Adrenaline allows us to reach euphoria when we practice a sport, it is also what makes us tremble when someone attracts us, besides this hormone allows us to react to daily dangers, however, in addition to favoring our performance and activation, Adrenaline also has a dark side. Excessive release of this hormone causes serious side effects.
It is a versatile substance, such as dopamine or oxytocin, however, adrenaline, which also acts as a neurotransmitter, is one of the hormones that has the most impact on our behavior, for example, it activates our most instinctive survival mechanisms. It is also adrenaline that causes us to fall into addictive behaviors and facilitates the appearance of states of anxiety or chronic stress.
- Day after day.
- More and more people need their adrenaline doses to break the monotony.
- Which can lead us to live life to the fullest or take us to risky situations to try to fill our gaps.
Out of curiosity, it is interesting to know that many professionals dedicated to crisis management usually train their clients to properly manage adrenaline, for this it goes through a series of dynamics and simulations with great physical and emotional stress, with which it is possible to regulate the types of response. The goal is simple: train people so they don’t lose control and let adrenaline become the best ally, never an enemy.
In order to do that, knowing everything this hormone is capable of causing in our body and influencing our behavior is amazing, we recommend that you discover it below.
In 1982, Angela Cavallo of Lawrenceville, Georgia, became Mother of the Year, so the press decided after being known around the world for doing something hard to believe if it weren’t for the presence of several witnesses. His son, Tony, was in the garage repairing an old Chevrolet when suddenly the monkey holding the car broke down and the worst happened: the car collapsed on the young man, leaving him trapped.
Angela Cavallo was 51 years old and weighed just over 65 pounds, didn’t go to the gym, wasn’t very strong or used to exercising all her life, however, when she saw her son’s feet under the car, she started screaming. Realizing he wouldn’t have anyone’s help so fast, he didn’t hesitate for another second: he ran to the 1,500 kilogram car and picked him up, as if it were nothing. a few seconds, long enough for the neighbors to arrive and get the unconscious young man out from under the car.
This feat actually contains two almost magical elements: maternal love and adrenaline, a lot of adrenaline. Enough adrenaline that at some point we could do extraordinary things to ensure our survival and that of others.
Adrenaline belongs to the catecholamine group (like norepinephrine and dopamine) and occurs in the adrenal glands, located directly above the kidneys; However, we also have its synthetic version, epinephrine, a substance created in the laboratory, because it is chemically identical. to the biological substance, is very useful in many medical emergencies for CPR.
To understand its mechanism of action, we can take as a reference what happened to Mrs Angela Cavallo and her son:
On the other hand, in parallel with the release of adrenaline, a number of highly refined biological mechanisms are implemented, with which it favors our reactions:
Sometimes a little explosion? Sudden but intense adrenaline, so an avalanche of oxygen-rich red blood cells reaches our legs and arms. That’s when we feel stronger than ever.
At the same time, and curiously, the brain will order the immune system to release large amounts of dopamine and analgesic endorphins, all of which will allow us not to feel pain if we get hurt, this meant, for example, that Mrs. Cavallo felt no discomfort in lifting a 1,500 kilogram car.
Adrenaline has many benefits. It can inspire us to overcome amazing challenges and can also be as enjoyable as it is addictive. It facilitates adaptation to any stressful situation, activates us when we practice risky sports, facilitates the action of giving our best in the tests or making the most of a loving encounter.
The tremor in the hands, the knot in the stomach, the dilated pupil when we look at someone who attracts us are direct effects of adrenaline, that’s what we euphorically when we dance or have fun with other people. that gives us an incredibly pleasurable discharge when riding a roller coaster in an amusement park or feeling the speed while driving.
As we can see, many of these behaviors have a “risk” component at the same time. It is precisely at the moment that we set foot on the ground, after leaving these experiences unhinged, when you feel that peak of euphoria that, little by little, is accompanied by a huge and enriching relaxation. All this makes there people addicted to adrenaline, a darker side on which we need to find more information.
There are people who choose the most dangerous side of risky sports, there are those who carry out behaviors and limit actions, in which they put their lives at risk, behind this type of behavior that many of us have seen in certain situations, there is Sometimes more than the pursuit of pleasure and adventure, this intense adrenaline that these people experience also serves to fill a void, reinforce a feeling or mask an emotion.
When we think of an addict, we see almost immediately a person who uses certain drugs and does so by addiction (not so much to seek pleasure, but to eliminate discomfort). However, what is not always talked about is that adrenaline and this constant The quest to feel safe to feel alive are also, at the same time, a very specific type of addiction.
When a person needs to feel the daily increase in adrenaline, putting their own life at risk, we are faced with addictive behavior.
On the other hand, as with other addictive substances, it is common that little by little the need for “doses” feels the same effects as before. The body, little by little, develops a tolerance, so we feel the need to seek riskier experiences, more extreme behaviors to get to feel the same.
However, it is necessary to differentiate between an athlete who performs a risk practice with responsibility and professionalism of a person who, doing the same, is unable to think or think about the consequences of his own actions.
In this sense, it must be thought that the addict is only trying to meet a biological need.
We have already seen that adrenaline can become a very specific type of addiction, now it is interesting to also remember another very negative aspect of adrenaline, an aspect that gradually facilitates the construction of chronic stress.
This term “chronic stress” is a direct result of our constant pressures and tensions, which we do not prevent at the right time or that we do not handle properly, this condition is the direct result of the accumulation of two hormones in the blood: adrenaline and cortisol.
When we go through situations that cause us discomfort, that disturb us, that threaten our physical and emotional balance, our brain interprets them as a danger, as a home to react against. That’s when the adrenaline comes in. And that is also when we, feeling this series of threats, should be able to act effectively.
However, we don’t always make it. And from there, the adrenaline builds up and causes changes in our body (hypertension, tachycardia, poor digestion?), We lose health and put our lives at risk, so that’s not something, it’s not something that can be overlooked, isn’t it something that can be postponed until tomorrow or next week?
In conclusion, could you say that the adrenaline is doing its?Magic ?, whenever published in a timely and punctual manner, is in these situations that it acts as a vital impulse to help us react, ensure our safety, improve our ability to adapt to certain situations, however, if we seek its effect on a daily basis or if we let tension and fears constantly accumulate within us, adrenaline will act in the worst way : stealing our health.
References
Kandel (2001). Principles of Neuroscience Madrid, LTC.
Hart, A (1995). Adrenaline and stress. Editors Thomas Nelson.
Bennett M (1999). One hundred years of adrenaline: the discovery of self-receptors. “Thieme Publishing Group.