eli5: Why do we shake when we’re terrified?
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When you get scared, you wany to run right? Your body understands this and starts building up extra energy to help you do this. However, until you move your body is just full of all that energy and it has to use some of it. This causes your muscles to twitch a lot which causes you to shake.
As others have stated, this response to you shaking when terrified is part of a survival response known as “Fight or Flight”. The shaking part is part of the “Flight side, where in you are preparing to “take flight” or to run away from whatever is making you feel scared. The “Fight” side also makes you twitch and shake too. But in that case it your body building energy to avoid being hurt while being ready to hit back.
Through certain trainings and mental preparedness you can control this response up to an extent. This is more towards those who have anxiety trouble and have over active “fight/flight” responses. These get know as anxiety attacks where their body freezes up and can even cause unintentional self hard depending on their environment.
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