitivity, to name a few.
“Your entire body and mind change in response to the perceived threat.”
Our response is often to flee. We’ve heard of the fight or flight syndrome. We create an answer that we believe manages the stressor and move on. Or do we?
“Addressing the cause of the stress doesn’t mean you’ve addressed the stress itself.”
The body needs to know that the threat is neutralized to not live in a constant vigilance state. Let’s talk about why we get stuck.
Burnout addresses three primary reasons why we might get stuck in a stress cycle.
The stressor is chronic. We may be stuck in a stress-activating situation, say at work. If the stress continues to outpace the ability to process it, we stay stuck.
Social appropriateness is an inhibitor for outpacing the process. We stay in a “nice” mode instead of finding a way to respond to our distress and feelings.
It’s safer. Addressing a stressor may not be secure or strategic, which locks in the stress.
We know about Fight or Flight. What about Freeze? The flight response occurs when the brain notices a threat and decides your survival depends on escape. Fight happens when the brain believes you’ll survive the threat by trying to conquer it. Both are actions.
Freeze happens when the brain decides the other options won’t work, and it’s best to “play dead.” You hope the threat goes away or someone comes to rescue you. In the middle of a “gas-pedal of stress response,” you slam on the brakes. As a result, the parasympathetic nervous system swamps the sympathetic nervous system, and you shut down.
Socially, we might know this response by the words, “shut down, numb, immobilized, disconnected, petrified.” Once the threat is gone, how do we come out of freeze? The body has a response for that, too. Burnout describes shaking, shuddering, muscle-stretching, and other involuntary responses accompanied by waves of rage, panic, and shame. They call it “The Feels.”
“The Feels” is a normal and healthy part of completing the stress cycle. It can be very brief, lasting a few minutes. In more extreme cases, it also follows a traumatic event or long-term, intense stress.
So, how do we complete the cycle? Movement! Movement can include getting up from your chair to stretch, taking deep breaths, tensing your muscles, and shaking them out with a big exhale.
“Physical activity is the single most efficient way for completing the stress response cycle.”
What kind of movement helps you when you feel stressed? Tomorrow we’ll learn other ways to complete the cycle of stress.
Source: Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, Emily Nogoski, Ph.D., and Amelia Nagoski, DMA, Ballantine Books, 2020.
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