Stress is a survival mechanism tool that has been fashioned to benefit us. The problem is that such a circumstance as described above is rarely part of our daily reality.

We have created cities, infrastructures, secured apartments and offices; we have machines and all the necessary appliances. And the equivalent of the gnus now comes wrapped up in attractive Styrofoam packaging, sitting on the supermarket shelves, all processed and preserved and ready for the grill. As for the predators, they are behind bars in the zoo and we can take the kids to watch them on the weekend.

For most of us, nature is so remote that we experience it only via the entertainment channels on cable TV. We have grown apart from the survival mode of our ancestors. We mostly feel secure and safe and dread the thought of a situation where we need to fight for our lives. Nevertheless, stress was designed exactly for these circumstances and even if we rarely use it for survival we are still equipped with this ancient mechanism.

As already mentioned, stress is handled by the release of the hormone norandrenaline into your system when your body interprets a situation as life threatening.

How exactly does it work?

The Central Nervous System (CNS) is the body's center of command, but it is blind and oblivious to the outside world. It is like a general in a war-room; all information is brought in by the available means of communication. The CNS is in control of all body operations and it bases its commands on information brought in through six modes of communication known as the six base or the six senses.

The six senses are - what we can see, what we hear, what we smell, the tangibles we can feel, the tastes, and the mind impressions. The latter sense is usually not included but it feeds the Central Nervous System more information than any other 'communication officer'.