0:00
I'm sure you've avoided fights, and
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that's perfectly fine because
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avoiding a fight isn't cowardly, it's
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rational. But what happens
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when you can no longer avoid them? When the
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threat is imminent and your brain decides
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that diplomacy is no longer an option.
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Here, from one second to the next, you're no longer
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thinking, you're just reacting.
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Let's look at the science behind your first
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fight. Let's say you're calmly
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talking, walking, living, and
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suddenly something changes. You don't know what came
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first: an uncomfortable look, a voice
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shouting at you, or an
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unexpected shove. But your body knows this because
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the hypothalamus, that small structure
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that coordinates chaos in your brain,
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sends signals that activate your
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fight-or-flight system. Your heart races to send
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blood to your muscles, your pupils
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dilate to let in more light, and your
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muscles tense up to prepare for the
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next move. All this for one
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thing only: the instinct to survive.
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Once the body is prepared, the
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prefrontal cortex, where reason resides,
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gradually shuts down. You're no longer in a position
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to make ethical calculations here. The
1:00
amygdala, which is the part that feels fear, also
1:02
takes control. So, being very
1:05
scared, adrenaline and
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noradrenaline arrive, filling your system as if you
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were the Zócalo in the middle of a
1:10
demonstration. You start to feel a
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ringing in your ears, your hands tremble,
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and the question arises: is there any way to
1:17
avoid this? Can I talk it out, run away, or
1:20
disappear? Sometimes the answer is no.
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And there you are, facing someone who
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is literally experiencing the same thing as
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professional boxer accustomed to this
1:29
feeling. But hey, thanks to your
1:31
brain, the environment shrinks as if there were
1:33
no people around and you were focused
1:35
on yourself and that other person. It
1:39
confined space where logic flies out the
1:41
window and only muscle memory
1:43
or instinct remains. If the whole problem remains the
1:45
same, the movement begins. You don't know
1:47
who struck first, you only know that the
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world became fast, confusing, and that your
1:51
body acts without permission. Your
1:53
muscle memory, if you have it, is
1:54
activated, but if you've never trained in any
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kind of contact sport, all you'll
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have is instinct. And let me
2:01
tell you, instinct is not
2:02
elegant at all. In fact, he's quite clumsy and
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desperate. Your blows will not be
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precise, they will only be electrical impulses
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from your nerves very poorly directed and that
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Neuroimaging studies have shown that under
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acute stress, fine control of the
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motor cortex decreases. That's why the
2:17
coordination fails, and you end up looking
2:20
like a spaghetti trying to box, and
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sadly you don't fight like in your
2:23
dreams, you become an animal trying
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not to fall, and if you get hit, the pain isn't what you
2:28
imagined. Some say that
2:30
pain is something cold that runs through your
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skin, a dull sensation, as if something is
2:34
not working properly. But what you don't know
2:36
is that this pain is not yet registered in
2:38
your body. Adrenaline, being a
2:40
powerful natural analgesic, makes you
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not feel the pain at that moment, but
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afterwards, well, I won't even tell you. When it's all
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over, there's no victory and no one
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celebrating with you, because here your body
2:51
begins to process what happened,
2:53
the adrenaline starts to subside,
2:55
your hands tremble, and obviously, the pain. And with
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that, consciousness also awakens; the
3:00
prefrontal cortex begins to awaken again,
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and you ask yourself these questions. What did I do?
3:04
What did I do to the other one? What are the consequences
3:06
? This also happens because of
3:08
cortisol, which used to help you
3:10
survive, but now takes its
3:12
toll with anxiety, inflammation, and
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insomnia. And I believe that the most
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difficult thing is not the physical pain, but the
3:18
mental process after a fight. And even if you
3:21
won, let me tell you that does
3:22
n't mean a victory, because it's
3:24
proven that violence can
3:26
change you, mark you, and shake up your life
3:29
. So if you can walk one
3:31
more block, take a step back, or
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simply not respond, do it. Because it's
3:35
harder not to fight than to fight, and
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ironically that's what makes you
