Human bodies are known to do amazing things from simply having the five senses all the way to women being able to create babies. But, one underrated task that the human body is gifted with, is the ability to “fight-or-flight”. Many people don’t realize that our reaction to a dangerous or startling situation is purely instincts because of our sympathetic nervous system. Without our sympathetic nervous system, our reaction to a situation where we need to act fast would most likely be a failure and could potentially leave someone or something in trouble.
The sympathetic nervous system is a part of the involuntary nervous system and is in charge of regulating many body functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, digestion, and so on. During high-intensity situations, neurons in the body cause different reactions by making different muscles take action. Neurons are not the only thing that causes the body to react, because when “fight-or-flight” kicks in a wave of hormones take over the body and send blood rushing to the heart, which then speeds up heart rate, breathing, and alertness.
Everyone will most likely experience the “fight-or-flight” response at some point in their life, and my experience came particularly early. I was in 8th grade at the time, and it was very early in the morning because I was getting ready to go off to school. My dad had just gotten ACL surgery but still insisted to get up to make me breakfast, even though I told him he’d be safer in bed. Yet, with his stubborn attitude, he was up and making my breakfast within 15 minutes. It was just him and I home so there wasn’t much happening, it was a pretty quiet morning. But of course, that quickly came to an end when he paused dead in his tracks. I glanced over and didn’t think much of it until he told me that he suddenly got pretty dizzy. As he took a seat at our high-top kitchen table, it didn’t take long for his eyes to roll back into his head and his body to go completely limp, smashing the hard floor and hitting his head on a nearby end table on the way down. This is where my “fight-or-flight” reaction kicked in immediately, it took a split second to realize what I had to do, my heart was racing, and I began to sweat. Even though I had never dealt with that type of situation before, I somehow knew how to react. I ran over to elevate his head as much as I could to get more blood flowing, and made sure there were no other injuries as I called 911. Without my sympathetic nervous system, my instinctive reaction wouldn’t have been as prepared, or even prepared at all. With major chaos my situation felt like it lasted a lifetime, even though it was truly only a couple of minutes, my reactions were too fast that I didn’t even have time to process or think about what was happening, my only goal was to help my dad. A persons “fight-or-flight” reaction within the sympathetic nervous system is extremely underrated because without that I wouldn’t have been able to give my dad the help he needed.
Lanese, Nicoletta. “Fight or Flight: The Sympathetic Nervous System.” LiveScience, Purch, 9 May 2019, www.livescience.com/65446-sympathetic-nervous-system.html.
Hi Kelly!
Your personal experience of using the “fight-or-flight” mode is very interesting considering the amazing abilities it automatically forced you to do to help your dad. When experiencing certain stress, the sympathetic nervous system will kick in and raise our heart rate, make us breathe heavier, and cause us to sweat. I definitely believe you experienced all of these symptoms when in a situation like that, for that is something very nerve wracking to go through! I also had a somewhat similar experience with using “flight-or-fight” mode with one of my family members as well. My family and I were eating dinner when all of a sudden my brother began choking on his food. My body completely froze in that moment because I knew I had to do something to help him. My eyes began to widen and my pupils started to dilate, my heart started racing very quickly, my palms started to sweat, and I ran towards my brother and began to do the heimlich maneuver. As you explained, what felt like hours was only a few seconds, and luckily he stopped choking. It is crazy how people can experience such different “flight-or-flight” modes and all that our body prepares us for within that moment. I am able to relate to your experience a lot and thought it was very intriguing!
I also thought this concept was really cool! I had heard the saying fight or flight but never understood what it really meant, and what happened in the brain while we are reacting!