10 Unseen Factors That Are Affecting Your Responsiveness in Emergency Situations

How much do you trust your mind and body to stay present during an emergency? Believe it or not, your preparedness is tied to your mental acuity. In other words, many unseen factors affect your responsiveness during an emergency.

Knowing what they are, how they affect you, and how you can combat any challenges is a reliable way to keep yourself focused, even when the world seems to be crashing down around you.

1. Confidence

Your outlook, or how you perceive the world and yourself, has a big impact on what happens at any given time. In an emergency especially, it’s important to trust in yourself and remain confident in your knowledge and abilities. You also tend to act sooner if you feel confident, administering CPR, grabbing a first aid kit, or seeking supplies as necessary.

In nearly all emergencies, timely action is imperative, and retaining a high level of confidence is key to getting things done as soon as possible. Confidence is also considered a hidden issue related to mental health decline.

No matter how dire or shocking the situation may be, do everything in your power to remain confident and steadfast. It will make a huge difference when you’re making decisions or faced with mission-critical events.

2. Energy

If you’re fatigued, you’re not going to be thinking clearly. So, outside of an emergency or event, you should always make sure you have enough rest. More importantly, that rest needs to be high-quality sleep that allows your body and brain to recharge after long days. Even during an ongoing emergency, it’s important to get as much sleep as possible.

Some emergencies can drag on for days, weeks, or even longer, but it’s still critical for you to get sleep when you can. Dwindling energy reserves affect your mental acuity, so though you might tell yourself you need to stay awake 24/7, the reality is quite the opposite. If you’re ever in a prolonged crisis, be sure to prioritize rest, as difficult as that may seem.

3. Temperatures

Very high or low temperatures can make an emergency worse. You might find it harder to remember key details, focus on the task at hand, or even make critical decisions. The longer you’re exposed to extreme temperatures, the worse it gets.

Given your environment and available resources, it’s important to protect yourself from extreme temperatures as much as possible. If it’s cold, bundle up immediately or light a fire if you can. If it’s hot, get under cover, keep your clothing on to protect your skin, and make sure you’re hydrated and near a water source. If you’re with others in a group, do the same for them or ensure they are aware of the temperature risks.

4. Air Quality

It’s easy to take fresh air for granted, whether you’re indoors or out. However, during a major event such as a forest or community fire, the rapidly decreasing air quality is one of the first things you’ll encounter. Make sure you have the protective equipment necessary to filter out any contaminants

When it comes to indoor air quality, have you checked the condition of your shelter? If it’s a structure built a while ago, it may contain hazardous materials like asbestos and lead. Lengthy exposure to lead can damage your brain, nerves, kidneys, and heart, while inhaling asbestos can cause cancer, so dealing with both is vital. Make sure everything is well-ventilated, as mold and carbon monoxide can lead to irritation and poisoning.

5. Overall Health

Your brain health is tied to your physical health. The physical traits and condition of your body can influence cognitive function. If you’re dehydrated, exhausted, out of shape, or even in pain, these factors can have a direct impact on your brain’s reasoning, focus, and abilities.

In an emergency, these traits are not necessarily things you can control. However, you do have control leading up to the event, which means staying healthy as much as possible during your daily activities. Stay hydrated and active, exercise regularly, get enough high-quality sleep, and maintain a positive mindset.

A cycle of ongoing mental health issues or physical ailments can seriously exacerbate unexpected events. If you’re already fighting for your life when entering a crisis, the outcome is likely to be worse when you come out the other side. Take care of your body and health as a measure of preparedness and stay proactive.

6. Hormones, Adrenaline and Cortisol

You’ve likely heard of the “fight or flight response” your brain naturally activates during an emergency. This response is tied to three major chemicals in your brain—norepinephrine, adrenaline, and cortisol. When a threat is detected, these chemicals flood your brain so quickly that there’s virtually no way to stop the response.

Since the amygdala is responsible for processing memories, emotions, and attention, this natural reaction directly impacts mental clarity and self-control in high-stress situations.

Unfortunately, you cannot fully train this response. However, you can learn to regulate it, which can significantly improve your ability to stay composed in an emergency.

7. Stress

While stress is natural — especially during a major event — it can have a huge impact on how your brain operates during a situation. Anxiety can increase brain fog and trigger physiological reactions, activating both your immune and nervous systems. If pressure continues unhindered over an extended period, those symptoms can grow much more intense.

Now, it is difficult to manage and reduce stress levels in such a high-octane environment. During an emergency, you’ll feel the weight of all kinds of emotions, worries and outside factors. However, you should always find a way to reduce stress as much as possible.

Breathing exercises, positive affirmations and talking to others in the group if they’re nearby are all great examples of dealing with stress. Everyone is going to have their own ways of coping, but the key is honing those methods so that, in a high-stress situation, you already know how to make it work.

8. Communication

If you’re alone, this isn’t as much of a factor, although it could play a role in effectively relaying your situation to others, such as over a radio or cell phone. However, in a group, communication plays a huge role in how others might react, think or feel. Someone making negative comments, screaming in fear, or being rude can and does affect those around them.

It’s important to keep everyone else calm, positive and focused, which you can primarily do through effective communication. You must remain acutely aware of your own language and tone — try to encourage others to do the same. When discussing the situation, don’t shy away from reality, but don’t jump straight to the worst-case scenario every time. Paranoia certainly affects mental acuity.

9. Organization and Action

Being prepared for any scenario is no good if you’re not going to take action. This means that if you know how to bandage a wound and stop the bleeding but you do nothing, those abilities are of no use. But taking action also goes hand-in-hand with organization, especially with people. For example, if you direct someone else to treat and bandage that wound properly, that’s valuable.

It’s important to stay organized so you can take action, which may also include taking stock of the situation and what you have available, including people and their abilities. It may not be immediately apparent which traits are factors affecting survival and responsiveness, but when they kick in, it’s a different story.

What matters is that you don’t always have to be the one staying organized and taking action, but in a group, someone must.

10. Experience

Repetition and training help prepare for a wide variety of events, promoting automatic responses and reducing hesitation in critical moments. That’s why first responders train extensively for various situations—when something happens, they’re ready, instinctively knowing what to do without overthinking each step.

While it’s impossible to prepare for everything, you can take steps to be ready for common scenarios. Take a CPR course, learn how to bandage and wrap injuries, and develop essential survival skills, like lighting a fire in the wilderness. There are live courses, online resources, and training programs available to help you gain this knowledge. Being proactive and prepared gives you control before an emergency occurs.

Stay Safe and Prepared No Matter the Circumstances

It doesn’t matter what the emergency is—whether it’s a massive fire, getting lost in the wilderness, or facing any number of life-threatening situations—preparedness is key. While you can’t anticipate everything, you can be proactive. Plan ahead, understand how to react, and be ready to take charge.

Most importantly, consider the unseen factors and the challenges they present. Stay safe, everyone.