What is adrenaline?
Adrenaline is a hormone that most humans, if functioning properly, can produce by themselves. It is also described as one of the main hormones used for the flight or fight response, a stress response to certain high risk situations. Adrenaline takes control of your body fast when in a stressful situation and is released from the adrenal glands in the body going to your bloodstream.
The body has four responses that are caused by adrenaline, even though fight or flight are the two most common, adrenaline does help with all of the responses. All four responses are fight (becoming aggressive), flight (running away), freeze (being very quiet or “frozen”), or fawn (appealing to the person or thing causing you distress). Whichever response you show can vary depending on the situation and whether or not it is life threatening.
Surges Of Adrenaline
There are many things that can give you an adrenaline rush. Some are more negative, some are positive, and some can motivate or encourage you to do something new. Some of the positive situations could include meeting up for a date, going to a party or a big event, playing an intense sport or competing professionally, giving a presentation or talking to a person of authority, or watching a horror movie..
Some of the negative situations that can cause an adrenaline rush are not feeling prepared for a test or presentation, doing something embarrassing in public, feeling overwhelmed or scared, losing a friend in a crowd, and anything that is potentially dangerous or threatening can cause extreme paranoia and anxiety.
What are positives of what adrenaline does for the body?
Even though adrenaline is a stress response, also called an adrenaline rush, adrenaline can be a positive way for the body to process stress more efficiently. Adrenaline can help send more blood throughout your body, raise your energy levels, make your pupils dilate, and help pain not hurt as much.
Examples of when adrenaline can be helpful to you that are not always life treating, think right before a big test or exam adrenaline can give you a big final push to help you get through the test and not be tired or lethargic during, Or when your playing your favorite sport adrenaline can help you run that little bit faster or try to get the win. It has plenty of positive effects for every day.
What are the negative effects of too much adrenaline?
Although adrenaline is mostly good for you, there are some downsides. If the body produces too much adrenaline too often or it wont leave your system, it can give some pretty nasty side effects. Having too much adrenaline can cause extreme headaches, more anxiety then normal which can lead to panic attacks, fainting, weakness and sickness, and consistent paranoia
What can cause excess adrenaline? Stress disorders can be a major contributor which can keep you up at night or always keep you on edge. Excess adrenaline can also come from some prescribed medications such as thyroid hormones and beta blockers which are used to manage heart disorders. Depending on the severity of increased adrenaline, patients could be moved to a smaller dose of these medicines or taken off of it completely.
Does every person have adrenaline?
Most people have the same or similar amount of adrenaline within their body (around 0 to 900 pg/ml). In rare cases, however, people can have adrenal insufficiency, also known as Addison’s Disease. This is where adrenal glands don’t produce enough adrenaline for an extended period of time, or never produce any. This can cause side effects such as long lasting fatigue, loss of weight, and more aches and pains then normal.
Patients of Addison’s Disease are often given a daily pill to help manage their hormones, or in extreme situations, they have a shot of hydrocortisone administered. People with Addison’s disease also need more salt than some. This depends on how bad the disease is in the person, but consuming more salt can help with the salt loss for the adrenal glands.
People with ADHD also tend to need more adrenaline in order to compensate for the lack of dopamine being produced. They also tend to be “adrenaline junkies” (a person that enjoys thrill seeking activities to release exercise adrenaline) as the excess adrenaline can compensate for the initial loss.
Conclusion
Adrenaline is made to keep you safe from dangers in the world. It only becomes bad if it causes you to be unable to function because there is too much or too little. Facing extreme symptoms of adrenaline can also be harmful to as a person and if are experiencing them often it is recommended you see a medical professional. Just remember adrenaline is not all bad and is a necessary part of life to help you function and help you enjoy some of your favorite activities more.
