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Why the Fight Flight Response Can Be the Worst Enemy to Positive Mental Health

The more we notice the fight-flight system activating, the more easily we can take charge of the off switch.

A prehistoric family in fur garments with weapons stand beside a rocky cliff, sunlight casting shadows. They appear contemplative, evoking a prehistoric scene.

The fight-flight response is a powerful threat signal process that has been embedded in our brains and nervous systems over millions of years. It is exceptionally effective at keeping us safe from physical danger.


When the brain perceives a threat, it flips a hormonal switch that ignites a complex series of physiological stress responses designed to prepare us to:


  • Fight: Face the threat aggressively

  • Flight: Run away from danger

  • Freeze: Play dead to avoid attack

  • Fawn: Please or appease to avoid conflict


This system diverts blood to vital organs, raises blood pressure, speeds up breathing, tenses muscles, dilates pupils, and prepares every part of the body for a split-second decision: fight, flee, freeze, or fawn.


But while it's good for survival, it can be the worst enemy to positive mental health - and here's why.

1. Modern Threats aren’t Life or Death


When we were in pre-historic times it was very helpful!  It enabled us to detect a lion crouching in the bushes.  But when you are worrying about getting stuck in a lift or you are worried about your finances and debt, the fight-flight response is far less helpful.  Running away, getting aggressive or feeling paralyzed are not the best strategies for the situation.


Lion's face peering through dense green foliage, intense gaze, surrounded by leaves, creating a mysterious mood. Brown mane visible.

2. The Knock-On Effects Become a Problem


If you’re about to be attacked by a lion, hyperventilation, blood pumping, and tunnel vision are worth it and useful. You’re fighting for your life.


But if you are about to do an important presentation, they are a hindrance not a help. Whilst running out of the meeting room may feel like an attractive option; in reality your best bet is going to be to stay and deliver the presentation; to keep the job; to win the pitch; to persuade the audience.  But unfortunately, now you must do all of this with the added hurdles of shaking legs, quavering voice, a creeping red blush, a churning stomach and a sense of impending doom.  


Sweaty nervous businessman feeling panic attack fear afraid before public speaking, stressed speaker presenter or applicant sweating wiping forehead anxious worried about job interview performance

3. The Subconscious Believes the System – and Hardwires It In


Once triggered, your subconscious forms a firm belief that the threat is genuinely life-threatening. You consciously and rationally know that getting stuck in the lift is not going to result in death; but your subconscious vehemently and violently disagrees.  It has prior knowledge and firm, brain-body-certified evidence that the lift IS a deadly trap and there is nothing your rational brain can do to tell it otherwise. It’s going to call on the only system that it knows can reliably help – and the fight flight response cycle begins again. Each time it happens the cause effect loop is re-enforced, and the phobia becomes more ingrained.


Woman in blue shirt panicking in an elevator, pressing buttons against a textured wall. Red indicator lights are on, hinting at distress.

4. Sometimes It’s Switched On by Accident


This can happen when one of symptoms of the system is set off by something unrelated – mimicking the fight-flight response. Here are some examples:


  • You might be a naturally shallow, chest breather with a less efficient system of breathing when stressed; so you are more prone to your CO2 levels building up.  Once a certain level of CO2 is reached, a warning dial in the fight-flight response flicks on thinks it’s a sneak attack! 

  • The same thing can happen with palpitations.  It might be the coffee that caused them, but the fight flight systems is set off and you are now anxiously looking around for imminent danger. 

  • If you have acid reflux or your digestive system slows for some reason – this can be enough to convince you brain that it’s time to switch on the fight flight response


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5. Sometimes It Doesn’t Turn Off


In chronic stress, trauma, or long-term anxiety, there is no “off” switch. The system hums in the background, the dam stays open, keeping stress hormones permanently elevated and preventing a return to calm, grounded normality.


How to Tak Charge of the Off Switch


The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) governs the fight-flight response. The Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) switches it off and brings us back to “rest and digest,” grounding us in calm and safety.


Some of the most effective “off switches” for the SNS include:

  • Deep breathing

  • Grounding visualisations

  • Meditation and mindfulness

  • Touch (massage, tapping, pressure points)

  • Progressive muscle relaxation

  • Exercise or yoga

  • Time with supportive loved ones, hobbies, and creative activities


A person stands on a rocky cliff by the sea, arms outstretched, embracing the windy, cloudy seascape. Calm, inspiring atmosphere.

While the fight-or-flight system is an awesome and powerful threat detector—and let's face it, we probably wouldn't be here without it—sometimes we need to show it who's in charge and take control of the off switch.






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