Imagine you’re a character in a Spaghetti Western film: a gunfighter. Your nemesis is a hardened bounty hunter who has been tracking you for weeks. He sees you standing by the side of the saloon in Tin City a one street town on the far-flung frontier. He calls your name, adding “it was only a matter of time before you showed up here”. Your blood seems to go cold as you wearily turn to face, who you instinctively recognise as, the man who wants to bring you in; dead or alive. His face comes into view. It’s him alright. His hand hovers above the holster which houses his Colt pistol. He gives you a sporting chance.
What you do next will determine whether you escape and go on to fight another day, you die in the street by the saloon, or you hang from the hangman’s noose sometime in the coming days. As you stare at the bounty hunter’s hovering hand, you begin to weigh up your options. Your body, however, is fully prepared for what’s about to happen. The moment your brain perceived the presence of a significant threat, it immediately began the fight or flight response.
The fight or flight response is a term coined by Walter Cannon in 1915. He cited various examples of animals’ reactions to life threatening situations in his research. Through Cannon and the subsequent research that has followed, we know that the fight or flight response is present in all mammals, birds, reptiles and most fish. However, it has been observed that it is not a simple question of fight or flight that a threatened creature must navigate. A common response throughout creation is to enter a state of ‘freeze’ or shutdown. There is also a fourth response known as the ‘fawn’ response. As you weigh your options, the ‘fawn’ response presents as a viable possibility. This response is described as befriending the attacker. You may utter the hackneyed expression: “whatever they’re paying you, I’ll double it”. It seems trite but it is a common narrative theme because such bargaining comes from the natural selection of responses to those experiencing dangerous situations.
You may not realise it, but your heart rate has increased, as has your breathing. Fight or flight has also come to be known as hyperarousal or mobilisation. Both responses will require much energy. Your increased heart rate and breathing has enabled your muscles to absorb higher rates of oxygenated blood. Your sympathetic nervous system has sent a message from your brain’s sensory cortex, through the hypothalamus and to the brain stem. As you weigh your options your body is now on high alert. Your body experiences a surge of adrenaline and norepinephrine – which have been released from the adrenal gland. Some people puff their chests out to appear more menacing. Some animals display similar traits, making themselves seem larger and more imposing. However, making yourself a bigger target in a gunfight is probably not the way to go on this occasion.
You stand there for an age, completely still. Your gaze is fixed, watching for any movement of your opponent’s hand towards his pistol. You have considered making a run for the corner of the saloon and down the alleyway. But your opponent is too close – he would surely not miss from this range, even if you were in full flight. Your breathing is fast and shallow. Your body has continued to prepare for what is to come: many of your blood vessels have constricted, some have dilated to enable increased blood flow to particular muscles; your tear and saliva production have ceased; your blood pressure has increased along with your pulse; your sexual function has been suspended. Your mind has moved into survival mode, and it is hard to think clearly. It is as though you’ve handed control to your body and said “okay, let’s see how you get me out of this one”.
The sound of gunfire rings out and echoes around the tiny town. You see members of your gang approaching from afar, firing their pistols in the air. Your nemesis raises his finger and points it at you and pulls an imaginary trigger, before blowing on his finger and riding away. He chose flight in an instant, knowing he was no match for the whole gang.
As you and your buddies enter the saloon and reflect upon your stand-off with the bounty hunter, your vagus nerve and the parasympathetic nervous system help to restore your body to its relaxed and normal state. In extreme scenarios, where the fight or flight response might seem futile, it is this system that causes the body to enter immobilistaion – or the freeze response. The whole system will shut down, and the vagus nerve can even shut off feelings, sparing us from terror or physical pain. Freeze responses can arise long after a traumatic experience has passed, numbness being the most common side effect, followed by apathy, despair and hopelessness. Some people experience guilt for not having acted during a such an event as a sexual assault. However, their body went into the freeze response automatically, rendering them unable to have acted differently.
In the story of the gunfighter, the parasympathetic nervous system performed its role, to the best of its ability, of returning the outlaw’s body to its relaxed state. However, being on constant alert for bounty hunters and other opportunistic types would mean that he and his buddies would be in a fairly constant state of stress. This state is not natural and, when it continues for extended periods, the body is at risk of developing many physiological and psychological ailments. As they set up camp and relax under the stars each night, their bodies are able to rejuvenate and heal to an extent, however the hyperarousal will cause problems down the line.
In our modern lives, we are subjected to stresses of many kinds. We live in a constant state of mobilisation. Unless we can train our bodies to activate the relaxation response, we are in danger of developing many stress related illnesses. One of the best ways to posture lives towards a relaxed disposition is by the use of regular meditation. The skills we learn during meditation are also transferable to any situation where we feel our bodies and our minds tensing up under stress.
