The BeWell Tanger Center for Health Management, BIDMC's onsite wellness and exercise resource center, answers your questions in this ongoing column in BIDMCtoday.
BeWell will offer a FREE 2-week pass to any BIDMC staff member whose question is published in this column -- so e-mail your health- or fitness- related question today to the BeWell staff at mdacosta@bidmc.harvard.edu.
Q. What is the “fight or flight” response?
A. “The “fight or flight” response (stress response) is a physiological and automatic response that is triggered when one perceives a situation as a threat. For example, some people perceive being stuck in traffic as a threat, therefore, stressful (stress being the body's response to change). Once the brain, consciously or not, registers a situation as a threat, the “fight or flight” response is triggered. The brain cannot distinguish between a real threat (tiger chasing you) or an imagined threat (traffic), a physical threat or an emotional threat. When the fight or flight response is triggered, a host of symptoms typically follow. These symptoms can include anxiety, increased breathing rate, racing heart, irritability, sweaty palms or anger. When the fight or flight response is triggered repeatedly, overtime, it can compromise the immune system, increasing one's chances of developing colds, flu's, and other medical conditions.