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FIGHT OR FLIGHT SYNDROME or...
Why joining a health club for regular exercises
is excellent Stress Management

It has been over half a century since we got our first good look at the adverse effects of stress and how stress robs us of a healthy and carefree enjoyment of life. It happened in the 1950's with Hans Sayle's hypothesis of the general adaptation Syndrome to stress, the so-called fight or flight response. Basically, it goes like this:


A caveman is waking through the jungle, when suddenly he is confronted with stress.	A fierce predator jumps at him. Instantly, his body chemistry changes going into the fight or flight mode.	With adrenalin and other hormones surging through the body, the caveman now has the energy to fight the beast.	Once the excess energy is burned up in the fight, his chemistry returns to normal.

The above cartoon demonstrates why regular exercises are a MUST in good stress management.

Stress may be physical, psychological, emotional or a combination of these. The end result of stress is that the sympathetic nervous system springs into action. Any factor capable of eliciting such a response is called the Stressor. The condition it produces in the body is called stress. When it happens to you are stressed.

How does stress affect the equilibrium of your body?

When under stress, your hypothalamus automatically releases a hormone (CRH) that activates other glands such as the pituitary, the pancreas and the adrenal cortex. This, in turn, causes an increase in amino acids and other energy sources. There is a rise in the blood glucose concentration, the blood glycerol and fatty acid levels. There is also an increase in heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, an increase in breathing rate, dilation of air passages, dilation of pupils; a shunting of blood from the skin and digestive organs into the skeletal muscles. There are hormones (or peptides) to facilitate repair of possible tissue injuries, including blood-thickening agents to hasten blood clotting; at the same time urine output is decreased to retain water that may be needed to increase blood volume in case of excessive bleeding. It's a rather impressive operation that kicks in.

Needless to say that such a state of emergency cannot be maintained for a prolonged period of time without serious injury to the organism. Therefore, it is up to you to learn to identify the stressors in your life, so you can keep them to the minimum, and when they occur you'll know what to do to ameliorate their effect.

Membership in a health club is a good start… if you use it.

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