Understanding Fight, Flight, Freeze & Fawn: How Your Stress Response Impacts Your Health—and How Essential Chiropractic Can Help

At Essential Chiropractic in The Hague, we often see patients who feel stuck—tired, anxious, reactive, or even physically uncomfortable without knowing why. Often, these symptoms are rooted in how their nervous system responds to stress.

When your body perceives a threat—whether it’s a real danger or simply the pressure of modern life—it triggers what's known as the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response. These survival states are managed by your autonomic nervous system, the same system your chiropractor focuses on regulating.

What Are the Four Stress Responses?

🥊 Fight

You may feel angry, irritable, or defensive. Your muscles tense, your heart rate rises, and your body is ready to confront the threat.

Common signs: jaw clenching, tight shoulders, headaches, frequent outbursts or frustration.

🏃 Flight

This response makes you want to escape—physically or emotionally. You may feel restless, panicky, or avoidant.

Common signs: anxiety, racing thoughts, inability to sit still, shallow breathing.

🧊 Freeze

You shut down. Your body “plays dead” to stay safe. This often shows up as feeling stuck, numb, or disconnected.

Common signs: chronic fatigue, brain fog, emotional numbness, procrastination.

🙏 Fawn

This lesser-known response involves people-pleasing to avoid conflict or danger. You may over-give or suppress your own needs.

Common signs: difficulty saying no, co-dependency, burnout, low self-esteem.

The Nervous System’s Role

All of these responses are natural and often unconscious. However, if your nervous system gets stuck in one of these survival states, it can start to wear down your body—leading to symptoms like:

Digestive issues

Insomnia

Chronic pain

Anxiety and depression

Low immunity

That’s where chiropractic care comes in.

How Chiropractic Helps You Regulate Stress

At Essential Chiropractic, we help balance your autonomic nervous system through gentle, specific adjustments. When your spine is misaligned (subluxated), it creates interference between your brain and body, keeping you stuck in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.

Through regular chiropractic care, we:

Reduce spinal tension and improve nerve communication

Support your shift from sympathetic (stress) to parasympathetic (healing) mode

Help your body process and integrate past stress

Improve your ability to adapt to future stressors

Think of chiropractic as a nervous system reset—giving your body permission to relax, heal, and find balance again.

Your Body Is Doing Its Best—Let’s Help It Do Better

Whether you’re dealing with chronic anxiety, low energy, or persistent tension, these aren’t just random symptoms. They’re messages from your nervous system. At Essential Chiropractic, we help you listen to those messages—and gently guide your body back to safety and regulation.

✨ Ready to shift from survival to thriving? Book your initial assessment today with Dr. Patrick in the Statenkwartier, The Hague. Let’s support your nervous system and help you feel grounded, present, and alive again.