Our Body’s Reaction to Fear

Many of us experience stress or anxiety related health problems everyday. We suffer with upset stomachs, indigestion, trouble falling asleep, stiff necks, and even tension headaches. In fact, these physical symptoms of anxiety are so common that even children will use a physical sensation like having “butterflies in their tummy” or “a frog in my throat” to describe feeling nervous.

If you think about it from the cave man, dinosaur days, the term “fight or flight” explains it all.

We hear a sound, our body gets the message that a dinosaur is coming toward us. We go into crisis mode – shutting down or slowing all non-critical functions (like digestion and reproduction). Sending that energy to critical functions that allow us to escape to the safety of the cave.

Stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol are released. Blood pressure and heart rate go up sending blood flow to the large muscles and breathing quickens so we can physically defend ourselves against danger or run away.

Blood sugar and other energy stores are converted to fuel so that we have plenty of reserves available to protect ourselves from the oncoming threat. In case we’re injured, blood clots form more easily.

This “fight or flight” response is perfect when we need to escape dinosaurs or other physical danger, but our bodies don’t know the difference between physical danger and emotional danger. Our body has the exact same reaction whether we make a mistake at work or narrowly avoid a car accident.

Eventually, we begin to connect anxious thoughts and feelings with our body’s physical reaction to those thoughts and feelings. This might not seem like a problem until, one day, we drink a little too much coffee or sprint to catch the elevator and our body feels jittery or short of breath and we start to experience thoughts and feelings of anxiety and worry without having any idea what we’re worried about.
So what can you do?

Just like it’s our thoughts of danger (“lookout, dinosaur!”) that trigger the fight or flight response our thoughts of safety, relaxation, and security can trigger the rest or repose response.

Similarly, by creating the physical sensations of rest or repose (slow steady breath, relaxed muscles) we can trigger relaxed thoughts and feelings.

By intentionally tensing and then relaxing the muscles of the body while focusing on the breath we can reduce the physical symptoms of Anxiety, which helps to reduce the mental or emotional symptoms.

This is an abbreviated version of a progressive muscle relation:

There are two parts to progressive muscle relaxation: deliberately tensing muscle groups, and then releasing tension.

• Step One: Create Tension. Begin by focusing your mind on a muscle group; when you inhale squeeze the muscles in the group you are focusing on as hard as you can for about 8 seconds.

• Step Two: Releasing the Tension. After the 8 seconds, exhale and quickly and suddenly let go. Let all the tightness and tension flow out of the muscles. Feel the muscles relax and become loose and limp, like a floppy rag doll. Focus on and notice the difference between tension and relaxation.

Instead of working with just one specific part of your body at a time, focus on a group of muscles. For example, focus on both legs and feet all at once. Tighten all of the muscles in your toes, top and bottom of your feet, ankles, calf, shin, knee, thigh, hips, and buttocks. Use the groups below:

• Lower limbs
• Abdomen and Chest
• Arms, Shoulders, and Neck
• Face

Make sure to focus on your breathing during this exercise. Inhale slowly as you apply and hold tension.