Survival Stress Response: How Your Body Reacts to Danger
When you’re suddenly faced with a life-threatening situation, your body enters what’s called the fight-or-flight response. This is a natural and automatic reaction triggered by your sympathetic nervous system. It’s your body’s way of preparing to survive a threat — but it comes at a cost.
What Happens Physically and Mentally
- Increased Heart Rate: Your heart races to pump blood to your muscles.
- Rapid Breathing: Oxygen intake increases to fuel action.
- Tunnel Vision: Your peripheral vision may shut down to focus on the threat.
- Auditory Exclusion: You may stop hearing background noise entirely.
- Shaking or Trembling: Your muscles are overloaded with adrenaline.
Motor Skill Breakdown: Gross vs. Fine
Under extreme stress, your brain prioritizes gross motor skills (big, powerful movements) and tends to shut down fine motor skills (precise, detailed actions). This is key when selecting techniques and equipment for self-defense.
| Skill Type | Examples | Stress Tolerance |
|---|---|---|
| Fine Motor Skills | Reloading, sight alignment, disengaging safety | Low |
| Gross Motor Skills | Drawing your firearm, pushing, punching, trigger press | High |
Why It Matters
If you train only with complicated movements or equipment that requires fine dexterity, you may fail under pressure. That’s why at Davey Defense, we emphasize simple, gross-motor-friendly techniques and repeat them under pressure until they become second nature.
In a real incident, you won’t rise to the occasion. You’ll fall to your level of training.