Release Adrenaline and Reduce Your Stress Level
You're well aware of how intense workouts can reduce stress, enhance your physique, and create a strong energized body, but did you ever wonder what mechanism is responsible for this reduction of stress? And, if you new the mechanism, wouldn't you love to use it to amplify your control on stress?
Women's Health on-line discusses new research that explains how the stress hormone adrenaline offers up a buffering effect to the daily grind and stressful work.
Intense exercise (like downhilling your board over that courage-summoning drop-off) releases stress hormones, including adrenaline, and the resulting buzz can buffer you from future stress in other domains, says Frank M. Perna, associate professor of medicine and director of health psychology at Boston University School of Medicine. That's right, the same hormone surge that compels you to belt out woo-hoo! at the top of your lungs can also grant you the power to brush off daily frustrations the way Angelina brushes off male fans. So you can spend less time feeling pissed and edgy -- and more time kicked-back and relaxed...This single burst is a good stressor, it is the mechanism of adrenaline that "sends a flood of oxygen-rich red blood cells through your body, boosts your immune system, and signals your brain to start releasing painkilling endorphins."
..."A single adrenaline burst that comes and goes very quickly is a good thing because it gives you energy and gets you ready to mobilize for immediate action," says Esther M. Sternberg, M.D., director of the Integrative Neural Immune Program at the National Institute of Mental Health.
This adrenaline rush is what I sense as I deadlift 275 lbs., what a rush it is! Heavy deadlifting is challenging work, scary, but rightfully rewarding. The best thing about deadlifting at the beginning of a weight training session is that every weight I lift thereafter seems lighter than usual and makes me feel even stronger than ever.
Challenging your body is within your power, it is your right, your privilege, your beckoning duty, and it is very selfishly yours to reap benefits from.
Go on, step out of your shell and scare yourself, do something entirely different today.
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