What are facts about humans?

Answer 1

I'm not a doctor, so keep that in mind.

The adrenal gland sits atop the kidneys, and when you get frightened or threatened your body will release adrenaline (aka epinephrine). Epinephrine "boosts the supply of oxygen and glucose to the brain and muscles..." Also, caffeine found in coffee and other drinks causes your body to release small amounts of adrenaline and that is partially why it keeps you awake and active.

Caffeine is similar to adenosine which is what helps you fall asleep at night. The brain is "tricked" by caffeine because its structure is much like adenosine. And so, when caffeine binds to receptors in the brain it actually speeds things up rather than adenosine slowing things down.

Your body is capable of much more when adrenaline is released, its possible to move hundreds of pounds of whatever when your life depends on it. Also, you can supposedly see things nearly twice as fast as normal. The human brain sees things at roughly 30 frams a second, however when your on an adrenaline rush - running or fighting for your life - you can see at nearly 60 frames a second which would be like seeing things in slow motion. If you ask people who may have had near-death experiences they may tell you that they saw everything as if it was all in slow motion.

It's really cool, check out "Human Body: Pushing the Limits" on the Discovery website.

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/human-body/human-body.html

wikipedia - Adrenaline:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenaline

wikipedia - Adenosine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine