Being cut off in traffic, giving a presentation or missing a meal can all trigger a suite of physiological changes that allow the body to react swiftly to stress or starvation. Critical to this "fight ...

Most of us know about the “fight or flight” response, the body’s built-in survival instinct. But that framework leaves out two other common ways the nervous system reacts to stress. Indeed, ...

The human stress response represents a sophisticated biological system designed to help individuals survive immediate threats through rapid physiological changes that enhance performance and ...

Fear affects the decisions we make, the actions we take, and the lives we create. Recognizing fear and knowing how to handle it are among the most important skills we can learn. To deal with fearful ...

The key quality of pathological anxiety is that it is out of proportion to any actual threat. Why do people endanger their health by being extremely anxious in this way? One possibility is that a ...

The sympathetic nervous system, which helps your heart and other vital organs function all the time, increases activity in response to danger or stress, preparing the body for extra demands. Stress is ...