When we freeze, our heart rate drops, our breathing slows and our blood pressure changes. Our pupils might dilate and our muscles can tense. A cascade of hormones<\/a> and neurotransmitters surge through our bodies to prime us for action. It can all happen within seconds.<\/p>\n The freeze response can be useful<\/strong><\/p>\n While fight-or-flight makes a certain amount of sense \u2013 to fight off an enemy or leg it from a predator \u2013 the freeze response seems a little counterproductive.<\/p>\n It appears to momentarily overwhelm a person, making them incapable of acting or making a decision. In extreme cases, it may prevent them from moving at all.<\/p>\n But is that really all that\u2019s going on? Not according to Prof Karin Roelofs<\/a>, a neuroscientist and clinical psychologist who studies freezing at Radboud University in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n \u201cMany people think that freezing is a kind of shutdown of the system. Something happens and all of a sudden you\u2019re freezing and can\u2019t move,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we actually find is when you\u2019re in a threatening situation and you have to make rapid decisions, you\u2019re actually gaining more information. You\u2019re preparing your actions, you\u2019re better in perception and you\u2019re better in decision making.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, freezing is something like an emergency flow state. It puts you \u2018in the zone\u2019 \u2013 you\u2019re alert, but not panicking.<\/p>\n The parasympathetic nervous system kicks into action and gives you a degree of calm when you need it the most. \u201cIt\u2019s a very beneficial state,\u201d Roelofs says.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n We can learn to use the freeze state<\/strong><\/p>\n What\u2019s really intriguing is that Roelofs believes this system can be trained and even induced in a person. It can be a tool to pre-emptively deal with stress or to improve performance in a range of different scenarios.<\/p>\n She offers two very different examples of people who are able to control the freeze response to their advantage.<\/p>\n One is living statues, those street performers you see in tourist hotspots who are able to stay almost unnaturally still. The other? Snipers.<\/p>\n Military marksmen also stay incredibly still, while simultaneously making critical decisions about accuracy and when to take a shot in a life-or-death situation.<\/p>\n
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Military marksmen have to stay incredibly still, while simultaneously making critical decisions about accuracy and when to take a shot in a life-or-death situation – Credit: South_agency via Getty