Modern DAY FIGHT OR FLIGHT

I have always found it intriguing how much of our behaviour today is something that our ancestors have practiced and discovered many many many moons ago. It's the adaptive nature of these behaviours that make survival possible. I'm a big believer in that, at the end of the day, we all carry a reptilian brain which defaults our behaviour to that of animalistic tendencies.

Allow me to illustrate

Take the idea of fight or flight. The fight or flight phenomenon is what protects us from harm. When we interpret threat in our environment, a domino effect of events occur. Neurotransmitters are released from the brain as a result of stimulation of the amygdala, the emotion centre of our brain. These neurotransmitters signal to our adrenal glands to release adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline increases our heart rate, raises our blood pressure, dilates our pupils, and sends blood to our extremities. Cortisol breaks down glucose for energy and prepares our immune system in case of physical harm. We become locked on the target of our threat and our attention narrows. Your body is now ready to fight the threat or run away from it. Anger is the fight or flight response and it happens so quickly that we don't even realize until much later.

Now let me ask you this. How often are you in the presence of physical threat? Not often. In fact, it's rare. And yet, we still engage in fight or flight when we become angry. By the laws of natural selection, if it still exists today, it's because it serves a function, but what?

We have modern day threats, though not physical, it does impact our survival. Modern day threats are social threats. A threat to your reputation, pride, ego, identity, emotional well-being are all perceived as threats in our amygdala that sends off a cascade of chemical changes that results in an expression of anger. So although we do not face the same dangers as our ancestors, our reptilian brain, through natural selection, has been retained as it has served as a means to survival.

I'm sure you're well aware that you are not a reptile. You are a human being capable of thinking and rationalizing. Just because we carry animalistic instincts does not mean we are doomed to follow these. We have an ability to recognize when fight or flight is activated and then doing something about it. We can choose to disengage, use assertive language, practice deep breathing or even just simply walk away.