Impala on Pause Mode

This video helps to illustrate an aspect of biology discussed in the books Recovery from Parkinson’s and Stuck on Pause. Most people with Parkinson’s disease are stuck in the neurological mode of pause.

Pause mode is used when the body is on the verge of death. Despite the title of this video clip, the impala is not “playing dead.” The use of pause mode in animals is involuntary. Pause mode kicks in when basic, autonomic biological functions such as blood pressure and oxygen level regulation become de-stabilized. This immobilizing mode can sometimes be a lifesaver. The neurological changes that kick in during pause mode cause heart rate and blood flow to greatly decrease, oxygen need is greatly minimized, and pain-awareness is often turned completely off. In the midbrain, dopamine release for movement is severely inhibited. The energy in the body is shifted away from the muscles and organs and into the spine and brain. Sometimes, if the near-death event was triggered by a predator, the immobility caused by pause mode might even cause the predator to lose interest, at least temporarily.

This video shows a seemingly dead impala. The hyena that killed the impala leaves the kill site two times to chase off a leopard that is investigating the kill. The impala is not yet dead: it is in pause mode. When the hyena is far enough away, the impala springs into action. The impala is still using pause mode, as not enough time has passed to truly stabilize from the trauma from the hyena attack. The impala uses a brain-based norepinephrine pause-override (not adrenal gland-based or dopamine-based movement) to temporarily overcome the immobility of pause mode. This temporary immobility-override of pause mode allows the impala to immediately move, even more quickly and powerfully than usual, as it makes its escape.

Once the on-pause animal arrives at a safe place, it will rest deeply. Its body can do the healing work that is necessary to re-stabilize the biological systems. Once these systems are in good enough working order to sustain normal life, the animal will tremor briefly and then “shake off” pause mode by first wobbling the head high on the neck and then allowing a muscular shiver to run down the spine. The shaking behaviors re-activate parasympathetic and sympathetic mode, via the vagus and spinal nerves, respectively. The animal will then automatically return to its normal, ever-varying blend of parasympathetic (rest and digest) and sympathetic (fight or flight) modes. Pause mode will automatically turn off.

Western medicine pays but scant attention, if any, to the neurological changes that occur in sleep mode and in pause mode. However, these rarely studied changes – and their pathologies – can play a significant role in many medical “syndromes of unknown origin” or “incurable illnesses.”

People with Parkinson’s disease have often lived much of their lives in pause mode, constantly using the powerful norepinephrine override – not dopamine – to sustain mobility, except when sleeping. The symptoms of Parkinson’s usually appear when the person can no longer sustain enough realistic fear of imminent danger or death to activate the override. When the norepinephrine override ceases, the immobility and other neurological behaviors of pause mode begin to present.

In order to “turn off” Parkinson’s disease, one must turn off the use of pause mode.

The Disney movie “Penguins” has footage of an Adélie penguin going into pause mode when caught in the jaws of a seal. The penguin goes limp, as if dead. The seal drops the “lifeless” penguin. As soon as the penguin has a safe window, it quickly swims away.

This link to the impala video clip is provided on this website to give a visual of pause mode. More information about pause mode can be found in the books Recovery from Parkinson’s and Stuck on Pause, both available for free download at this website.