Fight-or-flight response

neuroscience behind the “fight or flight” response and found that the amygdala, an “almond-shaped structure of the brain,” the part of our limbic system that is responsible for that chest-tightening, hands-fisting reaction we get when we feel threatened (Eilberg, 33). She goes on to point out that “the amygdala responds to work, stress, traffic, perfectionist instincts, and irritable colleagues as if to mortal danger in the forest” (Eilberg, 35). Essentially, our body’s response is natural,…

anticipation of racial discrimination can create a stress response (Sawyer et al., 2012). When discrimination is perceived, the threat response is activated leading to increases in both cardiovascular activity and activation of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. Specifically, activation of these systems signals for the release of cortisol and DHEA. Cortisol is a hormone that is released and notifies that brain to engage in flight or fight and DHEA is a cell repairing hormone…

Those who are constantly feeling nervous may be wondering if they are suffering from anxiety. What is anxiety, and what are some of the anxiety symptoms that may surface when someone is feeling nervous? Anxiety symptoms can vary from person to person, and they can range from really severe to surprisingly mild. Anxiety is a common mental health problem and affects nearly 20% of the population. More women than men are affected, and anxiety symptoms come in several different forms, which make…

is as startling as it is depressing.” We as humans are so quick to judge before we actually think about things and let our emotions get the best of us. This is because when our emotions are elevated we tend to over stimulate by creating a fight or flight type atmosphere in our brains so to speak which causes us not think rationally. Whether it be fear, rage, or grief our emotions can get in the way. Hence the phrase “Don’t let your emotions get the best of…

Social anxiety: a beginners guide Social anxiety is one of the most common mental illnesses, although it is poorly understood outside of the scientific circle. In fact, social anxiety is the most common anxiety among all other anxiety disorders, Ie. generalized anxiety, panic disorder, and specific phobias. 13 out of 100 people will meet the standards for being diagnosed with social anxiety. Anxiety itself is relatively normal, but when it causes a significant amount of distress and hardship…

being the sympathetic. The sympathetic nervous system shifts out other stress related to hormones such as Serotonin and Norepinephrine, which also affect our mood and desire. All these chemicals create: shaking sweating palms, turn on the fight or flight response, and affect behavior of individual (Weir 3). More than half a century, scientists has done great re-search on the effects of stress on the mind and body. Also, studies have shown that there are correlations to the body functions:…

adaptive. The innate immune system can distinguish between different classes of pathogens and recruit the most effective form of adaptive immune response to eliminate them. Adaptive responses are a response that the body adapts to certain injuries or insults. Innate responses are non-specific to the insult. Unlike innate immune responses, the adaptive responses are highly specific to the particular pathogen that induced them (Alberts et al, 2004). Injured tissue cells release chemicals that…

In the “Fighting for Our Lives” article, I found the statement about the “boy who cried wolf” effect in our societal dialogue interesting. The author wrote that heated, warlike argument is so common that we are losing the ability to differentiate between debates over extremely important issues and over unimportant, and unnecessarily sensationalized issues. This reminded me of an article I read about the effects of sensationalization in news media. For example, CNN presents the news relatively…

Brooklyn Brown Lab Report Wednesday 2:00 P.M. 1. Table Control Epinephrine Righting response (s) 0.66 s 0.25 s Running speed (cm/s) 11 cm/s 18 cm/s 2. Graphs Figure 1. Figure 1 displays the average amount of time the righting response took in seconds for a control group of cockroaches and a group that had been treated with an injection of epinephrine. Figure 2. Figure 2 displays the average running speeds in centimeters per second of a control group of cockroaches and a group that had…

struggle everyday. I am not perfect like I try to show people. On this day two years ago I was able to go on the most amazing mission trip to Kenya! We left Jan 18th and came back on the 26th. The trip to Kenya was uneventful. I slept on every flight we were on, thinking that would help the jet lag. Unfortunately, the jet lag was a killer for me. I fell asleep just about anywhere I sat down. As I was in Kenya, I went on a Safari, which was really cool besides the fact that I fell…