If you’re like most highway drivers, you’ve likely seen a car alongside yours suddenly stray into your lane, causing you to quickly swerve to avoid being hit. In addition to feeling a pounding heart and quickened breathing, your muscles may also tense and you may break into a sweat. This is called a “fight-or-flight” response, honed over many centuries in response to stressful situations.
It works like this: When threatened, our bodies release a hormone called cortisol which allows us to remain on high alert. When the threat passes, our cortisol levels drop. While cortisol is also responsible for our circadian rhythm and in part influences how much energy we have throughout the day, it is often called the “stress hormone” because of the role it plays in managing the body’s response to acute stressors.
“Cortisol is one of the steroids produced by the adrenal gland,” says Dr. Irina Bancos, associate professor of medicine, division of endocrinology, metabolism and nutrition, and Adrenal Lab principal investigator at the Mayo Clinic . “Stress leads the pituitary gland to produce higher amounts of ACTH (corticotropin) that travels to the adrenal glands and communicates that cortisol needs to be produced.
” These stressors can be environmental, such as a potential car accident, or anticipatory, says Jeanette M. Bennett, Ph.D.
, associate professor, psychological studies at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, such as preparing to speak in public or to ha.