The presence of a small molecule called 'neuropeptide Y' (NPY) has been linked with cool thinking in dangerous or deadly situations:
Yale psychiatrist Andy Morgan, for example, has studied elite Special Forces recruits as they undergo "Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape" training, a three-week course designed to simulate the tortures of enemy capture. The program is brutally stressful, yet many recruits preserve an amazing amount of mental clarity in the midst of it. When Morgan examined the poised trainees' blood tests, he saw that they were producing significantly more of "a goofy little peptide called neuropeptide Y" than other, more rattled recruits. The extra NPY was like a layer of stress-deflecting mental Kevlar; its effects are so pronounced that Morgan can tell whether a soldier has made it into the Special Forces or not just by looking at a blood test.A previous study also showed higher amounts of NPY in the blood of Special Forces troops compared to regular troops:
Special forces soldiers, who had thirty-three percent higher plasma levels of neuropeptide Y than general troop soldiers, were found to possess clearer minds and to have out-performed other soldiers under stress. In a related study, Morgan and colleagues also discovered that soldiers in Combat Dive training who released more NPY during stress excelled in underwater navigation, and that hostage rescue team members with higher NPY levels during stress performed better.Cool stuff, but it's unclear to me whether enhanced neuropeptide Y in people who handle stressful situations well is a cause or an effect. It could be the output of a clearer thinking brain to stress. Would a shot of NPY produce clearer thinking in people subjected to stress?
Does she have 'Tiger blood'?
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