Blogpost 5: How Fear Works?

           It's dark out, and you're home alone. The house is quiet other than the sound of the show you're watching on TV. You see it and hear it at the same time: The front door is suddenly thrown against the door frame. Your breathing speeds up. Your heart races. Your muscles tighten. A split second later, you know it's the wind. No one is trying to get into your home.
     
         For a split second, you were so afraid that you reacted as if your life were in danger, your body initiating the fight-or-flight response that is critical to any animal's survival. But really, there was no danger at all.

I read an article entitled “How Fear Works” written by Faith Gallup.  According to this article, Fear in itself is not bad. It is by God’s design that we have an autonomic nervous system, for survival. When there is some life threatening situation, like an oncoming train, our body reacts instantly. A surge of adrenaline pumps through our body, allowing us to “fight or flight.” We have instant energy (and usually without thinking) to stay and fight the train, or run away. When we decide to run, and we are safely out of harm’s way, we are supposed to calm down, and return to normal state, without the level of adrenaline previously required. Our brain should do this, but sometimes it doesn’t always work that well. Sometimes, if we have had some trauma or very difficult things happened in our lives, the brain stays in fear mode. The activated state maintains the fear because the emotional memory has not been worked through. Even though the environment or dangerous situation is in the past, we carry the feeling of “…something’s wrong…” and physiologically we are still on hyper-arousal. So the brain says, “There must be some danger,” and creates thoughts and belief systems to support and explain where the danger is coming from.

               I learned that fight or flight reaction that occurs in the presence of something that is terrifying, either mentally or physically or one of the ways we can react when under stress. Essentially, the response prepares the body to either fight or flee the threat. It is also important to note that the response can be triggered due to both real and imaginary threats. Understanding the purpose of the fight or flight response can lead to greater insights into our own behavior when we’re stressed out. Even though the fight or flight response is automatic, it isn't always accurate. In fact most of the time when the fight or flight response is triggered it is a false alarm - there is no threat to survival.

              I read an another article entitled “About Fear and Panic” written by Mary Brandl. In this article, the human "fight or flight" response is instinctive. It can help us if we use it constructively. When we feel fear, it is our body responding to conscious or unconscious signals that something is 'off' or 'wrong' in a situation. The blood rushes out of the stomach, creating that "butterfly" sensation (the body has decided that digestion is NOT a priority at this moment). The body releases adrenaline and the heart starts pounding faster trying to get oxygen out to the limbs. All of this is an "emergency gear" the body can slip into in an emergency. People are often able to perform feats in this physical state that they would not be capable of under regular/normal circumstances.

           I always have a question in mind that how our body parts act when we are afraid or scared? In this article I found an answer to my question that . When we sense danger, the brain reacts instantly, sending signals that activate the nervous system. This causes physical responses, such as a faster heartbeat, rapid breathing, and an increase in blood pressure. Blood pumps to muscle groups to prepare the body for physical action (such as running or fighting). Skin sweats to keep the body cool.The important thing to take away is that the fight or flight response is an automatic response.