Before we can implement stress relief techniques or how to manage, we must first understand the mechanisms behind it. What really is “fight or flight,” you might ask. It is your response to a threatening situation. When you experience a shock or notice a threat, you rapidly release hormones that help you survive. These hormones help in order for you to run faster and fight harder. They boost your heart rate and blood pressure so that more oxygen and blood sugar is delivered to important muscles. In efforts to cool these muscles and help them stay efficient, they increase sweating. When in the risk of losing blood when hurt, the hormones divert the blood away from the skin to the core of our bodies. These hormones diverge our attention to the threat.
All these mechanisms improve our ability to survive life-threatening events. Recent research indicates that we experience the fight or flight response even when encountering something unexpected. This response is a normal part of everyday life and a part of everyday stress, but it is often with an intensity that is so low that we do not even notice it.
Here’s a link to a stress test for you to find out your stress level: http://www.lessons4living.com/stress_test.htm
Come back again for information on how to relieve stress…
