Page 5 - Stress,anxiety

you are collecting food and you run across a large

predator. This large predator poses a threat to you.

To survive, you must be able to fight it off or run

away and evade it. To do so, you must be in a mode

where you can most effectively fight or flee.

To prepare to effectively fight or flee, your body

must make certain changes. You heart must beat

stronger and faster to pump as much blood to the

muscles as possible. Your breathing must become

more rapid to saturate your blood with oxygen.

Your mental processes must speed up so you are

aware of all the changes in your environment

instantly - in other words, you become

hypervigilant. You must be emotionally pumped up

to fight or flee with all of your strength. All of

these changes as well as others within your body

increase the probability that you will survive this

encounter with a large predator.

Currently, we do not have to deal with large

predators that may want to eat us. However,

anything that we perceive as a threat - money

problems, relationship problems, being

overwhelmed at work, political concerns, worrying

about our children, fear of getting old, ill, or dying