Essay sample library > What’s the Purpose of the Fight or Flight Response?

What’s the Purpose of the Fight or Flight Response?

2023-12-25 10:51:26

We humans have no instructions. If we do this, I think we will better ease pain and happiness throughout our lives.

Human behavior has evolved over time. Things that were useful to us humans thousands of years ago may not be as useful as it is today. Therefore, our action adapts to changing times and circumstances, but we believe that we will never completely forget the roots of that evolution.

One of the driving forces of specific human behavior is the so-called "battle or escape response" (aka acute stress reaction). This is a psychological term explaining one of the ways we respond under stress.

When we feel pressure, understanding the purpose and flight response of combat can give us a deeper understanding of our own behavior.

Battle and flight reactions are characterized by feeling a physical stress such as an increase in heart rate and an increase in respiration, for example. As if something is squeezing you, you can feel the pressure on your chest. You may also have a higher sense sensitivity - you are more sensitive to surrounding scenes and sounds

All of this is to make one of the two fighting or running (flight) one of the two responses to the threat recognized in our environment to the body.

The body's sympathetic nervous system is the body responsible for preparing one of these responses. It stimulates the adrenal gland and causes the release of substances such as adrenaline and norepinephrine. This is the reason for the increase in the body's heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate.

When a threat is removed - whether it is to escape the threat or to defeat it by battle - it may take up to an hour for the body's sympathetic nervous system to return to normal levels.

The purpose of evolution of this reaction is obvious. In the prehistoric era, people may have found themselves in situations where he must make quick choices. If this person spends a lot of time thinking about it, they may have had dinner for a lion or other animal. The battle of the body and the reaction of the flight are theoretical considering the equation.

As our body and mind adapt and evolve to the constantly changing era, threats are less obvious - sometimes they are not even true. Today, our body can respond to recognized or imagined threats

In fact, any phobias can cause battle and flying reactions. For example, people not only fear height but also feel them overwhelmingly fear, they will feel the body responding at a high place by increasing the heart and respiration rate. If you stand in front of the crowd for demonstration, you can do the same for some people - even if there is no real threat it will cause a fight or flight response

Recognizing your body's response to immediate stressors or threats can help you respond accordingly. Through practice of relaxation and meditation, you can actually tell your body, "Hey, this is not a real threat, let us calm us."

When he / she activates our fighting and flying reactions, hitting the boss (battle reaction) may be counterproductive. (Even if it might temporarily relieve our tension!) When he / she activates our fight and flight response, fleeing from the boss (flight reaction) will be counterproductive there is. All these things make it difficult for our automatic predictable unconscious battle and flight reactions to actually lead to self-destructive behavior and impede our emotional, psychological, and spiritual survival It leads to a situation.

Even if battle and flight reactions are automatic, it is not necessarily accurate. In fact, in most cases, when battle and flight correspondence is initiated, this is false positives - there is no threat to survival. Part of the brain can not distinguish between the automatic part of the battle or flight response, the amygdala and the threat perceived as a real threat. Occasionally, a perceived threat is very strong, causing a "freeze" reaction. This can be explained by the fact that the brain is overwhelmed by threats, or it can be an adaptive / positive response to the threat. Because it may evolve in humans and animals as a way to "quiesce", the predator's attention is not caused by exercise.

Evolution: All animals show "battle or escape" response to threats to ensure survival. Mammals advanced one step further and showed the reaction of "battle, flight, freeze" against war. For humans, this mammal's "freezing" response to threats includes threat suppression, punishment, and emotional behavior. Responding to this "freeze", "closure", or "passively avoided" threat is common in human anxiety and depression (eg due to fears or fears fixed by anxiety and depression Hesitation)