Stress is a term used to describe the physical and emotional response to a challenging or threatening event or situation. When we sense danger, whether it be real, exaggerated or imagined our bodies defence mechanism fires a rapid, automatic process known as the flight or fight reaction, or the stress response. The stress response is our bodies way of protecting us from threatening or challenging situations such as an emergency or dangerous situations. During the stress response, your heart rate increases, breathing quickens, muscles tighten, and blood pressure rises in preparation for your body to jump into action to protect yourself. This response helps you to stay sharp, focused and alert when you need it the most, however, too much stress is not helpful. It not only affects performance, but also a person’s health, emotions, choices, behaviour, relational skills and coping in general. If you are suffering from stress, it is important to seek help from a practitioner as soon as possible as delaying can have consequences on mental and physical health, mood, and daily functioning.