"He was not conscious of an effort, but a sharp pain in his wrist apprised him that he was trying to free his hands. He gave the struggle his attention, as an idler might observe the feat of a juggler, without interest in the outcome. What splendid effort!--what magnificent, what superhuman strength! Ah, that was a fine endeavor! Bravo! The cord fell away; his arms parted and floated upward, the hands dimly seen on each side in the growing light." Chapter 3
I've always thought it is so interesting how, when humans are in these high stress situations of emergency, our sympathetic nervous system kicks on. We are given that ability to do things we didn't know we could & strength we didn't know we had, because of the crucial circumstances. Usually these sort of actions would be conscious actions, but during life threatening circumstances these actions become automatic.
For example, when he was trying to free his hands, he was not aware that he was doing this, which is very similar to involuntary actions of the body, such as breathing or blinking your eyes. This man's conscious mind is so traumatized, frightened and in shock that the fight or flight response takes over in order to do what it can to keep him alive.
This is so interesting Maddie! I heard this about suicide attempts before: Even though they are purposely trying to kill themselves, their body subconsciously fights back. I don't know if this is relevant, but I thought it might interest you.
ReplyDeleteYES I LOVE THIS!!! Ive heard of people being able to move cars during emergenetic situations. Does this apply since this is an unconscious action?!!
ReplyDeleteYou guys are amazing! Great conversations. Keep it up!!
ReplyDeleteIt really is amazing what the human body can do in periods of duress. The apparent superhuman strength given by adrenaline is one of the most fascinating aspects of the human body. It makes you wonder how many things your body is capable of doing that you do not know of.
ReplyDeleteVery true everyone. The human Body is really cool. I took a wilderness first aid course recently and one of the things they said was to watch out for people in shock and diebetic emergencies, because normal every day people can become combative, and, subconsciously want to kill the person trying to help them. One story that was told at this point was about a man in his 20's who was having a diebetic emergency and it took three firemen to keep him on the ground long enough to sedate him.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if there is a chart that shows how strong people can be when they have adrenaline pumping through them? If so please let me know I want to check that out.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if there is. Do you know how you would be able to measure this? Is there some kind of tool that was invented that could measure it?
DeleteI have a hard time believing there is a a system at which this could be measured. If there was that would be so cool and inthralling!!
DeleteI feel like adrenaline is like a super power for stressed people. You having a rough day and you need to lift a building or something? Adrenaline's got you covered.
Delete