Fight or Flight Response to Stress

Fight or Flight Response to Stress : 

Fight or Flight Response to Stress BY: Candace Shaw

What is the Fight or Flight Response? : 

What is the Fight or Flight Response? The “fight or flight response” is our body’s primitive, automatic, inborn response that prepares our body to “fight”, or “flee” from harmful situations.

Signs of Fight or Flight Response : 

Signs of Fight or Flight Response Burst of Adrenaline Sweaty palms Increased heart beat Sight sharpens Pain diminishes “attack mode” Example: Mother lifts car to save her child.

How Fight or Flight Works : 

How Fight or Flight Works When in a highly stressful situation your body prepares itself to “fight or flee”. Our entire body works together to make the response happen. When fight or flight is activated, nerve cells fire and adrenaline and cortisol are released into the bloodstream. All of the nerves that start firing cause a chain reaction in how our body starts to function. Just by all of the adrenaline and cortisol our blood pumps faster, we breathe heavier, pupils dilate, and our awareness intensifies.

Fear and the Amygdala : 

Fear and the Amygdala The part of your brain that relates to fear is the Amygdala. The Amygdala is a almond shaped, and is on both parts of the brain.

How the Amaygdala works : 

How the Amaygdala works When being scared and visually seeing something, information is registered by your eyes takes a way to a higher processing center in your visual cortex. At the same time more limited information is funneled down an older passage –way to the amygdala.

Adaptionists Theory on Fight or Flight : 

Adaptionists Theory on Fight or Flight Many Adaptionists think that there are more than two responses to stress. Many think that the response is mad up of Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fright , and Faint Example: Someone is in your house, and jumps out at you. Some people instead of fleeing just might faint.

Citations : 

Citations Neimark, N The Fight or Flight Response. (n.d) retrieved 10/28/10, from Mind/Body Education Center Web Site: http://www.thebodysoulconnection.com/education center/fight Macdonald, M (2008). Your Brain: The Missing Manual. Sebastopal, CA: O'Reilly. Bracho H (2004). Freeze, Flight, Fight, Fright, and Faint: Adaptionist Perspectives on the Acute Stress Response Spectrum. 9(9), .