Stress Responses and the Autonomic Nervous System

Your body runs fight-or-flight (sympathetic) and rest-and-recover (parasympathetic) without asking permission. The insula reads those body signals and turns them into gut feelings. You can't think your way out of an alarm, but you can breathe your way down: long, slow exhales lower arousal.

Sources: Craig, A; Balban, M

Your thinking brain is shifting angles. Treating pressure as fuel, a challenge rather than a threat, improves both heart response and performance under stress.

Sources: Jamieson, J