Did you ever notice that feeling you get inside when faced with a dangerous or scary situation? You either feel the need to fight your way out of it or you feel that the situation can only be solved by fleeing.
This, in essence, is your fight-or-flight response, and it happens to you whenever you’re faced with a difficult situation. But in addition to an internal feeling you receive, your body also pumps adrenaline into your body to help you react to this situation.
It’s the ultimate defense mechanism. A lot of animals have a similar type of defense, and humans just happen to have one that’s been evolving for thousands of years.
It Helps You Survive
The reason you have this in the first place is because, as ancient civilizations, we needed instincts to survive, otherwise we would have never made it this far.
Can you imagine if you were faced with 5 lions who were trying to eat you and your body told you to stay and fight instead of escape? We’d all be dead by now.
Obviously, your chances of winning against 5 lions is slim to none. Your only way out is to run for your life.
Fun fact: Caffeine Triggers Your Fight-or-Flight Response
When you drink that morning coffee, did you know you are artificially telling your body that you’re dealing with a scary and dangerous situation? You’re basically tricking your body into thinking it is in trouble.
This is the same kind of response you feel when dealing with a bad situation. You get shaky, you get hyper, you become more awake, and you’re ready to pounce.
Does Drinking Coffee Ruin the Natural Response?
Not really. Unless you’re drinking over 1 gram of caffeine per day, your chances of hurting your natural ability to deal with a dangerous situation isn’t likely.
Besides, our brains are fairly advanced enough to know when a situation is able to be overtaken or when you should get out of there quickly.
Will it Continue to Evolve?
Evolution is a constantly changing event for humans and all species, so we will probably see some more advancements in humanity.
One of those might be an altering of the fight or flight response, as we don’t really have to deal with that many situations that require it as in the past.
It may alter to become dormant, or it may become something else entirely. We won’t know, because we’ll be dead. But people thousands of years in the future will know for sure!
