“When you perceive something as threatening or exciting, the hypothalamus in the brain signals to the adrenal glands that it’s time to produce adrenaline and other stress hormones,” livestrong.com reports. “The adrenal glands produce adrenaline by transforming the amino acid tyrosine into dopamine. Oxygenation of dopamine yields noradrenaline, which is then converted into adrenaline. Adrenaline binds to receptors on the heart, arteries, pancreas, liver, muscles and fatty tissue.” And then . . .
By binding to receptors on the heart and arteries, adrenaline increases heart rate and respiration, and by binding to receptors on the pancreas, liver, muscles and fatty tissue, it inhibits the production of insulin and stimulates the synthesis of sugar and fat, which the body can use as a fuel in fight-or-flight situations.
Basically, an adrenaline dump is quite a rush. A biological reaction that will happen when you begin a defensive gun use. That will turn your fingers into flippers, give you tunnel vision, mess with time and distance perception, addle your thoughts and more.
Shooting during an adrenaline dump is about as far from standing at a gun range and punching paper as you can get. So how well do you cope with stress? Ever had to deal with life-or-death stress? How’d you do?