Most of us have felt that rush when jumping off a diving board into a pool or rock-wall climbing at the YMCA. Some of my favorite things to do include feeling that spark of adrenaline. Adventure parks throughout different US states, cliff jumping in Nice, and zip-lining in the mountains of Zell am See, Austria. Although most of us associate adrenaline with that feeling right before a roller coaster drops, it’s really a small molecule made up of an amino acid called tyrosine with other chemical groups added to it
The emission of adrenaline is a big part of our flight vs. fight response, a human instinct that gets triggered in a possibly dangerous situation. Like most organic hormonal compounds, adrenaline is made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. Its chemical formula is C8H11O3N. Adrenaline is synthesized starting with tyrosine. The enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase converts it to dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA). This amino acid gets decarboxylated to form dopamine, which may sound familiar to you as it is a type of neurotransmitter used to send messages between nerve cells. Dopamine is then hydroxylated to create norepinephrine, and after a few more steps, becomes epinephrine.
Allergic Reactions
Now, this may all sound like a bunch of science talk, however, you may have recognized the word epinephrine. Wait, but we were talking about adrenaline, right? So, how does epinephrine come into all this? That’s because epinephrine is adrenaline. If you have any type of allergy, you’ve probably heard this word a bunch of times.
The main response to a severe allergic reaction is called anaphylaxis or anaphylactic shock. It involves the closing up of airways and often results in death. The body naturally secretes adrenaline (or epinephrine) to counter the effects of anaphylaxis, as it reduces swelling in the throat, can open up those airways, and prevent heart malfunctions. EpiPens were created in order to aid in the natural response that the body already has. Adrenaline cannot be inhaled or ingested as it will get destroyed by enzymes in the stomach. Therefore, an EpiPen is inserted into the side of the thigh and was designed for non-medical professionals to use.
There are still several side effects in response to the use of an EpiPen including: fast heartbeat, sweating, weakness, shakiness, and several more. You may recognize some of these side effects in correlation with symptoms felt after a major adrenaline rush, and now you know why. Many of these responses are also associated with a phenomenon most commonly known as the flight vs fight response.
Flight vs. Fight Response
Our sympathetic nervous systems developed the flight vs. fight response as a natural reactions to dangerous or stressful situations. This response dates back to times where we sat in caves and hunted for our food. Although humans aren’t even in remotely similar circumstances in terms of danger level as we were back then, this response still gets triggered by our nervous systems in situations like car accidents, robberies, etc.
Your body demonstrates sign of flight vs fight by exhibiting symptoms like the rise of blood presure and heart beat, pale/flushed skin, shakiness, dilated pupils, and a sense of being on edge. Adrenaline is the hormone that triggers this response. It prepares the nervous system to fight or flee by setting out a warning signal. This reaction can cause air passage to dilate or expand to provide muscles with a sufficient amount of oxygen to run, and can redirect blood vessels to the organs that need it such as the heart or lungs.
The flight vs fight response gets tricky in situations where we perceive something to be dangerous, although it may actually be safe. Phobias are a classic example of this possibility. For someone who has arachnophobia, seeing a spider can trigger the secretion of adrenaline and cause us to exhibit that flight vs fight response.
Adrenaline is not only a wonderful feeling as you cruise down a hill on your bike at top speed, but an essential hormone that can protect us in dangerous and emergent situations including allergic reactions and even car accidents. Remember that next time you go cliff jumping!
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