We've all grown up watching superhero cartoons/movies and have all been obsessed by Marvel Avengers (well, maybe just me then). Many of you will have asked the question amongst your friends "If you could have a super-power what would it be"? Most people respond with the classics "Flight" or "Invisibility". While they may be out of our reach (for the moment) there is one power that, to a degree, we all have within us. Super-strength. Admittedly it is a far cry from the gamma fueled rage ball that is the Incredible Hulk, but compared to the usual parameters that the human body functions within it can allow us to perform some quite extraordinary feats.
Let's look at the case of Lydia Angyiou of Ivujivik in Quebec, Canada. 41 year old Lydia was with her children outside of a local youth center after their local hockey game. Everything was fine until Lydia spotted a wild Polar Bear eying the children up. It is at this point her trusted fight or flight response kicked in. Now, most of our subconscious' would realize that hand to hand combat with a 1000lb wild bear is bad business and use all that extra energy and muscle capacity to run as fast our legs could carry us. In Lydia's case her motherly instincts over-rode the flight aspect and ran at the bear to utilize the "fight" aspect. What ensued was nothing short of miraculous. Fighting the beast bare-handed, Lydia managed to harass and occupy the bear long enough for one of her neighbors to run home and retrieve their gun to shoot the bear. After four shots the bear was finally downed. Despite being bloodied, Lydia was otherwise fine.
So, how does a 41 year old Canadian mother with no training whatsoever, go toe-to-toe with a 1000lb wild beast and live to tell the tale. First off it must be noted that there was an immense degree of luck involved. One swipe with those huge claws connecting on a vital artery and its curtains for Lydia. Outside of the luck needed there was still a physiological response within Lydia that allowed her to fight without being completely overwhelmed.
Let's map it out. First, the sight of the bear threatening her boys stimulates Lydia's hypothalamus. Form here a chemical signal is sent directly to the adrenal glands and activating the sympathetic system, which kicks her body into an excited state. The release of epinephrine and norepinephrine raise Lydia's heart rate, respiration and a huge release of glycogen into the blood stream, ready to fuel her action. The increased blood flow and glucose provides the muscles with a super charge of energy, allowing Lydia's muscles to function at a capacity way beyond her usual means.
In the next post we will look at the aftermath of these superhuman exploits on the body.
- George, Jane. "Polar bear no match for fearsome mother in Ivujivik." Nunatsiaq News. February 17, 2006. http://www.nunatsiaq.com/archives/60217/news/nunavut/60217_03.html
- Marsden, C.D. and Meadows, J.C. "The effect of adrenaline on the contractions of human muscle." The Journal of Physiology. 1970. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1348716 &blobtype=pdf
you might want to look at the effects of adrenaline (aka epinephrine) on blood pressure, heart rate, pupil dilation, respiration etc.
ReplyDeleteIt might also be interesting to consider the effects of pseudophed and how that mimics epinephrine and how athletes use it to enhance performance.
This is really cool. I wonder if an individual's fight or flight response depends on their parental discipline as a child or the environment in which they were reared.
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