Fight or Flight Response: What It Is and How to Manage

• It is your time to present the meeting, and you need to get prepared for it. The moment is already set and you were confident the day before so you think you’ve got this.
• But your chest grows tight and in your mind, everything comes across as threatening. Suddenly, you lose your confidence and feel like running away.
• So, the brain perceives this stimulus as danger, which activates the fight-or-flight mechanism to protect you. Well, it’s good if there is a real danger and you need to take quick action.
• But what starts as a defense mechanism can gradually turn into a problem, having been triggered by different stressors. Too much activation can even lead to stress and anxiety maladies, along with some long-term health situations.
• But the good news is that it is manageable! In this article, we talk about the fight and flight response, what follows it once it is triggered, and most importantly, how to treat it.

What Is the Fight or Flight Response?

• The fight or flight response is your body's built-in survival mechanism. It kicks in without conscious thought, preparing you to either confront danger (fight) or escape it (flee).
• This acute stress response is controlled by a part of your body's autopilot system called the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which is composed of two branches:
• Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS): Activates your fight or flight response
• Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS): Helps you calm down once the danger passes
• The problem arises when your body reacts the same way whether you're facing a lion or a late-night work email. ​​Because of this mismatch, the result is stress and anxiety.
• A global study across 149 countries found that emotional stress has increased significantly. Over half the population reported emotional stress, and 85% of countries saw worse psychological stress than in previous years.

What Are the Physical Symptoms of the Fight or Flight Response?

The fight or flight response triggers several physical changes to prepare your body for immediate action. Here are some of the symptoms you may experience:

• Increased Heart Rate: Your heart beats faster to quickly push more oxygen and nutrients to the muscles, so you’re physically ready to act.
• Rapid Breathing: Your breaths become short and fast to flood your body with oxygen, a fuel for quick movement during the fight or flight response.
• Muscle Tension: Your body tightens up, getting ready to run or fight, or do whatever it takes to stay safe.
• Sweating: Your body starts cooling itself in advance because it expects exertion even if you’re not moving.
• Dilated Pupils: Your pupils widen to sharpen focus, helping you spot threats faster when in fight or flight mode.
• Dry Mouth and Nausea: As blood is diverted away from the digestive system, you may experience dry mouth and an upset stomach.
• Skin Changes: The fight or flight response makes you look pale or flushed as blood rushes to the areas that need it most, usually the brain and muscles.
• Knowing these symptoms helps you recognize when your body is stuck in fight or flight mode. With this understanding, you can take steps to calm your stress response.

The Escalation of the Fight or Flight Response

The fight or flight response isn’t always quick. When it lasts too long, it can amplify stress and anxiety disorders like panic attacks. It can even contribute to adrenal fatigue.

Stages of the Stress Response

To understand how your fight or flight response unfolds, let’s break down the five key stages of the body’s stress response.

Stage 1: Recognition

​​The first stage is when your body and brain become aware of a demand or change in your environment, whether it’s something small like a phone ringing or something unexpected like a sudden loud noise. This is the starting point for the fight or flight response.

Stage 2: Appraisal

This stage is about mentally evaluating whether the situation is stressful, and if so, how you can handle it.

The process typically happens in two parts:

• Primary Appraisal: You quickly assess if the event is irrelevant, positive, or stressful. If you are stressed, ask yourself, “Is it a threat or a challenge?” For example, receiving negative feedback at work can feel like a threat, triggering the fight or flight response.
• Secondary Appraisal: If it’s a threat or challenge, your brain then evaluates if you have the resources (emotional, mental, or social) to cope with it and if you feel in control of the situation.

Two people can face the same situation that triggers their fight or flight response. However, their reactions can differ depending on how they interpret and cope with the situation.

Stage 3: Mobilization

This isn’t the stage where you fight or flee. Rather, during this stage, your body prepares to take action.

If your brain perceives the situation as a threat, the fight or flight response is ready to kick in. The sympathetic nervous system activates the HPA axis — your body’s stress command center — releasing cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline.

These chemicals sharpen focus, speed up heart rate, and reroute energy to your muscles and brain.

Stage 4: Response

This is when your body turns all that built-up energy from mobilization into the actual fight or flight response.

Racing from task to task without a pause keeps your stress levels high and your mind on overdrive.

It’s your body’s way of protecting you by either confronting the threat head-on (fight) or escaping it (flight). There are times when you might freeze instead, unable to react.

Stage 5: Return

Once the threat has passed, your body begins to power down the fight or flight response. The PNS steps in to slow your heart rate, relax muscles, and restart functions like digestion, helping you recover from fight or flight anxiety.

It’s your body’s way of protecting you by either confronting the threat head-on (fight) or escaping it (flight). There are times when you might freeze instead, unable to react.

How to Manage the Fight or Flight Response

We need our fight or flight response; however, if we notice our body reacting like it’s always in survival mode, we can train it to slow down and regain balance.

Physiological Techniques

Start with the body to interrupt an uncontrolled fight or flight response:

1. Deep Breathing

One of the fastest ways to downregulate the fight or flight stress response is through slow, intentional breathing, particularly diaphragmatic breathing.

​This can significantly reduce cortisol levels and activate the PNS, which helps the body calm down. For example, if you feel yourself entering the fight or flight mode, inhale for four seconds and exhale for six.

2. Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)

When you're chronically tense, your body forgets what relaxed even feels like. PMR helps retrain that baseline.

By intentionally tensing and then releasing one muscle group at a time, you teach your nervous system that relaxing in fight or flight mode is possible.

It’s especially useful if you feel “on edge” or hyper-alert even at rest. Just 10 minutes a day helps reduce fight or flight anxiety symptoms.

3. Exercise

This helps metabolize stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, restoring biochemical balance. A brisk 20-minute walk can reduce symptoms of fight or flight anxiety and depression.

4. Mindfulness & Meditation

This is about bringing your attention back to the present. Regular mindfulness and meditation practices can decrease amygdala activity (the brain’s fear center) and improve emotional regulation.

Try the following techniques to regulate your fight or flight stress response:

• Body Scan Meditation: Gently bring awareness to different parts of the body, one by one, to notice tension and release it.
• Mindful Walking: Pay attention to the feeling of your feet on the ground and your surroundings.
• 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding: A sensory awareness technique to calm fight or flight anxiety, where you identify five things you can see, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, and one you can taste.
• Clam Your Brain: You can calm down the overactivity of your brain by listening to Binaural beats, positive affirmations, and calming music.

Long-Term Strategies & Lifestyle Change

Here are a few lifestyle changes you can start today to effectively manage your fight or flight response:

This acute stress response is controlled by a part of your body's autopilot system called the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which is composed of two branches:

• Build Foundational Habits: egulate your sleep-wake cycle and prioritize nutrient-dense meals to reduce chronic fight or flight response activation.
• Identify Your Unique Triggers: Track your body’s reactions and become more aware of what silently pushes you into fight or flight mode.
• Understand That Trauma Can Impact Stress Responses: If your fight or flight response feels disproportionate, it might be a learned survival pattern, not a personal flaw.
• Seek Professional Help: ou don’t have to figure it all out alone. Over 300 million people suffer from anxiety disorders globally. Reach out to a psychiatrist to uncover the root of your fight or flight stress response.

Frequently Asked Questions