However, as every race car driver knows, there is a downside to this -- nitrous oxide significantly reduces the life span of the car's engine.. Thankfully, today those life-threatening stressors are almost non-existent. These hormones give us a boost of super-human strength similar to nitrous oxide in a race car. However, our bodies still respond to stress in the same way as when we were running from tigers. When a race car driver needs an extra boost of power, he hits the button that releases a much higher octane fuel into the engine -- NO2. This stress response is called "fight or flight." To help protect, defend, and safeguard our survival more efficiently, the body releases hormones such as adrenaline, cortisol, and a host of other chemicals into the blood stream during the "fight or flight" response.

The car's horsepower increases greatly.

Learn How to Manage Stress With Foods That Heal In our not too distant past, we humans were under very different external threats than we are today, such as being eaten by wild animals and subjected to violence from hostile invaders.