The flight or fight response is triggered by a release of hormones either prompting us to stay and fight or flee from danger. During this response, the body is trying to prioritize for survival, so anything that doesn’t require immediate attention is placed on the back burner.
This means that digestion, reproductive and growth hormone production and tissue repair are all temporarily halted.
How quickly we calm down from perceived danger varies from person to person, but what happens when the body is in a prolonged state of high alert?
It may lead to increased risk of anxiety, burnout, fatigue, sleep problems, digestive issues and memory and concentration impairment.
For women, this may also affect fertility. Several recent studies have found links between the women’s levels of day-to-day stress and lowered chances of pregnancy. For example, women whose saliva had high levels of alpha-amylase, an enzyme that marks stress, took 29% longer to get pregnant compared to those who had less.
And if your lifestyle is creating a nervous system imbalance (e.g sleeping late, eating a lot of processed foods, being in environments that make you feel unsafe and overworking) - from the body’s point of view, it doesn’t know that it is you that’s making those lifestyle choices. From an evolutionary standpoint, the body thinks that you are in danger.
What we do as our lifestyle choices is being interpreted differently by the body. And this is something we see quite often in the clinic. Book a free 10-minute consultation with us today.