Adrenaline and effects on the body

What are you doing?

You probably have three possible reactions:

1. Escape in the opposite direction, hoping the madman is lame and breaking Bolt’s 100-meter world record.
2. Try to hit him in the head with all the force you have using the bag you have in your hand or your umbrella with the force of despair.
3. You remain motionless, pitied by fear, perhaps shouting for help and raising your hands as a sign of surrender.

Now as you can imagine are just two solutions that give you a chance to save yourself:

the first two, while standing still means a certain “death”.

Our body has learned over the millennia that there are only two real effective possibilities for reacting to a stimulus that suddenly terrifies us, fighting or fleeing.

I’m sure you’ll have seen the animal documentaries and as you may have noticed the essential behaviors are two:

Fighting or Fleeing

Fighting or Fleeing

This primitive reaction to a dangerous situation is what is called the fight-or-flightin English, meaning“fight or escape”.

In the face of danger, the physiology of our body prepares us to deal very quickly with the situation in the only two possible solutions.

The amygdala acts on the hypothalamus which in turn acts on the pituitary and, in short, when there is a threat of danger, the body produces hormones that prepare us for action.

These hormones, such asadrenaline and cortisol, are released into the bloodstream and increase muscle tone to prepare the body for physical action, increase heart rate So that the blood flows more quickly throughout the tissues, they act on the rhythm of respiration to increase the amount of oxygen available, and help us to Focus to be able to plan and think quickly of a way to get out of trouble.

You are on red alert and your whole body is preparing to face the worst situation.

The physiological mechanisms that you have just read quickly prepare you to face both solutions, since whether you fight or escape, in the moments after terror, our body is required a surge of:

• Force
• Agility
• Speed
• Reactivity.

In moments of terror our body becomes a very powerful metabolic weapon, ready to react with a force that you did not even think you had, a supernatural force.

Supernatural strength through adrenaline is one of the effects on the body

In times of terror the body tends to have such a high peak of metabolic activity that time seems to slow down:

instinct and analytical evaluation of the scenario to be faced mix and in a few fractions of a second we find ourselves running faster than we ever thought or beating with a force that we did not think we had.

Very often, when the situation returns to normal, we realize that we have muscle and joint pains, or wounds, that we did not “feel” before.

Yes, the body has as an anesthetic effect that does not make you feel the pain during these moments.

This happens because during the “fight or escape” mechanism the body cares to save our lives without saving our locomotor system or leaving all our pains in the background.

The Metabolism of Terror

The liver extracts phenylalanine (an amino acid) from the proteins we take as part of the diet (meat, eggs, etc.) and turns it into tyrosine before being sent to the adrenal glands where it is used for formation of the hormone adrenaline which is stored for later use in any dangerous situation.

When you feel the danger, your brain stimulates the adrenal glands to release adrenaline into the bloodstream 20 times faster than normal.

Once in circulation, adrenaline binds to receptors placed on the surface of functional organ cells for survival such as lungs, heart, brain and striated muscles.

In a short time it provokes the “fight or run” reaction.

Adrenaline has numerous effects on the body and on different parts of your body:

1. the more blood will come to the brain, which makes our thoughts more lucid;
2. pupils dilate to make the eyesight acute;
3. blood clots more quickly to minimize any blood loss (in the case of a fall during a cat leap or other);
4. blood vessels that supply the gastrointestinal tract are restricted, and this leads to a slowdown in digestion;
5. blood is diverted to those districts that most need: the heart, lungs, brain and skeletal muscles;
6. blood carries even more oxygen and glucose (“fuel”) to the arms, legs, back and torso; this results in “superhuman efforts”, and sometimes allows us to perform actions that would normally be out of reach;
7. increases sugar production (“fuel”);
8. the heart contracts more effectively and pumps more blood;
9. the airways in the lungs dilate and allow us to take on more oxygen.

How long does adrenaline and effects on the body last?

The effect of adrenaline
has a duration of 1-2 minutes
, during which, if all goes well, you will face a dangerous situation.

Immediately after the decay of the adrenaline effect, your body will experience a “relaxation” and you understand it the moment you start moving uncontrollably and feel the need to run somewhere to urinate.

The reason for this sudden stimulus (urinating) occurs because adrenaline is oxidized and converted into waste products that are eliminated from the body when we expel water.

Adrenaline in combat and effects on the body