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WHAT EXACTLY IS FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT?


What exactly is flight-or-flight? and why does it work against your optimal performance?
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Fight-or-flight is the collection of physiological (body) and psychological (mind & emotions) changes that occur when you face a perceived threat–when you face situations where you feel the demands on you outweigh your resources to effectively cope.
When some event in your life triggers the state of fight or flight, a series of changes occur within your body and mind, often without our awareness. They include:
•A quickening of the pulse
•A burst of adrenaline (can mean shaking, feeling queasy, or hyper-alert)
•Redirection of blood from your brain and core to periphery
•The release of cortisol (stress hormone), putting you in a heightened state of alert. Your internal alarm system is on- even though you might not hear it!
Within seconds of any situation which causes you to become upset, which is fight-or-flight, the primitive amygdala (trauma center in your mid-brain) automatically sounds a general alarm.  The adrenal system promptly floods the body with adrenaline and stress hormones. Non-essential physiological (body) processes switch off.  Digestion stops, skin cools, and blood is diverted from viscera and small muscles into the outer, large muscles in preparation for a burst of emergency action (fight/flee/freeze).  Breathing quickens and becomes shallow, the heart races, and blood pressure skyrockets, infusing the body with oxygen while the liver releases glucose for quick fuel.  The entire body is suddenly in a state of high alert, ready for fight-or-flight.
Fight-or-flight is designed only for emergencies: not for everyday living!
Our culture today places so many demands on us, that we live in this state too often for good health and well-being.
In this state, learning ability, as well as other mental functions (including problem solving, reasoning ability, and relating to others) are inhibited. This response is incredibly powerful and can indeed be life-saving.
However, we experience this response on a regular basis through pressure at work, traffic jams, anticipating the future or stewing about a past event, family and relationship challenges, the intensity of school, and many more situations that are not life-threatening.
What makes it worse is the body’s design: if we get to really fight or turn and actually run, all those electro-chemical responses get used up.
But to be in this fight-or-flight state and not have to fight or run for our life, is extremely disabling and explains why stress is indeed the biggest killer.      Fight-or-Flight-72-2.jpg
What we need most of our day is the opposite state, called the Relaxation Response. It brings us out of the fight-or-flight state. Research shows that our approach to Neurofeedback will induce the balanced production brain waves, which will then reduce our heart rate and blood pressure, relax muscles, and increase the quantity of oxygen flow to the brain.  Incredibly, because your brain is plastic (adaptable) it will remember how does this in the future because it changes in response to experience.  In other words, you can train your brain; you can increase your brain fitness.
Many researchers have also noted that this Relaxation Response is very beneficial for super-learning, enhanced creativity, healing, and optimal performance in life.
“The Relaxation Response is a physical state of dynamic rest that changes the physical and emotional responses to stress.”
Herbert Benson, M.D.
Herbert Benson, M.D., is the Director Emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute (BHI), and Mind/Body Medical Institute Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
A graduate of Wesleyan University and the Harvard Medical School, Dr. Benson is the author or co-author of more than 180 scientific publications and 11 books:
The Relaxation Response, 1975
The Mind/Body Effect, 1979
Beyond the Relaxation Response, 1984
Your Maximum Mind, 1987
The Wellness Book, 1992
Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief, 1996
The Relaxation Response – Updated and Expanded
(25th Anniversary Edition), 2000
The Breakout Principle, 2003
Mind Over Menopause, 2004
Mind Your Heart, 2004
The Harvard Medical School Guide
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DROP IT AND MOVE ON? EASIER SAID THAN DONE!


by David Delaney, MA, CAR, LPC

Johnny’s (not his real name) Mom contacts me to say that he is having anxiety and school is about to begin. Can I help? He is feeling upset in anticipation of the school year and all the stress that that brings with it. He is upset allot and that is affecting the family as a whole. It’s true, if one family member is not doing well, everyone feels it. Whether we are an adult or a child, we all have to deal with the anxiety of anticipating changes that school and life brings, and honestly, some of us cope better than others.

 

SOME SEE HOPE IN BIOFEEDBACK FOR ATTENTION DISORDER


September 26, 2000

By JIM ROBBINS

If a child at the Enrico Fermi School in Yonkers is found to have attention deficit disorder, parents can choose an unusual alternative to medication: neurofeedback, a computerized biofeedback system that some say strengthens the brain.

Linda Vergara, the school’s principal, said she decided to try the approach when doctors diagnosed the disorder in her son in 1992. ”They told me I needed to give him something to calm him down,” she said.

Ms. Vergara decided not to give her son Ritalin, the drug frequently used to treat the ailment, and instead took him to see Dr. Mary Jo Sabo, a psychologist in Suffern, N.Y., to try neurofeedback.

 

DON’T JUST DO SOMETHING: SIT THERE!


By David Delaney

david@optimalperformancetraining.com

 


Bob (I have changed his name) finds that he cannot stop himself from being on the go all day long.  And then he has problems getting to bed and staying asleep.  Sometimes in the middle of the night, when he cannot sleep, he will get up and read or get on the Internet, which further adds to the problem.  He is overloaded and this overload is affecting his health and well-being.  He came to me based on a recommendation by a client who thought that I could help him.

 

CAN YOU RE-TRAIN THE NEGATIVE BRAIN?



 Scientists say that our brains are hard wired for negativity…

 

Shawn (not his real name), a newer client of mine, comes to me and no matter what we discuss, he is oriented toward a negative, unsuccessful point of view.  It seems that he was raised this way with the idea that life would always be problematic and you could not change that fact.  He even has tremendous resistance to recalling successful or positive times in his life without finding the negative side of the situation.  He is depressed and anxious, and his whole orientation is toward life never changing no matter what he does.  He is hard wired for negativity.

 

NEUROFEEDBACK TRAINING AND THE PERFORMING ARTIST


By David Delaney, M.A.

www.optimalperformancetraining.com

david@optimalperformancetraining.com

George (not his real name) is a seasoned singer/performer with many years of experience performing for audiences.  However, he has always had to deal with a low self-esteem issue that, even though he is loved by the audiences her performs for, he questions his skill and this affects his performance of course.  He was referred to me by a voice therapist who knew about my background in the performing arts and suspected that I might be able to help him.

 

 

SOME SEE HOPE IN NEUROFEEDBACK FOR ATTENTION DEFICIT


By JIM ROBBINS
NY Times
September 26, 2000

If a child at the Enrico Fermi School in Yonkers is found to have attention deficit disorder, parents can choose an unusual alternative to medication: neurofeedback, a computerized biofeedback system that some say strengthens the brain.

Linda Vergara, the school’s principal, said she decided to try the approach when doctors diagnosed the disorder in her son in 1992. ”They told me I needed to give him something to calm him down,” she said.

Ms. Vergara decided not to give her son Ritalin, the drug frequently used to treat the ailment, and instead took him to see Dr. Mary Jo Sabo, a psychologist in Suffern, N.Y., to try neurofeedback.

 

GENTLE AND EFFECTIVE EXERCISE FOR HEALTH, RELAXATION, AND STRESS REDUCTION.


“Whoever practices t’ai-chi, correctly and regularly, twice a day over a period of time will gain the pliability of a child, the health of a lumberjack, and the peace of mind of a sage.”

          —Professor Cheng Man-Ch’ing

 

The ancient art of T’ai Chi uses gentle flowing movements to reduce the stress of today’s busy lifestyles, and improve health. 

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The graceful images of people gliding through dance-like poses as they practice t’ai chi (TIE-chee) are compelling. Simply watching them is relaxing. T’ai chi, in fact, is often described as “meditation in motion” because it promotes serenity through gentle movements — integrating mind and body.

 

YOUR BRAIN CAN IMPROVE ITS OWN FUNCTION; ITS VERY NATURE IS ADAPTIBILITY.


by David Delaney

His father brings nine-year-old Harold (not his real name) to my office.  Neither he nor his mother is able to get him to go to sleep at night; sometimes they find him wandering around late because he cannot sleep.  He gets up repeatedly when they put him back to bed.   This kind of behavior is wearing on his parents!

 

WIRED FOR MIRACLES?


By: Jim Robbins

Epilepsy. ADD. Depression. PMS. Insomnia. What do all these conditions havein common? They’re being treated with a new form of high-tech brain biofeedback. So open your radical science horizons. Here, a report on the cresting edge of the brainwave.

JAKE’S BIRTH WAS A LONG SHOT. Three months premature, he weighed just a pound, and his early birth took a heavy neurological toll. When he was four, he entered his parents’ room one evening, drooling and unable to speak. As they watched, horrified, one side of his body went into seizure and he lost consciousness. Jake’s seizures often happened at night, and his parents kept an overnight bag packed for trips to the hospital emergency room, where he received injections of Valium. He often had petit mal seizures during the day. He was also diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which diminished his fine and gross motor skills. His learning disabilities included attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity. He had speech problems and ground his teeth constantly. His sleep was troubled and he often woke up ten or eleven times in a night.

 

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