The Frog That Peed Its Way to Freedom

One of the aspects that I love about my home is the attraction of frogs and toads to our water fountain and potted plants. I love that I can walk out my back door and discover animal friends enjoying the same space with me. 

A few days ago, I went out to my back patio to sit and read a book. As I sat on the small loveseat, I noticed movement around the pillow next to me out of the corner of my eye. I stood up and lifted the pillow to see what might be hiding behind it. Suddenly a frog jumped into the air toward the back of the couch and peed as it jumped. In his panic, rather than jumping towards freedom and away from the perceived danger (me), he jumped towards what was keeping him trapped and in ranger of the ranger, the back of the couch. Further panicked, he jumped again, this time into the corner of the couch, peeing as we jumped. Finally, the frog managed to reorient himself towards freedom and the next jump sent him sailing off the couch onto the patio with more opportunities to hop away to safety.

This experience brought about a couple of questions for me in my quest to better understand humans through understanding nature. First, “What about the environment I have created attracts frogs?” and second, “Why do frogs pee when they get frightened?” As I contemplated what had happened with my frog friend, it was the question that piqued my curiosity and warranted a Google search. Through my brief search I learned that frogs urinate to startle potential predators. The smell and taste of the urine can act as further deterrent to a predator.  And, by emptying their bladder, they are suddenly lighter and can jump farther to facilitate their speedy getaway.

So, what does a scared, peeing frog have to do with anything?

Watching that frog’s panicked efforts to get away from me, who had no ill intentions towards it, made me reflect on the human response to high stress situations. Just like the frog, we all have that fight, flight, or freeze protection system embedded in our genetic code to protect us. Early human beings relied on that protection system to keep them safe from predators and other real sources of danger.

Today, humans don’t generally have to worry about getting stalked by a predator, but we are fantastic at telling ourselves scary thought stories that can set off our protection systems as though we are being pursued by a predator.  I’m referring to those horrid “What if…” scenarios or other scary thoughts with which we so often torment ourselves.  While some of these are legitimate safety concerns, the majority are stories that our brain tells us to protect us but are not based on facts.  The situation begins as a hang nail and before we know it, our brain has concocted a way to convince us we have cancer and will likely die.  That frog believed I was a predator, not because of our previous interactions, but because of what that frog instinctively believed to be an immediate danger in the safe place I had created for him.

As humans, our brains are wired to jump to conclusions to keep us safe, but those conclusions aren’t necessarily based in fact but on things that have happened in the past or a fear of what will happen in the future. I had this happen to me the other day. Our sweet dog, Lily, who has been a beloved member of our family for 14 years came in from the backyard, stepped off the doormat onto the vinyl flooring and her feet slipped from under her and she fell.  When she stood back up, she promptly slipped and fell again.  Just like that frog’s brain reported that I was a predator and set off the urinating and jumping response, my brain began to tell me that Lily was having a stroke and that she was minutes away from death.  Unlike my frog friend, when no other obvious symptoms arose from Lily’s falls, I was able to calm down and regain access to the rational thinking part of my brain. Then I was able to come up with a theory of what was happening to Lily that was more likely to be true. My new theory was that old age was starting to catch up to her and made her a bit less steady on slippery surfaces. Next, I discovered that there are dog socks for that very thing! And now Lily is the proud owner of non-slip socks and my brain and I can relax.

High stress and anxiety can negatively impact decision making and performance.

High levels of anxiety or stress actually shut down the rational thinking part of our brain so that it can flood our muscles with glucose. The flood of glucose is meant to power a quick getaway so that we can run away or fight an enemy. However, most of the time, we don’t need to physically run away when we are stressed. But our brain can’t tell the difference between scary thought stories and thoughts about imminent death by a predator, so it responds to all stress inducing thoughts the same way.

And now we arrive back to frogs that jump and pee when they are scared. Just like the frog who kept trying to escape no real danger by jumping into the back of the couch repeatedly, that is what our brain does when we are in high stress mode. Rather than finding a rational solution to the high stress situation, we look for the quickest way to relieve stress, or get away from danger, and solution we come up with in the moment is rarely the best idea. We may find ourselves suddenly quitting a job we weren’t planning to leave or shouting at someone who didn’t do anything wrong.

High stress also impacts performance. The Yerkes-Dodson Law is a psychological principle that has been well researched and states that moderate amounts of stress or excitement can improve a person’s performance, while high amounts of stress or anxiety can dramatically decrease performance. The graph below illustrates that certain amounts of stress can increase performance while too much signifcantly decreases performance and leads to a mental shutdown.

You might have experienced the type of shutdown I’m referring to when asked to say a few words in public without prior notice. When you arrive at the front of the room, there are no words in your brain to say, it’s as though every thought has been erased as you walked to the front of the room. Or maybe you have thoughts, but they come out all wrong. Students who experience test anxiety experience a similar phenomenon when confronted with material they have spent hours studying. When test day arrives, the anxiety of being tested and the fear of failing, pushes their stress levels beyond the ideal where performance would peak and instead makes that part of their brain inaccessible. And then the scary story becomes reality, because they fail.

The first step to combatting mental shutdown is to become more aware of when your protection system has been activated. When you pause to notice that you feel stress or anxiety, it creates a little bit of space to observe what is happening for you in that moment. Notice the physical sensations in your body and recognize that your brain is trying to make sense of the physiological reaction happening and providing scary thought stories in response.

What can you do when you notice that your protection system has been activated?

• Take long, slow, deep breaths. Slow breathing is a signal to your brain that everything is fine. It also increases oxygen to the brain and improves its function.

• Take a walk or find some other physical activity in which you can engage for a few minutes. Physical activity helps use up the excess glucose in the muscles and helps to calm your body more quickly.

• See if you can determine what the thought was that triggered the stress response. Once you can identify the thought, you can start to challenge the story. You can ask yourself whether you can absolutely know it is true or just one thought of many that could be true. Then look for other thoughts that could be just as true.

• If you can’t avoid a situation where you know you will be feeling high stress, such as a job interview or taking a test, find ways to simulate the situation and practice. Practicing in a similar environment helps the brain to prepare for the real thing so it doesn’t overreact in the moment.

What scary stories have you found your brain telling you lately? How did you deal with it? Which strategy might help you respond better in the future?