So todays blog from the SCCR and Young Scot Adrenaline - Don’t get mad get moving!. Perhaps the best known of the brain’s chemicals, Adrenaline is needed for us to respond to ‘danger’…whether real or perceived.
Today’s blog also tells us about the benefits of exercise in regulating the levels of adrenaline and the down side of video games, which are designed to keep our adrenaline levels at trigger point…think about how often arguments start when teenagers are told to stop gaming!.
Also adrenaline remains in the bloodstream for up to an hour after it is first triggered!! So when we are angry, how challenging is it to reboot our emotions when our adrenaline levels remain high?
Working as a mediator with YP and their families who are in conflict, when emotions are running high, I am always mindful that challenging conversations need to be handled extremely carefully or delayed until we are able to have a meaningful discussion.
What do other people do when they need to talk about things but anger and emotions get in the way? Let us know!
I find when the adrenaline is pumping it is creates such an overwhelming emotion that it is very difficult to control, for me anyway. It feeds into the impulse control supressing the cognitive function of rationality for example I remember when my daughter found herself in a life-threatening situation by accident when we were on holiday. My level of adrenaline shot through the roof and I acted on impulse with no regard to my own safety to save her, and when I think back on this my cognitive function was working but in a very focussed way to guide my actions but not in assessing risk, but to identify a route to access my child. Fortunately, on this occasion everything turned out well, but in hindsight it could have had a tragic end, I was lucky. Not so positive if that adrenaline high had been in a conflict scenario. I try to regulate that emotion by not engaging with the other person and taking time out, if I see it in others I do the same, let them calm down , give them space, don’t revisit until we have re-established, resumed normal communication and even then explore sensitively the triggers that escalated the heightened emotion.