I’m looking at the answers for a question and it says “....the release of stress hormones leads to physiological changes that activate fight or flight system”
I thought the release of hormones activated the fight or flight system which is the physiological changes that enable an organism to either fight or flee?
Hi. This might be a bit more detail than you are expected to know, but here is what happens:
➜ Amygdala sends a signal to hypothalamus.
➜ Hypothalamus responds to the stressor by activating the sympathetic nervous system in 1/20th of a second.
➜ The sympathetic nervous system then stimulates the adrenal medulla (inner part of adrenal gland).
➜ It secretes adrenalin and noradrenalin into the bloodstream and activate organs. They also occur as neurotransmitters; can be released to have an excitatory effect.
➜ Once stressor is removed, parasympathetic nervous system becomes dominant and restores body to pre-threat state.
This is known as the
sympathetic adreno-medullary system (SAM), which is the brain-body pathway that activates the fight or flight responses. The fight or flight responses are initiated by the dominance of the sympathetic nervous system when confronted by a perceived stressor/threat. So, the stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline are released
as a result of the activation of the fight-flight response. This then
causes the physiological changes (e.g. dilated pupils, relaxed bladder, etc) as a result of the body diverting energy to the body systems that need it most and the effect of the stress hormones.