~4 min read

The stress response is your body’s built-in alarm system. While it helps protect you in danger, it can get stuck — especially after chronic stress or trauma. This article explains how the nervous system works, why you might feel stuck in fight, flight, or freeze, and simple science-backed tools to help reset your system. 

What Is the Stress Response? 

The stress response is the body’s built-in alarm system. It keeps us alive in real danger by switching us into fight, flight, or freeze. This works well for true threats — but when it’s triggered too often, or stays stuck on because of past trauma, daily life can feel tense, jumpy, or shut down, even when we’re safe.

Sympathetic vs. Parasympathetic: The Two Sides of Stress 

The autonomic nervous system has two main branches that keep us balanced:

Sympathetic: like a gas pedal — switches us into action mode, powering up the fight, flight, or freeze response.

Parasympathetic: like a brake — slows things down so we can rest, digest, and recover once the threat has passed.

A healthy stress response means both systems work together — one activates when needed, the other helps us come back to calm.

What Happens in the Brain During Stress? 

When we sense threat, the lower brain (amygdala, hypothalamus) sounds the alarm. This activates the HPA axis (hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal), which releases stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol to charge up the body for action.

Fight or Flight: heart rate rises, muscles tense, breathing quickens — all preparing the body to move fast and defend itself.

Freeze: when fighting or fleeing feels impossible, the body may freeze instead. Motion stops, hearing can dull, a person may go blank or unresponsive — the body’s last line of defence.

Why You Can’t Just “Snap Out” of a Stress Response 

Someone caught in fight, flight, or freeze may not be able to “snap out of it” on command — the body is protecting itself the only way it knows how. With time, safety, and gentle tools, the system can settle again.

What Happens When the Stress Response Gets Stuck? 

Problems start when stress is constant — or when the alarm system keeps switching on for mild threats or no clear reason. This often happens when someone spends too much time outside their Window of Tolerance — the zone where mind and body stay balanced enough to think clearly and rest.

When stress overshoots that window:

• The alarm can switch on with no obvious trigger

• It can stay on longer than it should

• The nervous system can struggle to reset — leading to wear and tear over time

How Chronic Stress Affects Your Body and Health 

Prolonged stress can add to:

• High blood pressure, heart disease

• Digestive issues (IBS, ulcers)

• Headaches, migraines

• Sleep problems, fatigue

• Autoimmune conditions

• Hormonal imbalance

• “Cortisol belly” — stress-related belly fat

• Difficulty losing weight or unexplained gain

Stress is normal and useful — but when it stays stuck, it drains the body and mind. Learning to spot it and calm it down is the first step toward recovery.

Stress and Emotional Eating: What’s Really Happening 

When the stress system stays on high, the body looks for quick ways to calm down — one common way is eating. Comfort foods can dampen adrenaline and cortisol for a moment, but if stress eating becomes the main coping tool, it can turn into a cycle that doesn’t truly settle the system. Warm food can help — but pairing it with real ways to calm the body works better.

How to Break the Stress Cycle and Reset 

Breath is key. Breathing links the survival brain and the thinking brain — it runs on autopilot, but when you slow it down on purpose, you switch on the vagus nerve: the body’s natural brake.

4 Simple Tools to Calm the Nervous System 

Box Breathing — Inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 4, hold 4. Repeat slowly.

Physiological Sigh — Deep inhale through the nose, short second sniff in, slow sigh out the mouth. Repeat 2–3 times.

Step Outside — Light movement plus fresh air helps the system reset.

Tapping — Try tapping just below your collarbone with 2–3 fingers while breathing slow. A simple self-soothing cue.

See Nasal Breathing