Fight or Flight

The pre-historic man was walking round the corner and he stopped. His heart skipped a beat.  In front of him was a huge tiger who was as surprised as he was.  Fear gripped the man.  He had to fight the tiger or run...in other words, fight or flight.  Both needed extreme physical activity.  The body prepared him for that by pumping adrenalin in to the blood stream.  The extreme physical activity of fighting or running washed away the adrenalin from the blood.  This was probably the only fear that man had in those days.

The modern man walked in to office.  Unlike the pre-historic man, who had only the fear of death, he had many more fears.  The biggest among them was the fear of failure.  As he opened up the email box he noticed that it was filled with complaints from his customers.  He swore under his breath.  This could be the end of his career in this company. His boss would probably ask him to leave.  Two of his team members had let him down badly.  He was 35 years old. He was married and had two children.  He had moved in to a new apartment recently.  His monthly loan re-payment was high. What would he do if he lost his job? Fear gripped him. His body reacted in the same way as it had with the pre-historic man.  It pumped in adrenalin in to the blood stream.  However, the only thing this modern man could do was thump the table or swear out loud or both.  This was definitely not enough to wash out the adrenalin from his blood stream.  This excess adrenalin started settling all over his body and had a very adverse long term impact on him.  This is what we call stress and there are so many illnesses that are related to this stress.

Most of our anger, anxiety, etc. go back to the emotion called "fear".  This deep rooted fear in us can happen for different reasons.  Change is one big reason.  Most of us are not used to change. Any change causes this fear which we call anxiety.  Similarly, fear could be due to possibility of failure - could be failure in exams, in our jobs or at home.  This fear is what we end up calling stress.  Most of the time we are stressed out.  This stress could be because "I don't have a dress to wear to the party this evening" to "Gosh, a tiger is standing in front of me".  Whatever be the reason, the body reacts in the same way.

Stress is the cause of most illnesses in our society.  If we think through it clearly, we can all beat stress.  The trick is to reduce the reasons for fear.  Then, try deep breathing every time you are free for few minutes (Deep breathing yoga exercises really help).  Try and walk briskly for 5 to 10 minutes every hour.

My physician once told me that apart from a table, chair and computer in my office, the best thing to have would be a treadmill.  I laughed.  But, now I understand how true this is.  The best way to de-stress our bodies is to breathe deeply and to exercise it.  As they say, "The happiest of people, get back home stinking to high heavens."