[from Latin from Greek paronomazein "to call with a slight change of name," from para- "closely resembling" onoma "name."] (seh'-kund buh-nan'-nuh) n. [From Middle English from Late Latin putativus from Latin putatus, from past participle of putare "to think."] (sin'-krun-iss'-it-tee) n.
Six months in India in 2012 prompted me to write a piece about travelling safely as a solo female – still the highest trafficked article I’ve ever published – which made me think a great deal about how many women are concerned for their safety when travelling alone.
So after eighteen months travelling through Latin America, I thought it was necessary to address the biggest issue I faced there.
Many physiological changes in the body are associated with fear, summarized as the fight-or-flight response.
An inborn response for coping with danger, it works by accelerating the breathing rate (hyperventilation), heart rate, constriction of the peripheral blood vessels leading to blushing and vasodilation of the central vessels (pooling), increasing muscle tension including the muscles attached to each hair follicle to contract and causing "goose bumps", or more clinically, piloerection (making a cold person warmer or a frightened animal look more impressive), sweating, increased blood glucose (hyperglycemia), increased serum calcium, increase in white blood cells called neutrophilic leukocytes, alertness leading to sleep disturbance and "butterflies in the stomach" (dyspepsia).