Freeze response of hedgehogs

According to UK hedgehog expert, Hugh Warwick, hedgehogs lack a fight or flight reflex, and only have a freeze reflex – which means when startled they suddenly stop; and when they feel really threatened they will curl up into a ball.

In humans, when feeling threatened, we have some other responses and might react in three ways:

• act aggressively (fight),
• run away or exit the situation (flight), or
• hide, halt, tense muscles, pause breathing (freeze)

The displaying of any of these behavioural responses not only depends on the external situation confronting a person, but also depends on the internal functioning and performance of the nervous system of the person who responding.  Generally, the more organised and well-functioning their nervous system is, the more resilient and confident the person, and hence an appropriately high threat level might be necessary in order to induce a fight, flight, or freeze response for a well-functioning brain. These are the people who will naturally stay calm in a crisis.

The hedgehog lacks a fight or fight response, and can only freeze when startled.

And yet, we probably all know someone who jumps at the slightest thing, or someone else whom people feel they have to walk on eggshells around for fear of angering them; or someone else who goes quiet or freezes when asked to speak, for example.  The fight, flight, freeze responses for these people appear to be triggered with relatively little provocation.  For at least a proportion of these people, it might be that they could benefit from a neurological evaluation to discover any regions or pathways in the nervous system which are not performing to their optimum, and then being given therapies to help resolve these.  The more organised (mature/well-developed/high performing) and unimpeded (by e.g. immature reflexes, injury or inflammation) a brain is, the less likely it is to exhibit “feeling threatened” responses.    It is always appreciated that each person may have both their own individual goals and individual limits; however, enabling brains to achieve their fullest potential to produce best quality of life for an individual (however that looks for them) is generally a key aim of neuroplasticity therapies.