During which type of stress can we not fight or flee?

• A. Chronic
• B. Acute
• C. Eustress
• D. Anxiety

Answer: (A)

Fight-or-flight is the body's immediate, short-term reaction to a threat, driven by the sympathetic nervous system with rapid release of adrenaline and other stress hormones to prepare you to either fight or flee. This response is built for quick, temporary activation.

When stress becomes chronic, the body’s resources are kept in a heightened state for a long period. Hormones stay elevated, energy stores can become depleted, and the body’s systems don’t reset between exposures. Over time, that sustained activation wears you down, making it hard to mount a rapid fight-or-flight response. So, during chronic stress, you can’t reliably fight or flee.

Acute stress would still enable that quick response, eustress is a positive, motivating form of stress, and anxiety is a feeling/state rather than a distinct stress type that explains the inability to respond in the same way.