The Fight and Flight Reaction
The fight and flight Response
The fight and flight response is our body 's primitive, automatic, inborn response that prepares the body to "fight" or "flee" from perceived attack, harm or threat to our survival. I decided to test the question how this fight and flight response effects the body. How it effects the cardiovascular system ( pulse rate) , the respiratory system, And Watch out for angry red faces, cold and clammy skin, signs of a dry mouth, increased breathing rates and jitteriness from activated muscles, etc. It really interested me because my brother asked me " why do we get scared?" and I honestly didn 't know so I researched it and I decided to do this as my science experiment. The fight or flight response is the body 's physiological response to a stressor. Changes in hormones prepare a person to either stay and deal with a stressor or to take flight . During this immediate state of alarm a person will be extremely alert to their surroundings but also very anxious and possibly unable to concentrate. The body will slow down systems which are not vital for responding to the stressor , which is why a person in a fight or flight situation may have a dry mouth and a nervous or upset stomach. The body will activate other mechanisms such as the need to cool the body as more energy is used, which is why we can perspire when the fight or flight response is activated. The response is triggered when a message of alarm is sent to a part of the brain called the hypothalamus. This area of the brain will then send a signal to the glands to release adrenaline, cortisol and endorphin into the blood stream. Increased levels of adrenaline increase heart rate and blood flow, which in turn brings extra oxygen and glucose to the muscles. Cortisol causes an increase in amino-acids and sugars in the blood. Amino-acids are crucial for the repair and recovery of damaged tissues and the increased blood sugar adds to the availability of glucose for the body. The
The fight and flight response is our body 's primitive, automatic, inborn response that prepares the body to "fight" or "flee" from perceived attack, harm or threat to our survival. I decided to test the question how this fight and flight response effects the body. How it effects the cardiovascular system ( pulse rate) , the respiratory system, And Watch out for angry red faces, cold and clammy skin, signs of a dry mouth, increased breathing rates and jitteriness from activated muscles, etc. It really interested me because my brother asked me " why do we get scared?" and I honestly didn 't know so I researched it and I decided to do this as my science experiment. The fight or flight response is the body 's physiological response to a stressor. Changes in hormones prepare a person to either stay and deal with a stressor or to take flight . During this immediate state of alarm a person will be extremely alert to their surroundings but also very anxious and possibly unable to concentrate. The body will slow down systems which are not vital for responding to the stressor , which is why a person in a fight or flight situation may have a dry mouth and a nervous or upset stomach. The body will activate other mechanisms such as the need to cool the body as more energy is used, which is why we can perspire when the fight or flight response is activated. The response is triggered when a message of alarm is sent to a part of the brain called the hypothalamus. This area of the brain will then send a signal to the glands to release adrenaline, cortisol and endorphin into the blood stream. Increased levels of adrenaline increase heart rate and blood flow, which in turn brings extra oxygen and glucose to the muscles. Cortisol causes an increase in amino-acids and sugars in the blood. Amino-acids are crucial for the repair and recovery of damaged tissues and the increased blood sugar adds to the availability of glucose for the body. The
Bibliography: 1. http://www.green-river.com/_disc14stress/00000034.htm 2. http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/fight.htm 3 .http://changingminds.org/explanations/brain/fight_flight.htm 4 .http://www.hhmi.org/cgi-bin/askascientist/highlight.pl?kw=&file=answers%2Fgeneral%2Fans_003.html