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DINESHKUMARS
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Think of life in survival mode by picturing an animal, such as a deer contentedly grazing in the forest. Let's assume that it is in homeostasis, in perfect balance, But if it perceives some danger in the outside world - say, a predator, its fight or flight nervous system gets turned on. This sympathetic nervous system is part of the autonomic nervous system, which maintains the body's automatic functions such as digestion, temperature regulation and blood-sugar levels. To prepare the animal to deal with the emergency it has detected the body is chemically altered the sympathetic nervous system automatically activates the adrenal glands to mobilize enormous amounts of energy. If a deer is chased by a pack of coyotes, it utilizes that energy to flee. If it is nimble enough to get away unharmed, then perhaps after 15 to 20 minutes when the threat is no longer present, the animal resumes grazing, its internal balance restored. We humans have the same system in place. When we perceive danger, our sympathetic nervous system is turned on, energy is mobilized, and so on, in much the same way as the deer, During early human history this wonderfully adaptive response helped us confront threats from predators and other risks to our survival. Every time we knock the body out of chemical balance, that's called "stress". The stress response is how the body innately responds when it's knocked out of balance, and what it does to return back to equilibrium. Whether we see a lion in the Serengeti, bump into our not so friendly ex at the grocery store, or freak out in freeway traffic because we're late for a meeting, we turn on the stress response because we are reacting to our external environment. Unlike animals, we have the ability to turn on the fight or flight response by thought alone.