Fight, Flight or Freeze

Hey, we’re back! Did you enjoy your break from school? Of course, if you’re reading this in a country that’s not Australia, you only had a short break. Schools broke up in Australia for two weeks (we call it a fortnight here). 

Fortnight? Spoken language shorthand for Fourteen Nights. 

I spent the holiday watching people water ski. I’m an excellent snow skier, but getting dragged behind a boat doesn’t light many lights. But it was fun watching my wife and my grandkids skim across the lake where we were staying.

Don’t get me wrong. I have tried to water ski.

But remember the fight, flight, or freeze we talked about? My brain pumps adrenaline to my muscles, and they do the freeze thing. It's not the best if you’re going to try water skiing. 

You probably need some adrenaline, but not so much that you can’t move. There’s also the other thing that adrenaline stops you from doing. It blocks learning pathways. If I’m trying to remember everything about water skiing, the last thing I need is a blocked path to remembering.

I need lots of dopamine. While the adrenaline freezes my muscles, dopamine goes away and hides. If I succeed in skimming across the lake behind a speeding boat, I’ll have to re-learn the whole process next time.

Well, maybe not the whole process, but most of it. And, if I fell over … guess what my brain will remember the most. 

Yep, the falling-over part. So, how do we learn new things if our brains are trying to keep us safe?