Scientific terms are often bandied about by health advocates without properly defining them.  Leaving many folks to wonder what they actually mean.  For example, I often hear about “stress hormones” when I hear a talk on sleep or rest, and lately, when folks are talking about losing weight.  But, hearing the names doesn’t automatically conjure up a visual image, nor does it give the listener any idea what it does.  Recently, I gave a talk on stress and you really can’t talk about that topic without talking about THE stress hormones – Adrenaline and Cortisol.  Hopefully, after this post, you will have some idea what these two chemicals do to the body – at least on a primary level.

First, let’s talk about adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, also known as one of the fight-or-flight chemicals.  With all those AKA’s, you might think that it just escaped out of prison and has several tattoos in very conspicuous places and in a way it has because this chemical is set free when you are confronted with a dangerous situation.  It can also appears when you are ready to give a public speech or asking someone out to the high school Sadie Hawkins dance for the first time ever.  In other words, it could be released whenever YOU perceive a situation that makes you anxious.  Adrenaline has a brother that is released with it called Noradrenaline and is released in a 5:1 ratio of Adrenaline:Noradrenaline.  Both are released by the adrenal glands.  You have one each gland sitting on top of each kidney just waiting for its chance to make a break for it.  If you could see the structure of the molecule it would look like this:

Adrenaline would look a lot like this - that is, If you had super vision.

The difference between Adrenaline and Noradrenaline is very small and is basically one of molecule orientation, and would require me to write a long and boring post on degrees of freedom, rotation, and stereoscopy.  So rather than bore you just think of the two being very closely related, hence the brothers analogy.  Though Adrenaline is a term that lots of folks like to say (especially extreme sports aficionados,) most people in the medical community call it by its proper name Epinephrine (meaning, above the kidneys) which kind of gives you an idea of where this molecule came from providing you took a semester each of Greek and Latin.  And what of Noradrenaline? – you ask.  Well, it  is simply Norepinephrine!  I didn’t waste those semesters after all!

What Epinephrine does to the body is really quite amazing if you consider that it could very well save your life in a bullfight or bullrun, and that’s no bull.  Here is an excerpt of the Wikipedia article on epinephrine:

When in the bloodstream, it rapidly prepares the body for action in emergency situations. The hormone boosts the supply of oxygen and glucose to the brain and muscles, while suppressing other non-emergency bodily processes (digestion in particular).

It increases heart rate and stroke volume, dilates the pupils, and constricts arterioles in the skin and gastrointestinal tract while dilating arterioles in skeletal muscles. It elevates the blood sugar level by increasing catabolism of glycogen to glucose in the liver, and at the same time begins the breakdown of lipids in fat cells. Like some other stress hormones, epinephrine has a suppressive effect on the immune system.

Although epinephrine does not have any psychoactive effects, stress or arousal also releases norepinephrine in the brain. Norepinephrine has similar actions in the body, but is also psychoactive.

The type of action in various cell types depends on their expression of adrenergic receptors.

So, there it is in a nutshell for further information on Adrenalin – or as we say in the biz “Epinephrine” you might want to check out these links:

Wolfram|Alpha – Epinphrine

Wikipedia Article on Epinephrine

Cortisol

Enough already about adrenaline!  Let’s talk about Cortisol.  Cortisol is another hormone that is released when confronted with a perceived stressor.  Don’t worry about the term stressor either.  It’s just another way of saying that something is stressing you out.  Now back to cortisol.  It is a corticosteroid or glucocorticoid – meaning it has a lot in common structurally with testosterone and estrogen, for that matter, it has a lot in common with cholesterol, bodybuilding and baseball as well.  One giveaway as to why it is named cortisol is that it is made in the adrenal cortex, get it? CORT-ex, CORT-isol!  The structure of Cortisol looks like this:

The proper name is (11?)-?11,?17,?21-?trihydroxypregn-?4-?ene-?3,?20-?dione I think I will just stick with Cortisol.

One unique thing about Cortisol is that it’s levels are cyclical throughout the day.  In fact, if all things are normal then you have your highest level in the morning and your lowest levels in the evening around midnight.  Among it’s effects on the body include but not limited to:

• Proper glucose metabolism
• Regulation of blood pressure
• Insulin release for blood sugar maintenance
• Immune function
• Inflammatory response
• A quick burst of energy for survival reasons
• Heightened memory functions
• A burst of increased immunity
• Lower sensitivity to pain
• Helps maintain homeostasis in the body

Again, it is not limited to this!  Here is a very good wiki article where you can read up on the many effects both good and bad.

So, there you have it Adrenaline and Cortisol.  I hope you enjoyed the article and feel free to leave a comment.

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