Anxiety Support

Our Natural Defense

Long before the comforts and protection, we know today we lived in a world full of life-threatening dangers. Food was scarce and we most definitely weren’t at the top of the food chain. In those days there was just one goal. The goal of survival! Surprisingly, our brain and nervous systems are designed to do just that. To survive we had to be on alert while allowing the brain to make life and death decisions in milliseconds.

So, how does it work? When our brain perceived a threat it triggers the flight, fight, or freeze response. Which enables us to protect ourselves. When this response is triggered, the body releases stress hormones like cortisol. As such, we experience physiological changes like quickening heart rate, inability to think clearly, and a reduction of pain sensations. Allowing us to run faster, jump higher, and fight harder, allowing us to do what is necessary to survive.

Are you wondering why this matters?

Although today we no longer live in a world full of life-threatening danger. We do however live in a world full of perceived threats to our very survival. No, it may not be a large animal inviting us to dinner. It’s the unpaid bills in the mailbox, the bosses’ call, the ridicule of coworkers, and the thoughts in our heads. The mind perceives these as threats to our survival. As such our brain does what it is so brilliantly designed to do. It triggers the flight, flight, freeze response to enable you to survive.
As amazingly advanced as the brain is, it cannot decipher the difference between physical life-threatening danger and emotional danger. It treats all threats as if they were a tiger in the grass. Quickly triggering the need to fight it, run from it, or freeze until the danger has passed.
Imagine, if you will, how many different things in this world we are bombarded with daily. How many stressors are we forced to “survive”? How many times a day do we trigger the fight, flight, or freeze response? It’s no wonder we struggle with anxiety.