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Asked by h3rt5ph30n1x to Daniela, Hannah, Ian, Jono, Mark on 19 Jun 2013.
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Mark Hodson answered on 19 Jun 2013:
Hi h3rt5ph30n1x,
that’s a catchy name!
One answer is because they are worried about exams or whether their football team will win!
More seriously feeling “nervous” is one of things that happen when the body produces adrenalin. Adrenalin is known as a fight or flight drug and is produced when we perceive danger. It helps you run away faster or fight harder, even when you’re hurt so is useful for helping humans (and other animals) survive in the wild.
cheers
m
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Hannah Brotherton answered on 20 Jun 2013:
Hi h3rt5ph30n1x,
We get nervous because of evolution. So imagine when we were monkeys…..we are chilling in the jungle, then you hear a snap of a branch…….is it a leopard, jungle cat, another monkey??……WHAT IS IT? we are now on high alert for any other sound…..This is the fight or flight reflex. Are we going to fight or runaway from the thing making the noise. If it is a jungle cat…I am outta here!!. If it is another monkey, i’ll probably fight him because he has come into my territory.Unfortunately, these evolved fight or flight reflexes are what makes us humans nervous. So before an exam, the nerves we feel are the fight or flight reflex. Our body is thinking should we fight it (do the exam) or runaway (faint). Also, our body thinks the exams are dangerous because of evolution.Our body still thinks we are about to meet a lion and we need to runaway, but its just an exam.
This explains why even though we know its an exam and we keep telling ourselves to relax, our body and evolution still thinks we are in the jungle and a lion or predator is coming to get us. -
Daniela Plana answered on 20 Jun 2013:
Hi h3rt5ph30n1x,
Being nervous is not only a human thing, most animals get nervous too… it’s usually in response to something we find threatening so we go on high alert to be able to deal with it. Like Mark says, our bodies release adrenalin which helps us be stronger and faster… when we get really scared and our bodies think we or someone we care about are in danger, sometime we can do things that on a normal day would be impossible… there are reports, for example, of moms being able to lift really heavy things due to adrenalin surges when their kids where in danger.
Daniela
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Ian Wilson answered on 20 Jun 2013:
Hi h3rt5ph30n1x!
That’s a really interesting question – I thought to myself “Oh, it’s when we worry” and then thought, “But what physically happens to us?”.
As the others have said, nervousness is part of our natural ‘fight or flight’ mechanism. Have you noticed that you get nervous when you’re scared of something happening? You might be scared of failing an exam, scared of jumping off a high ledge… The nerves are your body’s response to what it sees as danger. It’s preparing you to get yourself out of the situation. But it’s not much use most of the time – it heightens your senses, but the danger doesn’t go away until you’ve jumped or taken the exam. So the tension just builds up, making you really nervous and anxious.
So what’s going on in your body that makes you nervous? Well, we don’t know exactly :S What we THINK is happening is that there are 2 chemicals in the brain called serotonin and noradrenaline, which are ‘neurotransmitters’. They send signals through the brain, basically. When you’re in danger or scared, the amounts of these chemicals change, sending unusual signals round your brain. These signals result in the nervousness. It’s weird and kind of unhelpful but there you go!
Hope that helps,
Ian
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