Fight-or-flight response  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Related e

Wikipedia Wiktionary Shop Featured: Rhombicuboctahedron by Leonardo da Vinci

The fight-or-flight response, also called hyperarousal or the acute stress response, was first described by Walter Cannon in 1927. His theory states that animals react to threats with a general discharge of the sympathetic nervous system, priming the animal for fighting or fleeing. This response was later recognized as the first stage of a general adaptation syndrome that regulates stress responses among vertebrates and other organisms.

Physiology

Catecholamine hormones, such as adrenaline or noradrenaline, facilitate immediate physical reactions associated with a preparation for violent muscular action. These include the following:

• Acceleration of heart and lung action
• Paling or flushing, or alternating between both
• Inhibition of stomach and upper-intestinal action to the point where digestion slows down or stops
• General effect on the sphincters of the body
• Constriction of blood vessels in many parts of the body
• Liberation of nutrients (particularly fat and glucose) for muscular action
• Dilation of blood vessels for muscles
• Inhibition of the lacrimal gland (responsible for tear production) and salivation
• Dilation of pupil (mydriasis)
• Relaxation of bladder
• Inhibition of erection
• Auditory exclusion (loss of hearing)
• Tunnel vision (loss of peripheral vision)
• Disinhibition of spinal reflexes
• Shaking

See also

• Adrenaline rush
• Defense physiology
• Emotional dysregulation
• Eustress
• Rest and digest
• Stressor
• Tend and befriend
• Vasoconstriction
• Yerkes–Dodson law
• Battle trance

Conditions

• Acute stress reaction
• Anxiety
• Anxiety disorder
• Panic attack
• Phobia
• Posttraumatic stress disorder
• Social anxiety
• Social anxiety disorder