Your body’s stress response kicks in when you perceive you are under threat.
Mammals have evolved this superb mechanism to ensure we have the best possible chance of survival when faced with a life-threatening situation.
Imagine you are in the jungle and you hear movement behind you. You stop still, heart pounding and turn your head to orientate your eyes and ears to the sound. You see the undergrowth trampled as you hear an animal pounding towards you – then you hear the lions roar.
At times like this you’d want every muscle in your body to work to the peak of its ability – and your brain to be super-alert.
Evolution has obliged, and given you the stress response.
Once your brain has decided there’s a danger, it sends immediate nerve signals down your spinal cord to your adrenal glands telling them to release the hormone adrenaline. Once released, adrenaline increases the amount of sugar in your blood, increases your heart rate and raises your blood pressure (and has many other actions).
Your brain’s remarkable hypothalamus also sends signals to your pituitary gland at the bottom of your brain, telling it to release factors that within a few minutes have travelled through your blood stream and stimulated your adrenal cortex to produce a stress hormone – cortisol.
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Cortisol is very important in your stress response - keeping your blood sugar and blood pressure up to help you escape from danger.
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