18.43 It's been a long night and day of Oscar coverage, and we'll be rounding this live blog off soon. But, before we do, I think it's important to point out that someone on Twitter has made a fish-related Oscars joke. (Oscar fish, incidentally, are a type of cichlid.
For other uses, see Fight or Flight. The fight-or-flight response (also called the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response [in PTSD ], hyperarousal, or the acute stress response) is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival. It was first described by Walter Bradford Cannon.
To produce the fight-or-flight response, the hypothalamus activates two systems: the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal-cortical system. The sympathetic nervous system uses nerve pathways to initiate reactions in the body, and the adrenal-cortical system uses the bloodstream. The combined effects of these two systems are the fight-or-flight response. When the hypothalamus tells the sympathetic nervous system to kick into gear, the overall effect is that the body speeds up, tenses up and becomes generally very alert. If there's a burglar at the door, you're going to have to take action -- and fast.