The Stress Response
Anxiety, fear, and other powerful emotions can signal the sympathetic nervous division of the ANS to elicit the stress response. As a result blood flow to skeletal muscles is increased and endocrine gland activity is adjusted. (1) To repeat again, the only two pathways of the stress response are the HPA axis and the SAM axis. Once these routes are activated, a myriad of neuroendocrine changes are launched.