The Body's Response to a Physical Threat.

The Body’s response to a physical threat
Defense physiology is a term used to refer to the body’s reaction to potential harm and which causes changes in the body in response to a stress or threat. This response regulates what is commonly known as the “Fight or Flight response”(hyper arousal, or acute stress response). Catecholamine hormones, such as adrenaline or nor adrenaline, facilitate the immediate physical reactions associated with a preparation for violent muscular action. When the body executes the “Fight or Flight" response, the nervous system initiates, coordinates and directs specific changes in how the body is functioning preparing the body to deal with the threat. 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 lachrymal gland (responsible for tear production) and salivation.
·                     Dilation of pupils (mydriasis).
·                     Relaxation of bladder.
·                     Auditory exclusion (loss of hearing).
·                     Tunnel vision (loss of peripheral vision).
·                     Acceleration of instantaneous reflexes.
·                     Shaking.

Fight or flight actions also have polarity - an individual can either fight or flee against something that is threatening, or fight for or fly towards somewhere safe. A threat from a violent assailant does not always result in immediate fight or flight. There may be a period of heightened awareness, during which we interpret behavioral signals from the person/situation posing the threat.

Signs such as paling, immobility, sounds, and body language communicate our status and intentions. There may be a sort of negotiation, after which fight or flight may ensue, but which result in nothing at all.


Behavioural manifestations of Fight or Flight
In the fight or flight response, fight is manifested in aggressive, combat behavior and flight is manifested by fleeing potentially threatening situations, such as being confronted by an assailant/predator. These responses are persistent, but fight and flight responses have assumed a wider range of behaviours. For example, the fight response may be manifested in angry, argumentative behavior, and the flight response may be manifested through social withdrawal, substance abuse, and even television viewing.


Males and females tend to deal with stressful situations differently. Males are more likely to respond to an emergency situation with aggression (fight), while females are more likely to flee (flight), turn to others for help, or attempt to defuse the situation – 'tend and befriend'. During stressful times, a mother is especially likely to show protective responses toward her offspring and affiliate with others for shared social responses to threat.


Negative effects of the stress response
The stress response halts or slows down various processes such as sexual responses and digestive systems to focus on the stressor situation and typically causes negative effects like constipation, anorexia, erectile dysfunction, difficulty urinating and difficulty maintaining sexual arousal. These are functions which are controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system and therefore suppressed by sympathetic arousal.


Prolonged stress responses may result in chronic suppression of the immune system, leaving the body open to infections. However, there is a short boost of the immune system shortly after the fight or flight response has been activated. This may be due to the body’s need to fight the infections in a wound that one may have received during physical or violent interaction. Stress responses are sometimes a result of mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, in which the individual shows a stress response when remembering a past trauma, and panic disorder, in which the stress response is activated by the catastrophic misinterpretations of bodily sensations.

Adrenaline Rush

Adrenaline rush refers to an activity of the adrenal gland in a fight-or-flight response, when it is releasing adrenaline (epinephrine). When releasing adrenaline your body releases dopamine that acts as a natural pain killer. An adrenaline rush causes the muscles to perform respiration at an increased rate improving strength. It also works with the nervous system to interpret impulses that trigger selective glands that enhance performance and recovery.