Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsCharacteristics of AdrenalineAdrenaline’s EffectsAdjusting Adrenaline LevelsAdrenaline as a Treatment for AnaphylaxisHow to Cope

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Characteristics of Adrenaline

Adrenaline’s Effects

Adjusting Adrenaline Levels

Adrenaline as a Treatment for Anaphylaxis

How to Cope

Close

Imagine you’re riding your bike, and a person appears suddenly, causing you to swerve. Your body will produce adrenaline, which leads to an immediate physical reaction. You may sweat, feel your heart racing, or your body shaking. This is a healthy, natural response. When you’re in a dangerous, unsafe, or problematic situation, this adrenaline can help you react quickly.

However, you can experience an adrenaline rush when taking the stage at a crowded stadium, before a competitive sporting event, when you’re on a roller coaster, or if you’re in the middle of an argument, among other situations.

At a GlanceAdrenaline can help prepare you to deal with stress. It can feel thrilling for some but distressing to others. Too much adrenaline can be bad for your health, contributing to headaches, high blood pressure, muscle tension, and mental health problems.Fortunately, you can take steps to manage your adrenaline levels, including exercising, limiting caffeine, and using relaxation strategies to calm your mind and body.

At a Glance

Adrenaline can help prepare you to deal with stress. It can feel thrilling for some but distressing to others. Too much adrenaline can be bad for your health, contributing to headaches, high blood pressure, muscle tension, and mental health problems.Fortunately, you can take steps to manage your adrenaline levels, including exercising, limiting caffeine, and using relaxation strategies to calm your mind and body.

Adrenaline can help prepare you to deal with stress. It can feel thrilling for some but distressing to others. Too much adrenaline can be bad for your health, contributing to headaches, high blood pressure, muscle tension, and mental health problems.

Fortunately, you can take steps to manage your adrenaline levels, including exercising, limiting caffeine, and using relaxation strategies to calm your mind and body.

Produced alongsidecortisoland aldosterone, adrenaline is released when you’re in a crisis or experiencing a strong emotion like excitement or fear. It happens automatically. When adrenaline is released, messages are sent to different organs in your body, such as the heart and lungs.

When adrenaline is released, you may experience:

When you’re in a"fight-or-flight" situation, you may run faster than you normally would, or you may not feel pain, even if you’ve been injured. This can happen when your body shifts to survival mode.

Sometimes, high levels of adrenaline can play a role in triggeringpanic attacks. This can lead to intense feelings of fear and terror, causing symptoms such as chest pain, dizziness, nausea, rapid heartbeat, and sweating.

When you’re in dangerous, unsafe situations, this reaction can help keep you safe. Once the situation has changed and you’re no longer facing a threat or stressor, your body will start to calm down, and the symptoms will subside.

Effects of Adrenaline on Body and Mind

Some peoplelove to experience the spike of adrenaline. Bungee jumpers, car racers, and athletes may chase this feeling, pushing themselves beyond their boundaries. For thrill-seekers, adrenaline is addictive.

Too much adrenaline can become a problem, especially if you’re experiencingchronic stress. If you’re perpetually in “fight-or-flight” mode, you’re going to experience prolonged symptoms, which can harm your mind and body.

A frequent overload of adrenaline can lead to:

Adrenal gland disorderscan also occur if you don’t produce enough hormones or produce too many. Pheochromocytoma, for instance, is a tumor that can result from too much adrenaline. This can lead to high blood pressure and other symptoms.

Maybe you work in a high-stress environment, such as a hospital or a school, or you’re dealing with personalstressors, like marital problems, which can cause an overload of adrenaline.

To limit the frequency of adrenaline rushes, you want to address the stressors in your life and practice healthy coping strategies. These could include:

Prolonged stressis detrimental to your health and well-being but can be addressed. Finding ways to reduce your stress levels now can actually contribute to a greaterresilienceto stress over the long term, which can help minimize the detrimental effects of excessive adrenaline.

If you’re having trouble minimizing the stress in your life, we recommendspeaking to a mental health professionalwho can offer coping strategies or treatment options.

Effective Stress Relievers

Adrenaline is used in emergencies to treat a serious allergic reaction, known as anaphylaxis.

Adrenaline can stimulate the heart, relax the muscles in the airways, raise blood pressure, and improve breathing, preventing the progression of life-threatening respiratory or cardiovascular symptoms.

If you’re allergic to bees and get stung, or if you’re allergic to peanuts and eat peanut butter, then you need to inject adrenaline quickly to combat hives, throat swelling, shortness of breath, or other symptoms of anaphylaxis.

Epinephrine Auto-Injector, commonly called an EpiPen, reverses symptoms. However, if it’s not used immediately following an allergic reaction and the individual doesn’t receive medical attention, anaphylaxis can lead to death, so it’s important to keep an EpiPen accessible if you have known allergies.

Coping With the Effects of Adrenaline

You may or may not enjoy the feeling of adrenaline, but it’s a natural, human reaction. You shouldn’t avoid certain activities, like public speaking, for the sake of avoiding the anxious feeling of an adrenaline rush, but engaging in risk-taking behaviors can also be problematic.

If you’re a so-called “adrenaline junkie,” take precautions to protect yourself and those around you. If you’re experiencing too much adrenaline frequently or you need more coping strategies to deal with ananxiety disorderor other psychological stressors, consider speaking to a therapist.

If you are struggling to cope, consider talking to your doctor of a mental health professional. They can evaluate your symptoms, rule out possible medical conditions, and recommend treatments that can help.

Therapy for Anxiety Disorders

4 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Mariotti A.The effects of chronic stress on health: new insights into the molecular mechanisms of brain-body communication.Future Sci OA. 2015;1(3):FSO23. doi:10.4155/fso.15.21Gashi AI, Gontarev S, Zivkovic V, Gjorgovski I, Azemi A.The effect of aerobic physical activity in adrenaline level in white laboratory rats.Med Arch. 2020;74(2):84-89. doi:10.5455/medarh.2020.74.84-89Ma X, Yue ZQ, Gong ZQ, et al.The effect of diaphragmatic breathing on attention, negative affect and stress in healthy adults.Front Psychol.2017;8:874. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00874McLean-Tooke APC, Bethune CA, Fay AC, Spickett GP.Adrenaline in the treatment of anaphylaxis: what is the evidence?BMJ. 2003;327(7427):1332-1335.

4 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Mariotti A.The effects of chronic stress on health: new insights into the molecular mechanisms of brain-body communication.Future Sci OA. 2015;1(3):FSO23. doi:10.4155/fso.15.21Gashi AI, Gontarev S, Zivkovic V, Gjorgovski I, Azemi A.The effect of aerobic physical activity in adrenaline level in white laboratory rats.Med Arch. 2020;74(2):84-89. doi:10.5455/medarh.2020.74.84-89Ma X, Yue ZQ, Gong ZQ, et al.The effect of diaphragmatic breathing on attention, negative affect and stress in healthy adults.Front Psychol.2017;8:874. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00874McLean-Tooke APC, Bethune CA, Fay AC, Spickett GP.Adrenaline in the treatment of anaphylaxis: what is the evidence?BMJ. 2003;327(7427):1332-1335.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Mariotti A.The effects of chronic stress on health: new insights into the molecular mechanisms of brain-body communication.Future Sci OA. 2015;1(3):FSO23. doi:10.4155/fso.15.21Gashi AI, Gontarev S, Zivkovic V, Gjorgovski I, Azemi A.The effect of aerobic physical activity in adrenaline level in white laboratory rats.Med Arch. 2020;74(2):84-89. doi:10.5455/medarh.2020.74.84-89Ma X, Yue ZQ, Gong ZQ, et al.The effect of diaphragmatic breathing on attention, negative affect and stress in healthy adults.Front Psychol.2017;8:874. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00874McLean-Tooke APC, Bethune CA, Fay AC, Spickett GP.Adrenaline in the treatment of anaphylaxis: what is the evidence?BMJ. 2003;327(7427):1332-1335.

Mariotti A.The effects of chronic stress on health: new insights into the molecular mechanisms of brain-body communication.Future Sci OA. 2015;1(3):FSO23. doi:10.4155/fso.15.21

Gashi AI, Gontarev S, Zivkovic V, Gjorgovski I, Azemi A.The effect of aerobic physical activity in adrenaline level in white laboratory rats.Med Arch. 2020;74(2):84-89. doi:10.5455/medarh.2020.74.84-89

Ma X, Yue ZQ, Gong ZQ, et al.The effect of diaphragmatic breathing on attention, negative affect and stress in healthy adults.Front Psychol.2017;8:874. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00874

McLean-Tooke APC, Bethune CA, Fay AC, Spickett GP.Adrenaline in the treatment of anaphylaxis: what is the evidence?BMJ. 2003;327(7427):1332-1335.

Meet Our Review Board

Share Feedback

Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

Was this page helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!

What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

What is your feedback?