This release of hormones “increases heart rate and blood pressure, dilates the airways to maximize oxygen, and causes blood vessels to constrict, which helps redirect blood to important muscle groups like the heart and lungs,” explains Holly Black. Professor of Behavior. Medicine at the University of Nottingham School of Medicine, England.
Senses related to touch, sight, and hearing are also heightened by the secretion of these (and other) hormones, all of which help us better process and respond to sudden changes in our environment. face, whatever their nature.
Importantly, adrenaline can also temporarily reduce the sensation of pain. “Adrenaline can influence pain perception by inhibiting pain signaling pathways,” explains Mikhail Zilbermint, MD, a physician and director of the hospital’s endocrinology program at Johns Hopkins Hospital. It does this in part by inhibiting and blocking pain signals that travel through the brain and spinal cord. Also included are torrents of endorphins, which science works as natural painkillers.
It is thanks to these hormones that we can overuse or overuse a muscle in situations of extreme stress. “Pain feedback loop pathways in your body normally work to protect you, but when those pathways are blocked, you no longer have to worry about tearing a bicep or tearing a muscle. One in the face of catastrophic damage,” explains Andrew Huberman.
Extreme fight-flight responses may be beneficial in stressful situations, or even critical in emergencies, but the hormones secreted in these contexts may be secreted in lesser amounts than under more normal circumstances.
“Everything that happens in this reaction system exists on a continuum, so a person who is slightly stressed will experience partial effects, while a person in full panic will unlock all the effects of this system,” explains Andrew Huberman. is
Research shows that most of us secrete stress hormones like cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine. “Any time there is stress, adrenaline is produced,” explains Melissa Leber, MD, a physician and director of the sports medicine emergency department at Mount Sinai Health System in New York. “This can happen during a competition or performance, due to an important test or presentation, during a fight or when your body is dealing with an illness or infection. »
Some people who already experience stress more often than others experience stress reactions more frequently and often to a greater degree.
A person with a demanding job or someone who is regularly sleep-deprived, for example, is more likely to be “tired and stressed” than someone who doesn’t struggle with these things, as Andrew Huberman says.
Conversely, high on the continuum, “athletes exercising at extreme levels of endurance or strength activate this stress system more, and are used for longer periods of time than the general public,” E. Paul Zehr says.
Regardless, while it is likely that a given individual derives short-term benefits from the release of stress hormones, the long-term consequences of repeatedly flooding their system with these hormones can be worrisome. “We need these hormones to facilitate physiological responses, but too much can wreak havoc on us,” warns Gordon Lynch.
Gordon Lynch explains that chronic stress associated with constant and elevated secretion of adrenaline, norepinephrine and cortisol “can affect the body’s organs and systems and lead to harmful physiological consequences.” » High blood pressure, sleep disorders, diabetes, obesity and heart disease are unwanted side effects of chronic stress.
Stress can also affect the area of the brain where memories are stored. “While stress dramatically affects your memory in the short term and especially in fight-flight situations, perhaps because your brain wants to remember how to avoid such situations in the future, in the long term, chronic stress can greatly impair your memory,” warns Andrew Huberman.
In addition, the extreme end of the stress response continuum, which includes superhuman strength and fight-flight, can lead to particularly concerning outcomes.
“By their very nature, physical cascades leading to the manifestation of ‘superhuman strength’ break safety barriers and can therefore be extraordinarily dangerous,” E. Paul Zehr warns. If we were maxed out all the time, we wouldn’t live very long. »
According to Holly Black, even the sudden release of too much adrenaline, such as when the body anticipates an unseen threat, “can lead to the onset of symptoms such as dizziness, insomnia, panic and fever, and in the most severe cases, damage to the heart.
In cases where trauma is added to one extreme experience on the stress response continuum, the individual is at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and long-term effects.
Even without a PTSD diagnosis, experiencing a strong stress response can be emotionally difficult for many people to overcome. Andrew Huberman explains that the fight-flight mechanisms are activated very quickly, “but it takes a long time to diffuse these reactions and some people continue to think about what they feel for hours or even days. »
These people are likely to have difficulty concentrating, have changes in their appetite and have trouble sleeping at night.
Andrew Huberman concludes, “We are human.” And sometimes when we are stressed, we cannot stop (these reactions). »
