Acute Stress: The Body's Response

[?] Subscribe To This Site

Acute Stress: The Body's Response

Acute stress activates fight or flight response preparing the body for emergency. This acute stress response has positive aspects but is also associated with a number of stress related illnesses. The relaxation response can counter some effects of stress.

acute stress

Have you ever felt your heart pounding before a big race? Do you break out in a cold sweat at the sound of the dentist’s drill? What about those butterflies in your stomach or your dry mouth before an important exam or presentation?

These are some of the physical effects of stress. While there are many positive aspects to this acute stress response, acute stress can also result in poorer health and illness.

What is acute stress?

Imagine…you are driving down the road, the windows are down and the sun is shining. What a great day!

You put on your indicator and look over your shoulder – as you are changing lane a 6 ton truck blasts its horn – bearing down upon you. The screech of tires and the smell or rubber as the truck’s tires grip the road...

Definitions: Acute Stress

This is the type of stress that is intense in nature but short in duration.

Some examples may include: entering a burning building, rescuing a person, witnessing a car crash, being chased by a dog, experiencing a natural disaster

In a split moment, your fight or flight response is activated – muscles, nerves and glands are mobilized, adrenaline kicks in!

You grip the steering wheel, slam on the breaks and swerve – heart pumping, muscles tensed, and nostrils flared – narrowly avoiding a collision.

This stress response has saved your life. Your body has put all hands on deck to deal the life threatening stress.

This mobilization of the body’s resources occurs whenever the stress response is activated.

Symptoms of Acute Stress

In the example above, as the truck screeched its horn and you swerved to avoid collision, a number of things were going on in your body. Some of these are:

Heart rate and blood pressure increase. Your heart started to work harder, pumping more blood around your body to supply more oxygen and nutrients.

Breathing rate increased. Anticipating the extra oxygen requirements for the fight or flight response, the breathing rate increases.

Muscles contracted. In preparation for the fight or flight, your muscles, fueled by oxygen-rich blood, contract. This results in increased muscle tension.

Digestion stops.The digestion shuts down to divert the body’s resources to large muscle groups needed for the fight or flight.

Adrenaline and noradrenaline released. The adrenal glands released adrenaline and noradrenaline maintaining the stress response.

Increased perspiration. Your body turned on its cooling system anticipating increased energy use in the fight or flight reaction.

The fight or flight response activated nerves, muscles, and glands and a resulted in a number of stress symptoms to mobilize or resources in the emergency.

The Stress Response and the Autonomic Nervous System

This stress response is the activation of the sympathetic nervous system.

Once this stress passes, the parasympathetic nervous system brings the back to its normal state. This is known as the relaxation response.

For ways to enhance your relaxation response, check out these relaxation techniques.

If you don’t get adequate rest and recuperation, you could be living with an unhealthy amount of stress – this could have an effect on your health.

Effects of acute stress on health

Generally, the acute stress response serves an important function.

In the past, the caveman who narrowly escapes the jaws of a saber-tooth tiger thanks to the stress response stopped him being today’s meal.

Similarly, in the example above, without the stress response, your would have been slower to slam on the brakes and you may not have swerved in time to avoid the collision.

The stress response helps us to fight, flee or adapt to the oncoming stress. In most cases it serves a positive function after the period of stress the body returns to it’s normal state.

However, acute stress can become a problem when:

acute stress is activated too often and becomes chronic stress – giving the body less and less chance to rest and recuperate, or

when the acute stress response is activated too often and too intensely.

An acute stress response can be triggered by a number of events. These range from traumatic events such as a terrorist attack or natural disaster, to witnessing a car crash.

This can manifest in a number of anxiety disorders, in which your anxiety levels are irrational and affecting your life. Some of the anxiety conditions include:

panic attacks and panic disorder

post traumatic stress disorder

generalized anxiety disorder

obsessive compulsive disorder

acute stress disorder, and

social anxiety disorder

Enhance your rest, recuperation and relaxation techniques

The stress response takes a lot of energy. While the body usually returns back to its normal state after the stress has passed, you can enhance this with relaxation and stress management skills. The following relaxation techniques counter the stress response with it’s opposite number – the relaxation response.

Breathing exercises to relieve stress

Breathing exercises are one of the simplest and most effective stress management techniques. When the stress response is activated you tend to breathe rapidly. This can be a time that you can use calming breaths to bring your mind and body back to it’s natural equilibrium. These breathing exercises can have a calming effect and promote a deep sense of relaxation.

Practice mindfulness meditation for stress

You don’t have wear robes and sit on top of a mountain to benefit from mindfulness meditation. By adopting a mindful attitude to the causes of your stress, and to life in general, you may develop a greater awareness of your mind and body.

The benefits of physical exercise on stress

Exercise is a great way to relieve your body of the accumulated stress hormones. Not only can you lose weight and get into a better physical condition, exercise can be a great way for you to relieve stress and feel better about yourself. Here are a number of exercises-and-stress that you can do for stress relief.

Release muscle tension with progressive muscle relaxation

Have you ever been told to "Relax". Perhaps it was your partner who was noticing you getting frustrated, or a dentist before starting the drill. While you may have been told to relax, it is unlikely you were told how to relax. Progressive muscle relaxation has been shown to activate the relaxation response, which counters the effects of stress.

types of stress Optimal Stress Levels