The human body is truly remarkable. Think of all of the things that it takes care of without your even having to consider them—breathing, circulation, and digestion, to name a few. Thank you, autonomic nervous system! And when perceiving life-threatening circumstances, the body is elegantly designed to protect us by effectively and efficiently redeploying resources via the fight-or-flight mechanism. Let’s take a little journey through this aspect of the sympathetic nervous system to see what happens in detail.

Say, for example, a huge, seemingly vicious dog lunges at you during your morning run. Registering a potential threat, the hypothalamus, a tiny gland located at the base of your brain, sets off an alarm in your body. Through a combination of nerve and hormonal signals, this system prompts your adrenal glands to release a surge of hormones. This includes adrenaline, which increases your heart rate (up to four to five times the resting rate if it’s a very large dog), elevates your blood pressure, and boosts energy supplies; and cortisol, which increases glucose in the bloodstream and enhances its uptake in the brain. Diverted from nonessential activities such as digestion, absorption, excretion, cell growth, and the immune response, blood is sent to the extremities and the reflex-oriented hindbrain. Your sense perceptions become heightened as your eyes dilate to take in more light and your body hair stands on end so you can better sense vibrations from dangerous predators. In this state, you’re ready to fight or run, not “talk it out.” We’ve all heard of or seen examples of people who performed superhuman feats like lifting a car when in an emergency situation. This is a prime example the sympathetic nervous system when fully activated.

Let’s assume that this dog came up to you, started to lick you, and whimpered to be petted; and you didn’t need to bolt out of there. That’s good news. However, if you don’t have the opportunity to bring your nervous system back to homeostasis (by running, fighting, or shaking it off), the fight-or-flight reaction is likely to stay turned on. This may be because you’ve suppressed your body’s urges—“After all, I really shouldn’t have been scared of that pussycat of a dog” or “I’d be too embarrassed to let myself shake. I’ve got to hold it together!” Or it may be that you face non-stop stressors, particularly those over which you feel no control, and your body hasn’t been able to catch up to get back into balance.

The fight-or-flight mechanism was not designed to be continuously on. Long-term activation of this system and subsequent overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones disrupt many bodily processes and can result in long-term physiological dysregulation, including increased blood pressure, heart arrhythmia, digestive problems, chronic headaches, backaches, sleep disorders, and chronic anxiety. Unaware of other options, many people resort to maladaptive coping strategies. So revved up, some may overwork or keep busy. This may lead to the need for stimulants such as sugar, caffeine, or cigarettes to keep going. Others may resort to alcohol, drugs (legal or illegal), or overeating to calm down. While any of these coping mechanisms may provide relief in the short run, they all have their downsides when used in excess or habitually. Overly relying on these substances or behaviors can tax the body further, leading to further breakdown, whether through adrenal exhaustion, loss of drive and enthusiasm, addiction, depression, heart attack, or cancer. And in the process, our wonderful bodies haven’t learned a thing regarding how to manage stress and regulate our nervous systems. We can halt this downward spiral by becoming more conscious of what is happening in our body and mind—slowing down, stopping, becoming mindful, paying attention, and literally coming to our senses. Through working with our mind, senses, and breath, we can relax and move out of more primitive brain responses to homeostasis.

When exercising mindfulness, we don’t react to stress (unconsciously stuffing our face with donuts or hastily sending a nasty reply email to someone)—we respond to it. First, of course, we assess whether we really are in danger and if we need to hightail it to find safety. Assuming that this isn’t the case (and in our urban and suburban lives, which tend to be free of physical predators, this usually isn’t the case), we pay attention to our bodies in a kind, open, and curious way. I realize this can seem like a stretch at first, when everything in you is yelling for you to run away or attack. This reminds me of something Stuart Sovatsky, PhD, said in a class I once attended: “Although I feel fear, there is no real danger.” When you find yourself stressed out, I invite you in any way that works for you to bring your attention to the actual bodily sensations that are arising. Notice your racing heart, tension in your shoulders or face, energy mobilized in your legs or arms to run or push an attacker away, a sense of shakiness, or whatever else might be happening in your body. You may also notice certain thoughts and emotions; see if you can observe them and let them pass by without taking them as the 100% actual truth about what’s going on at that moment. When we are in fight-or-flight mode, we’re acting from the more primitive part of our brain, tending to fixate more on potential threats or negatives in order to protect ourselves. Consequently, you might notice your perspective narrows when you’re really stressed. You don’t need to stop these thoughts, but see if you can keep from following and adding to them. You might make another note to self, “Oh, I’m just feeling stress right now.” This enables you to create a little space around what you’re feeling so you aren’t completely overtaken by it. Allow your breath to be an anchor for your attention if you like, as that has a calming effect on the body. You may notice in the process of doing all of this that your body releases some of the built-up energy, perhaps through a little shaking, sweating, or stomach gurgling. See how smart your body is! It knows what it needs to do to get back into balance if you just let it. (1) And the more we practice responding vs. reacting, the more we build that neural pathway and the easier it is to do.

In this process, you may even notice that the thoughts that you’re having about what’s going on in a particular situation are contributing to the stress and that perhaps you haven’t even perceived the situation accurately. Maybe you see a lot of negative thoughts and assumptions streaming by about Kurt, whose email triggered you. Later, when you feel more settled down, you reread the email and see that there really wasn’t anything the least bit offensive in there. You may also begin to wonder about some of these negative thoughts you’ve been having about him and take it upon yourself to get to know him better so you can do a reality check.

I find it awe-inspiring that our bodies know how to protect us and they also know how to come back into balance, given the right conditions and attitude. Let me know what you discover as you experiment with meeting stress with mindfulness.

(1) I want to be clear that if you’re dealing with stress associated with debilitating chronic anxiety, head injuries and other major accidents, severe hormonal imbalances, or post-traumatic stress disorder, you should also seek the care of a trained healthcare professional. With these conditions, you may need additional support and you may also need to ease into meditation practice.