Stop Your Fight-or-Flight Reaction to Help Your Mental Health

• Stop Your Fight-or-Flight Reaction to Help Your Mental Health
• From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs
• Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans
• I Forgot About Emotional Self-Care! How I Got Back on Track
• Bipolar Disorder Quote

Obstacles continue to block our path to mental health, and as a result, living with anxiety seems to be the rule rather than the exception. Use these tips to stop reacting to events and regain control of your mental health.

How to Stop Your Fight or Flight Reaction

Many things happen within us when we react. Emotions and negative thoughts take over. Often without realizing it, we begin to breathe more rapidly and shallowly, which activates the sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight). In turn, our heart begins to race and pound, we become alert for more danger. This fuels our negative emotions and thoughts, and anxiety deepens.

Unfortunately, the current threats seem never to end. We’re stuck in reaction mode. You’re not at the mercy of your nervous system, however. Take charge of your physiological reaction to regain a sense of control.

• Use mindfulness to center yourself. When you notice anxiety, shift your attention to something you can see or feel. Look at an object and concentrate on its details, or place your hands on a solid surface and notice how it feels.
• Turn off your sympathetic nervous system through breathing exercises for anxiety. Begin to breathe slowly and deeply, and pay attention to the sound and feel of the air entering and leaving your body. You can even focus on a simple word such as “in” as you inhale and “out” as you exhale to calm your thoughts.

It may take some conscious effort, but you can override your reactive fight-or-flight response no matter what is happening around you. Then, you can regain your mental health.

Recommended Video

• The HPA Axis, the Stress Response, and You: Countering Anxiety
• How You React to Stress
• Meditation for Anxiety, Depression, Insomnia
• Relaxation Techniques for Relief of Anxiety and Stress
• Overstimulation Causes Anxiety; How to Refocus and Feel Calm
• How to Reduce Anxiety from the Coronavirus Scare
• Coping with Anxious Thoughts about Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Today's Question: What is your favorite strategy for calming down when you are anxious and your fight or flight reaction takes hold? We invite you to participate by sharing your thoughts, experiences, and knowledge on the HealthyPlace Facebook page.

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From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

On all our blogs, your comments and observations are welcomed.

• I Want to Give Up on Antidepressants
• Time Plays Into My Reactions to Anxiety
• Repeating Your Bipolar Story to Every Doctor
• Anxiety Medication: How to Make the Medication Decision
• How Verbal Abuse Changes Your Perception of Others
• Celebrating Pride After COVID Can Weigh on Our Mental Health
• Mental Illness in the Family as a Healthcare Professional
• Disclosing Your Mental Illness in a New Relationship
• My Experience with Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
• Confront Your Anxiety Triggers to Feel Better
• 'Everything Happens for a Reason' Is a Lie, and Here's Why
• How to Be True to You in the Relationship with Yourself
• What Pride Month Means to Me in Eating Disorder Recovery
• Everyone Has a Little Mental Illness, Just Like My Child
• The Impact of Homophobia on LGBTQ+ Employees
• Why Anxiety Is Exhausting and 1 Simple Tip to Regain Energy
• 0 Days Clean from Self-Harm: Coping with Relapse
• My Vaccination Reduced My Schizoaffective Anxiety
• Discussing Your Postpartum Depression with Others
• How Tennis Highlighted Mental Health Stigma in Sports

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

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From the HealthyPlace YouTube Channel

Taking care of yourself emotionally is as important as any other type of self-care -- but we sometimes forget about it. Find out how to get back on track in this video. Take a look.

Subscribe to the HealthyPlace YouTube channel

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Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

1. Framing Goodbyes to Diminish Anxiety
2. Difficult Seasons Lead to Important Lessons
3. Are Your Self-Harm Urges Caused by Emotional Burnout?

If you're not already, I hope you'll like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

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Quote About Bipolar Disorder

“Having bipolar disorder does not mean you are broken, it means you are strong and brave for battling your mind every single day.”

Read more quotes about bipolar disorder.

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That's it for now. If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube channel, or follow us on Instagram.

Thank you,
Deborah

Community Partner Team
HealthyPlace.com - America's Mental Health Channel
"When you're at HealthyPlace.com, you're never alone."
http://www.healthyplace.com