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The stress response of the body is meant to protect and support us. In order to maintain our stability, the body is constantly adjusting to its surroundings. When a physical or mental event threatens this stability, we react to it. This process is often referred to as the "fight or flight response." We prepare for physical action in order to confront or flee a threat.
In this way, our ancestors successfully responded to stressful situations. Today our bodies still respond this way. Whenever faced with a situation you perceive as challenging, your body automatically goes into overdrive, engaging the stress response.
Immediately, you release the same hormones that enabled cave people to move and think faster, hit harder, see better, hear more acutely, and jump higher than they could only seconds earlier. Like theirs, your heartbeat speeds up; your blood pressure increases; your breathing quickens.
Unfortunately, most modern stresses do not call for either fight or flight. Our experience of stress is generally related to how we respond to an event, not to the event itself.
Fact: Stress can be positive or negative
When our body implements the stress response in an appropriate situation, it is positive. When we find ourselves losing control of the car on a slick road, the stress response may provide the edge required to pull the car out of the skid and prevent an accident.
When that same stress response is triggered in response to something that is not a physical challenge or danger, it can cause more harm than good. Recent research demonstrates that 90% of illness is stress-related. It is not possible to live without any stress. We can, however, learn ways to handle the stress of daily life efficiently, and to manage our reactions to stress and minimize its negative impact.
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