The Fight or Flight Response

Nature's Self Defense Weapon

We are born with the most basic self defense mechanism in the world...the fight or flight response. When you are in a dangerous situation, your body tells you whether to fight or run away.

Your mind goes through several problem solving decisions in order to determine which response will save your life.

A perfect example is if you are walking in the forest and all of a sudden a big bear is in your path staring right at you. Do you run or fight? If the bear gets too close, do you fight the bear? Do you think you can outrun the bear? What else can you do to avoid an attack? If you had a plan for this type of situation before you took your walk in the woods, you would know what to do.

The same goes for walking home from school or work when it's dark outside, or if you've been cornered in a secluded area by an attacker. What do you do to survive? You only have seconds to make a decision before your fight or flight response kicks in.

If you end up in a situation where you are cornered in an area where you can't easily get away from your attacker and there are no other people around, trying to run will probably make the situation worse. Your attacker can catch you easily and might hurt you even more for trying to escape.

Trying to escape when your chances of successfully getting away are dismal signals to your attacker that you're scared which makes you an easy target for him. If you can't run, then you have to make the decision to stand your ground, be assertive, look him in the eye and let him know that you're not afraid of him.

At some point, you will also have to decide if physical methods need to be used to get away. It depends on the situation and the amount of threat to your life.

But, if you are in a location where you can easily get to a store, restaurant or some other place with people around, then running might be the best decision. For example, if an attacker confronts you on the sidewalk and there is a store open across the street, you can run to the store for safety.

You can also run after you have used self defense moves. I guess you can say that this is a combination of fight AND flight response. If you can use one of these moves to knock your attacker to the ground or to break his grip on you, run and scream at the top of your lungs to draw attention and go someplace safe.

Every situation is different and you won't know what you'll do until it happens. But, by knowing what your options are before the attack happens can help you make a better decision on your fight or flight response. Also practicing self defense moves can prepare you to fight back if you have to.