Fight or flight response facts for kids

Fight or flight?

The fight-or-flight response is how your body reacts when it senses danger. It's like an alarm system that gets you ready to either fight the danger or run away from it. When this happens, your heart beats faster, you breathe quicker, and your blood pressure goes up.

A scientist named W.B Cannon first described this response. He noticed that animals, including humans, have a special part of their body's control system, called the sympathetic nervous system, that kicks in when they feel threatened. This system makes all those body changes happen very quickly. It's a natural way for living things to deal with stress and stay safe.

Why We Have This Response

The fight-or-flight response helps animals react quickly to dangers. This system is found in all vertebrates, which are animals with backbones. This shows that it's a very old and important part of how living things survive.

For humans, this system can sometimes be tricky. While our bodies react like other animals, we rarely face a simple choice to fight or run. Humans often try to solve problems by talking or thinking. But if a problem is hard to fix, this ancient response can still kick in, leading to stress.

Images for kids

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  An infographic displaying the fight-or-flight response

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  Bison hunted by dogs