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examBoard: AQA
examType: GCSE
lessonTitle: Fight or Flight Response
When you're faced with danger, your body reacts instantly. Your heart races, your breathing quickens and you feel a surge of energy. This is the fight or flight response – a survival mechanism that has helped humans survive for thousands of years. But how does it work?
Key Definitions:
The nervous system is like your body's communication network. It has two main parts that work together to keep you functioning and responding to your environment.
The CNS consists of your brain and spinal cord. Think of it as the command centre that processes information and makes decisions.
The PNS includes all the nerves outside the CNS. These nerves connect your central command to the rest of your body.
The fight or flight response is controlled by a part of the peripheral nervous system called the autonomic nervous system. This system controls automatic functions like breathing and heart rate without you having to think about them.
This is your "emergency response" system. It activates the fight or flight response when you're in danger or under stress.
Think of it as pressing the accelerator in a car – it speeds up your body's systems.
This is your "rest and digest" system. It helps your body return to normal after the danger has passed.
Think of it as pressing the brakes – it slows down your body's systems.
When you encounter something threatening (like seeing a snake on a hiking path), your body goes through a series of rapid changes:
The fight or flight response was first described by American physiologist Walter Cannon in the 1920s. He noticed that animals responded to threats with a general discharge of the sympathetic nervous system. This basic survival mechanism has remained largely unchanged for millions of years and is found across many species.
When adrenaline floods your system, your body undergoes dramatic changes to prepare for action:
It's not just your body that changes during fight or flight – your mind changes too:
While the fight or flight response evolved to help us escape physical dangers like predators, in modern life it's often triggered by different kinds of stressors:
When facing an important exam, your body might react as if facing a physical threat. This can be helpful (giving you energy and focus) or unhelpful (causing anxiety that interferes with thinking).
Many people experience fight or flight symptoms before speaking in public – racing heart, sweaty palms and a dry mouth. These are all normal responses to perceived social threat.
Athletes often experience the fight or flight response before competitions. Research shows that how they interpret these physical symptoms makes a difference. Those who see their racing heart and adrenaline surge as helpful ("I'm getting energized!") tend to perform better than those who interpret the same symptoms as anxiety ("I'm too nervous!").
In a study of Olympic athletes, many reported that learning to harness their fight or flight response – using the energy boost while managing the negative effects – was key to their success.
Sometimes the fight or flight system can become problematic:
Learning to regulate your fight or flight response can be valuable for managing stress and anxiety:
Slow, deep breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, helping to calm the fight or flight response. Try breathing in for a count of 4, holding for 2 and exhaling for 6.
Physical activity helps regulate the stress response system and can reduce the intensity of fight or flight reactions over time.
The fight or flight response is a remarkable survival mechanism that has helped humans face dangers throughout our evolutionary history. Understanding how it works can help us recognize when it's happening and manage our responses in modern situations where fighting or fleeing might not be appropriate.
Remember that this response is normal and natural – it's your body trying to protect you. By learning about how your nervous system works, you can better understand your own reactions to stress and develop strategies to work with your body rather than against it.
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