# How stress affects us



## thardey (Aug 1, 2007)

There was a thread on another section of this site that went of track, and had to be reigned in by the Moderators, but it brought up an interesting point, that may be worth a thread on its own.

Is anybody willing to share what has happened to you physically, or psychologically when in situations of extreme danger? Please include whether it was a surprise, or planned, and how you reacted after the danger had passed. It doesn't need to be too detailed or specific, just enough to give an idea to others on what can happen.

Did you have tunnel vision, did everything go "slow-motion", did you sort of "blank out", and not remember what you did? Did you have "Sir Robin's" syndrome ("I've just soiled myself!" - be honest!). What happened to you?

I'll start:
I was out on a back road on my motorcycle, going faster than was wise, and accelerating.   At a certain speed, it was as though my sense of self-preservation sort of shorted out. I wasn't scared anymore, I wasn't thrilled, I was a machine. At the same time, everything went into hyper-focus, and sort of slowed down. I remember simultaneously watching my dials, calculating how much faster I could go before I hit redline, counting each of the little yellow lines and they zipped under my feet, and generally absorbing everything happening around me in crystal clarity. (The opposite of tunnel vision.) I remember thinking "at this speed, if anything unusual happens to me, I will probably die", and then I thought "Oh." And that was it.

When I slowed down, back to a sane speed, it was as though all of the emotion that had been suspended for the last 30 seconds or so hit me all at once, and I got very scared, even though I was now in the "safety zone". I had to pull over and stop, I was shaking so bad. I talked to a WWII fighter pilot about it not long after that, and he said they got that in dogfighting, and they called it "the Zone". 

When I've been in emergency traffic situations, I drop into that zone again, even if it's a surprise, and kick out of it just as quickly, then get scared afterwards. (BTW I've never ridden that fast since - it's not really wisdom, it just wasn't than much fun.)

What about you guys? How do you react?


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## JBrainard (Aug 1, 2007)

thardey said:


> What about you guys? How do you react?


 
Pretty much the same way.
I got in a head-on collision a few years back. I got wiplash, and the other driver's car was destroyed. The driver of the other car was crying and generally freaking out while I very calmly helped her through the whole insurance/tow truck routine. This is not how I react to a minor fender bender, that's when I freak out.
Who knows, maybe I was just in shock.


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## CuongNhuka (Aug 1, 2007)

Terror, I start hitting things. 
Anger, my hands start to shake or I hit things. 
Stress, I hit things.

I geuss that makes me violent, but oh well. It's just a good thing that I have a heavy bag sitting outside my house.


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## bushidomartialarts (Aug 1, 2007)

Most of the times I've seen the potential for danger, I feel weak at the knees and my hands begin to shake.  

Most of the times I've _been in _danger, I find myself very calm.  My mind is too busy figuring how I'm going to get out of this mess to worry about things like fear.

Once it's over, though, man I freak out.


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## grydth (Aug 1, 2007)

bushidomartialarts said:


> Most of the times I've seen the potential for danger, I feel weak at the knees and my hands begin to shake.
> 
> Most of the times I've _been in _danger, I find myself very calm.  My mind is too busy figuring how I'm going to get out of this mess to worry about things like fear.
> 
> Once it's over, though, man I freak out.



These are my reactions almost exactly.

I can react very quickly and decisively, but it is some physical thing like adreniline fuel injection. I'm no hero, and also get the shakes afterwards.


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## Sukerkin (Aug 1, 2007)

The shakes are a direct result of the adrenaline, *grydth* - it's a purely autonomic reaction that you have no control over whatsoever and nothing to take yourself to task for in the slightest.  I shook like a leaf in a hurricane once I'd won my one-time fight and made it to the police station .

Not to denigrate acts of herosim, for they are the things that give us something to aspire to, to be better than we are - but there is a theory that a great many 'heroic' acts transpire because the person does not acknowledge the danger.  

Some say that the 'hero' does not recognise the danger but I feel that devalues their actions to an extent.  I prefer to think of it that they perceive the danger as a 5 on on a 10 scale when everyone else reckons it's an 11 .


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## bydand (Aug 1, 2007)

thardy, almost the same story except everything didn't "slow down" until the POS bike I was riding developed a BAD case of headshake at around 130 MPH. Generally though, time seems to slow down and focus locks on the cause of the hyper-stress level.  I remember a Chevy emblem coming at me in a parking lot (didn't see the car at all) then sliding over the hood thinking, "Blue, the car is blue."  Then when I cleared the hood looking at the pavement coming up real slow I thought "I don't have my riding gloves on so I better tuck and roll instead of body surfing with the leathers."  

Jeeze, thinking back over the past 43 years, there seems to be too many examples of how time slows when I may just cash in my chips.  Just means I've lived an interesting life right??? :idunno:


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## Drac (Aug 1, 2007)

Sukerkin said:


> The shakes are a direct result of the adrenaline, *grydth* - it's a purely autonomic reaction that you have no control over whatsoever and nothing to take yourself to task for in the slightest.


 
Well said, you never forget your first "adrenaline dump"..Held a group of hoodlums inside a stolen car at gunpoint waiting for backup to arrive..Middle of Winter, cold as hell and I was kneeling in a puddle of ice water behind my cruiser...I was fine until the bad boys were cuffed and stuffed..I sat down to write my report and started to shake like hell..At older copper explained what was happening..


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## Adept (Aug 1, 2007)

thardey said:


> When I slowed down, back to a sane speed, it was as though all of the emotion that had been suspended for the last 30 seconds or so hit me all at once, and I got very scared, even though I was now in the "safety zone". I had to pull over and stop, I was shaking so bad. I talked to a WWII fighter pilot about it not long after that, and he said they got that in dogfighting, and they called it "the Zone".



What you describe here is exactly how I feel. There have been times when I've been out numbered and out gunned, but it's not until after everything is over that the shakes and shortness of breath comes in.

Before an incident, if I know it's about to go down, I sometimes get a little nervous. Afterwards, I'm always shaking. But when the brown stuff actually hits the fan, I'm in that zone.

I always have a cigarette after a hard ejection. It takes a couple of minutes to get my nerves back under control.

Edit: Another thing I've noticed is that I can get the shakes if an expected ejection doesn't happen. If I think someone is going to resist, and they start to put up a fight and then walk out, even though I haven't been involved in a confrontation, I still get the shakes afterward. I guess from my body dumping adrenaline into my system in preparation...


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## qi-tah (Aug 2, 2007)

I had a pretty intense adrenaline rush once when i got into a fight with a drunk woman. Out of the blue she just grabbed me and pushed me against a wall, whilst pulling back her fist to clock me one. My training (of about a year at that stage) kicked in and it was almost like pre-emption, i put up my guard and could almost feel the next move of pivoting on my left foot, deflecting her punch to cross her grabbing arm and using her momentum to force her shoulder down and ram her head into the brickwork behind me. All i needed was her punch, her energy to make it happen. I thought "oh my, here we go for real", it felt like i had literally "ages in a second" to contemplate the fact that this woman was going to get seriously hurt, but i also felt that there was nothing i could do to change a single thing. I felt supremely confident that i knew what to do and that i was going to do it well. (Did i? who knows?) Thankfully she broke off and stumbled away without throwing that punch - so i never got to find out if my confidence was justified or not. 
Afterward i remained in that calm yet energised, fatalistic "zone" for about 20 minutes... then i started to fall apart; shakes, dry mouth, wobbly stomach etc. I just treated it like any other panic attack hangover and was pretty much back to normal after about 2 hours. As well as good brisk walk, i find a snack of milk and bananas help to settle the wobbly feelings.  

Funny things, panic attacks...  mine are managable now, but it's taken me a long time to get there. Right after the initial trauma that kicked it all off (long and boring story :shrug: ), i experienced what was like a solid panic attack for about 5 months. It was like my brain was jammed on hypervigilence mode. I used to walk around thinking that i was moving and speaking about 5 times faster than i actually was. Made me feel quite psychotic at times. The *only* time that i felt that i was moving at the correct speed during this period was when i was doing 70-80km/hour on my m/bike. I did a awful lot of riding that year! Sometimes i wonder that i had any adrenaline left at all after that...

I guess i find it interesting that one encounter with an adrenaline spike made me feel amazingly in control (while it lasted) and switched on, while another, rather more common encounter with adrenaline (panic attack) makes me feel like crap. After all, it's not as though the stimulus of being threatened with a busted nose is particuarly pleasant. Makes me wonder... is MA training the key to channeling adrenaline? Or is the confidence thing just yr body's way of improving the odds in yr favour? Like everything, prob a bit of both, but still...


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## Em MacIntosh (Aug 2, 2007)

It was my sister's birthday and we were at a kareoke bar in edmonton on Argyle and 99th street.  They went outside for a smoke and I joined them.  We heard a crash and turned to see a car flipped over at the intersection.  Somebody ran a red light and smoked a car, flipped it over and it slid on the roof for about twenty feet.  My heart jumped out of my throat.  Then I heard the screaming and without thinking, all my hairs on end, I was drawn to help (my legs were moving of their own accord, I swear).  I zoned out and things sounded likeI had earplugs in and I was in a trance running to the car.  Every time she screamed it felt like a stab to the heart.  There was a bit of smoke from the roof skidding but no fire.  Fortunately some other bystanders had already begun to help her.  She was trying to climb out with two broken wrists.  I felt sick to my stomach for days.


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## kaizasosei (Aug 2, 2007)

other than completely burning out in fear or tantrums confronted with negativity or adversity as a child, i first noticed that i would get heated up in debate to become quite comical...then as a young teen, me and some friends got interested in pickpocketing...ok, we never really stole things, but rather just tried to pull off the act and then give the object back.  we could even get watches without people noticing. -i should mention this to the person asking how to start a fight-
    then i noticed something that is i think very interesting...when i would go to try to target someome to take something,,,it became a kind of test and the absolute dishonesty of having to distract becomes very stressfull for me.  rather maybe it is the fear of not succeeding and then being obviously labeled as a thief or loser.  
  when i got older and experienced all sorts of fights and situations of danger and violence, i came to learn of many more facets of fear. i accepted all fights as a kid since a young age except one or two times when i felt i couldn't handle the threat...at the time, in at least one intstance, i most likely could have handled it well maybe both but it would have been too scary for me back then.

basically, i think that i have come to the conclusion that the greatest enemy and greatest danger of all is oneself and lack of selfcontrol.
whatever the challenge, probably the greatest is fighting and confronting the more martial and nastier side of mankind and oneself. for that one has to believe in what one is doing and being very aware.  all such combative power stems from a sense of justice as well as selfprotection or equality.
i myself have trained to be quite aware and experienced with many kinds of communication. so i'm not really scared of most situations anymore and have the ability to controll much.  however, everyone has limits and can be  broken.  in the past, i have had troubles sometimes wondering whether or not to attack a rude person...but now i realize that it was because of weakness because when attacking, one should not think about it too much, also, the expression of fearlessness in itself is the true weapon.

i have also conquered many other scary things like water and heights...water can be very dangerous where you feel like a little worm at the mercy of some giant, not to mention the other dangers-drowning and other perils. 
with heights,i still start to cling to things like a cat when it gets too high i have climbed very high without any ropes although i sometimes carry ropes to make certain situations more safe and confortable. other people ive met can easily walk about or even doze off without any ropes.  so when i am about to fall off a really high place(has happened) i do feel kindof scared and tense like theres nothing under me-tensed and hell bracing for some sort of impact-i did once bungyjump and obviously felt it was too high to jump but i jumped without hesitation.  wasn't  really  scared  at all  was more like a momentary  tense danger signal  that  went  away  as  soon as i  was  bouncing  off the cord.

but the fear of combat is different..it makes you lose your orientation.  it makes your knees weak and your posture bad.  you lose control of the situation therefore do not notice things anymore but only focus on the fear. this can be worse if there are many attackers or if you are dealing with some kind of authority like military or police which in some nations can be even more frightening or unpleasant than others.   
for me i had to learn to spritually control things. because, i was not able as i believe many ma are, to actually jump into the water and deal with the nastyness.  i believe that a big part of it has much to do with learning about oneself and mastering ones emotions and actions.  then can one act in justice and be strong against many terrible challenges.
ofcourse it would help to have physical skill to not get too messed up in the  process.  however, the skillfactor is almost apart and not very related to simply being a loving and strong person able to accept any situation as it  comes and capable of confronting anything that challenges or threatens.  not for the sake of selfprotection and not for the sake of battle, but for the sake of communication and honour.
they say, the lion is most dangerous when forced into a corner. therefore, one must know the lion well , if not, it will quickly conquer us in one bound. 

i think that hatred, love or enlightenment can be a way to lose fear.  
however, at the dying moment, who can say how a man or woman will be. in the face of a violent death or torture, it could be very terrible.
but warriors are supposed to be ready to die at any time. 
some people will die in hysterics while others can keep their minds clear enough to act, communicate and deal with death all at the same time.
that is what a hero is for me, it is an automatic almost remotecontrolled(or selfless) act of commonsense and help to fellow man.  just the same as helping an elderly person across the street or doing any good deeds. 
all of it is heroic. that is the thing that i think most the time what people call heroic is completely normal for the hero at the time.
but even with great control, under certain stress situations, the heart rate will increase.  also when happy the heart rate will speed up although i think the adrenaline that is connected to fear and anger can be felt at mild levels  even when using imagination sometimes when worked up.  but whether or not that imaginative experience is the same as real life depends on the spiritual level.

j


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## thardey (Aug 2, 2007)

Interesting . . . .

I wasn't expecting so much of the same story. I was expecting a wider array of responses.

How does alcohol affect "The Zone"? Or the adrenalin? I've never had a combination of adrenalin and alcohol in my system at once, and I never plan to.

Has any body ever experienced that? I wonder if the alcohol would prevent you from realizing the danger enough to kick the adrenalin on in the first place.

In a different situation once I was scuba diving, my first night dive, and I had gotten in over my skill level for the situation. At one point my air was really low, and I was controlling my ascent back to the boat. (If you go up too fast, bad things happen.) At the time, I was on the verge of total panic, and I really had to think hard about the facts in order to control myself. I don't ever think I got a real adrenalin dump in that experience, and I didn't get the shakes after.

Looking back, knowing what I know now about diving, I realize I was in no danger at all, other than being on the verge of panic, and doing something stupid. My body sort of blew everything out of proportion, because I was in a situation of extreme unknown.

I wonder if that is a big part of how your body responds to adrenalin in a given situation. On the motorcycle, I was experienced, and I at least knew what the dangers could be, even if I couldn't control them. Under water I didn't really know what could happen, and the danger sort of became an unknown "boogeyman". My mind/body couldn't lock on to a specific danger, so it wanted to freewheel.

Like Sukerkin said:



> Some say that the 'hero' does not recognise the danger but I feel that devalues their actions to an extent. I prefer to think of it that they perceive the danger as a 5 on on a 10 scale when everyone else reckons it's an 11



For some reason my body decided the danger was at 11, while logically I was probably about at a 2. (I was only 20 feet from the surface, and had only been at 40 feet for about 20 mins, and I was low on air, but not that low, plus I was holding on to the anchor line. I may as well have been in a swimming pool.)

I wonder if that is one of the true benefits of training - the more familiar you are with a given situation, if not more skilled, the more likely that you will go calm when it does happen.


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## kaizasosei (Aug 2, 2007)

so true.  it must have to do with experience and being able to even be in a position to size things up.  brings back to mind this ma term i heard once mekiri- being able to see through things to know the truth.
so experience/training i can see would very important to get rid of the unknown or the  fear of the unknown.


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## qi-tah (Aug 3, 2007)

thardey said:


> Interesting . . . .
> 
> I wasn't expecting so much of the same story. I was expecting a wider array of responses.
> 
> ...


 
I've shocked myself sober a couple of times having panic attacks after a few beers. Just the alcohol alone is enough to bring one on sometimes, which is one of the reasons why i never have more than a couple of drinks in a night. 
But if you are smashed? I reckon yr right, you prob wouldn't get the right neural input to elicit a decent adrenaline response. I mean, alcohol is a depressant, so that would pretty much work against the sympathetic pathway (the "fight or flight" response) in the body. You often hear of drunk ppl falling off balconies etc and walking away with relitively minor injuries cause they didn't tense themselves for impact the way a sober (and alarmed!) person would.


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## kaizasosei (Aug 3, 2007)

from what ive seen, i gather there must be some kind of angel that protects drunk people...ive seen many people just completely let go missing grave injury by inches without even knowing it.  i do know the feeling after all i did fall rather hard the first time i ever got drunk at 17 and tried to see if i could do a spinkick..i bashed my hip against some concrete pretty bad but i was ok-of course didn't even really 'hurt' the same as it probably would have in a sober state.
the mysteries of the matrix:??

j


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## zDom (Aug 3, 2007)

Same here.

In anticipation of or following an incident I get very shakey, but IN a situation: cool, calm &#8212; in "The Zone."

Suk is correct: it is a physiological thing, adrenaline.

One of the most illuminating experiences of my life was the day I got an adrenaline shot to alleviate asthma symptoms.

I had NO fear, anger, anxiety &#8212; but got the same shakey feeling I've had before and after incidents. In that moment I recognized the effects of adrenaline for what they are &#8212; physiological effects.

It has nothing to do with bravery, cowardice, being emotional or stocism. It is simply a chemical that effects your body.


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## Em MacIntosh (Aug 3, 2007)

I know it may sound unethical but I'm better at fighting when I'm numb drunk (but not fall down drunk).  The problem is I tend to let my emotions get the better of me and I've gotten into (didn't pick the fight but dived right in)a few too many fights so I don't drink anymore, except for a cold beer after mowing the lawn or a couple pints with my mates.  As for the adrenaline, it doesn't kick in as hard when you're "enjoying yourself".  I've been jumped while I was drunk a few times and got sucker punched a few times.  It honestly felt like bugs flying into my face and I just tried to swat the hands away.  The next day my whole face was swol.  Adrenaline is bad enough for being numb but alcohol doubles or triples the effect, though makes it slower to surface and I don't see in slo-mo.  It's like coming home from the dentist and biting a hole in your tongue before the freezing wears off.


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## still learning (Aug 6, 2007)

Hello,  Stress/Adrenline factor, the fight or flee response.  Study this well and learn as much as you can.

In a real fight, or dangerous situtions about to happen to you? ....you will go into a stress/adrenline mode.  Most of us do? 

Learn to control most of it...slow your breathing..start thinking about what are the possible things you can do? 

Stress.........it will always be there...are you prepare for it!

Most of do not train for STRESS/adrenline situtions.  How do you practice for it! ..........Aloha

PS: This topic so stressful!


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## Guardian (Nov 17, 2007)

I've had numerous occasions with stress playing into all aspects of the conflict along with an adrenaline rush to boot.

While I hate to admit it and it's a difficult not to get that tunnel vision when in a situation of defending yourself or anyone else.  I've worked hard as I can to put scenarios up and focus on not getting into that tunnel vision scenario.

As far as stress, oh yah, all the way, usually after an incident even today, shakey hands, a melt down of sorts from being hyped up to calm.  The whole ball of wax.


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## Xue Sheng (Nov 17, 2007)

Before, if I have warning that a potential situation is coming
Nervous

During
Relaxed

After
Shake like a leaf.

That is how it happened every single time when I was security at a hospital with a Detox and mental health department. 

Times I had no warning; to be honest I have no idea what I felt during, no time to think just time to do.  But I still shook like a leaf afterwards


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## jonbey (Nov 17, 2007)

Many years ago i got run over - luckily I was not injured badly! IT was a very odd experience, because I stepped into the road, thinking I was on the one way part of the street, and very quickly was hit. But I can still remember the point of impact, and thinking "oh f**k" and being totally aware of the fact that i had just been hit by a car. The everything sped up, and I was first thrown against the bonnet, then windscreen (which I shattered with my head), and the car must have done a nice emergency stop, which meant I was then thrown onto the road, where I rolled a few times before stopping. But here's the crazy bit. The first thing that I did was pick up my watch and put it back on (it came off after I hit the road). Then I got up, looked both ways, and crossed the road. After that I sat on the curb, staring at the car, and stayed there until the ambulance arrived. Strange experience.


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