Getting Savvy about the Sympathetic Nervous System

Think back to the last time you were running late to an important meeting or appointment. What do you remember about the physical experience of stress? You may have felt your heart racing, blood pressure rising, or even a change in vision.

These are all signs of the Sympathetic Nervous System adjusting to your circumstances and perceived level of threat. The Sympathetic Nervous System is a part of the Autonomic Nervous System that physiologically prepares for a type of “survival mode” to fight, take flight, freeze, or fawn for protection.

Fight response
The body’s stress response to overpower the perceived threat

Flight Response
The body's stress response to avoid danger by running away

Freeze response
The body’s stress response to become motionless like a “deer in headlights”

Fawn response (modern adaptation)
The body’s stress response to please someone to avoid threat

During this activation time, the body prioritizes certain resources and functions. For example, heart rate quickens, blood pressure rises, and pupils dilate to take in more light to see better. Stress hormones (cortisol) are released to help the body stay at the ready.

This alert system can be very valuable. During prehistoric times, to survive, one needed to be able to detect a threat (like a bear) and have this reflexive response from the Sympathetic Nervous System to either fight the bear, run away from it, or freeze into stillness.

Today, we have the same physiological response to perceived threats, but now the threat is more likely to be running late for an important appointment rather than a bear attack.

Since modern stressors are fairly constant, we might experience this activation of the Sympathetic Nervous System too regularly which causes the body to be in a chronic state of stress.

Chronic stress is not only psychologically draining, but negatively impacts our overall health.

Just as some symptoms are prioritized during a stress response, some systems like digestion and tissue repair are deprioritized. There is also a potential for weight gain because the elevated stress hormone levels heighten one's appetite to ensure continued energy levels if encountering a threat.

Running late to an important meeting or appointment is no doubt stressful. However, the next time you find your Sympathetic Nervous System kicking in, consider mindfulness and breathing practices to balance your stress response. It’s important that we have physiological systems to fight, take flight, freeze, or fawn, but day-to-day we can use mindfulness and breathing practices that engage the Parasympathetic Nervous System, the other branch of the Autonomic Nervous System responsible to cue the body to rest and digest.