The science of adrenalin: why we need it to survive

Without adrenalin the human race may have died out quicker than the dodo. It was adrenalin that helped our cave-dwelling ancestors to deal with the grisly hazards of daily life. When a sabre-toothed tiger started poking its jaws into an ancestor’s cave, the hormone, also known as epinephrine, kicked in: a neurotransmitter it is released into the blood preparing the body for ‘fight or flight’.

Dane Fletcher is an author and athletic coach, he says: ‘We have all heard the stories about how adrenalin can give the average person freakish strength in emergency situations, such as a small mother being able to lift heavy objects like a car to free a trapped child.’

He explains: ‘When the adrenalin is released into the bloodstream, the body reacts instantly. Your heart starts racing, things that run normally such as your digestive system cease to function, glucose levels increase in the blood stream and the oxygen to the brain and the muscles increases drastically. A lot of people have also reported a heightened sense of awareness of the situation they are in and their surroundings. Life or death decisions are usually made with faster than lightning speed and extreme clarity.’

Epinephrine temporarily goes up when we do extreme sports or intense exercise, giving us a buzz. Of course, some people can become addicted to this – the so-called adrenalin junkie.

Derek, a 43-year-old aero-space engineer, has often been called an adrenalin junkie. ‘I need to do things that put me on the edge in order to feel alive. Friends go to the gym but I prefer to test myself. I sky dive or parachute jump most weekends as well as climb mountains,’ he says.

Does he see the tag of adrenalin junkie as a negative or positive? ‘Some people think I am mad. But for me it’s about not taking stupid risks. If we go off on a serious climb we prepare for weeks, even months.  It’s potentially dangerous, so we need to prepare for that and respect it. It’s the same with sky-diving, all my friends are very safety conscious. For most of the people I know it is more about challenging and stretching yourself than anything else. I certainly don’t have a death wish, more of a life wish – to live it to the full,’ he says.

If adrenalin can help lift moods, can it help with depression?  The UK charity the DepressionAlliance states that depression is one of the most common reasons patients end up in the doctor’s waiting room.  Worse still, nearly one in six people will suffer some form of mental problem in their lifetimes. While the DepressionAlliance doesn’t advocate suffers go out and dive into extreme sports, it believes ‘light exercise and outside interests are strategies for coping with depression’.   Last year, the government launched New Horizons – an initiative to promote health care and wellbeing and take a more rounded approach to mental health. Employment is a big factor in mental health but so too is physical exercise.

Paul Farmer chief executive of the mental health charity, Mind , says: ‘Good mental wellbeing isn’t just about treatment, it’s also about prevention and by focusing on the factors that take their toll on our wellbeing in the first place, we have a chance at achieving better mental health for everyone.’

There’s no doubt that adrenalin is at the core of what makes us function as humans. Our ancestors roaming the plains of Africa needed it to survive. And, maybe, we aren’t that much different. If you wish to try an adrenalin activity – both light and more extreme – click here.