The Flight Response Behind Anxiety: Signs, Science, and Somatic Healing

When an individual with anxiety perceives a threat, the brain signals the release of stress hormones, including adrenaline and norepinephrine, activating the sympathetic nervous system and triggering the fight-or-flight response. When the flight response is triggered, and there’s no genuine escape route, the energy produced during the stress response can become trapped in your body, leading to chronic anxiety.

Take this example: You get a text from your boss late at night that says, “Can we talk first thing tomorrow?”
Your stomach drops. Your heart races. Your mind starts scanning for what might be wrong. Even though there’s no immediate threat, your body reacts as if you’re in serious trouble. You feel restless, maybe even panicky, but there’s nothing to physically run from. That’s your flight response in action, stuck in a loop.

Over time, if your system doesn’t return to a calm state, this unfinished stress cycle can lead to persistent symptoms: racing thoughts, tension, emotional overwhelm. Anxiety becomes less about what’s happening now and more about your body being caught in protective overdrive, unsure of when or how to shut off.

What Does the Flight Response Look Like?

When anxiety triggers a flight response, you may feel a strong urge to:

• Escape the situation immediately
• Avoid certain people or places
• Move your body (jittery legs, pacing, fidgeting)
• Mentally “run away” through distraction or dissociation

These reactions are your body’s way of trying to burn off the excess energy it mobilized for survival. But when there’s nowhere to go and nothing to run from, that energy lingers. You might feel restless, edgy, or emotionally flooded without fully understanding why.

Common Signs Your Body Is Stuck in Flight Mode

When your nervous system is locked in a flight response, you might notice symptoms like:

• Racing heart or shallow breathing: Your body is gearing up to run
• Restlessness or jittery legs: Your system is seeking movement to release energy
• Overthinking and hypervigilance: Your brain is scanning for threats
• Sleep issues or difficulty relaxing: Your system doesn’t feel safe enough to downshift

Why Deep Breathing Isn’t Always Enough

The most common advice you get during an anxiety attack or a panic attack is to take deep, slow breaths. While this can be effective in slowing down the heart rate, it isn’t really going to work for people experiencing chronic anxiety.

Traditional relaxation techniques such as deep breathing and meditation can activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which is great, but only when the energy has been discharged first. If you are in a high anxiety mood, sitting still and practicing breathing can actually make it worse for you since your body is actively looking for an outlet to release the trapped energy. 

That’s where somatic therapy comes in! 

Somatic Techniques to Release Trapped Energy

Instead of sitting still and forcing yourself to breathe, you should try movement-based exercises to release the trapped energy from your body. 

Here are a few exercises that might help you regulate your nervous system and unstuck your body from a constant flight mood: 

• Rhythmic Movement: jogging, walking, and running are all rhythmic movements that can help you release stored energy in your body. Try bouncing on your toes or gently swaying to sync your nervous system. 
• Vocalization: singing, growling, or humming can activate the vagus nerve, which is the longest cranial nerve in your body. Vocalization can help release the trapped energy and signal the body that the threat has passed. 
• Shake off the Energy: this method literally shakes off the stress stored in your body mimicking the natural way animals release stress after they face a threat. Shake your arms, legs, and torso for two to three minutes until you feel the energy releasing from your body.
• Muscle Relaxation Technique: when your body is stuck in the flight mood, you tend to dissociate from reality. Muscle relaxation techniques focus on each group of your muscles, tensing them and relaxing them periodically to release the trapped energy from your body.

Besides these techniques, there are countless other methods that you can use to relax your body and release trapped energy. It is important to understand that anxiety doesn’t look or feel the same for everyone. Your body’s stress responses are shaped by past experiences, trauma, and nervous system sensitivity. What calms one person might overwhelm another.