Never is the maladaptiveness of the stress-response during psychological stress clearer than in the case of the cardiovascular system. You sprint through the restaurant district terrified, and you alter cardiovascular functions to divert more blood flow to your thigh muscles. In such cases, there’s a wonderful match between blood flow and metabolic demand. In contrast, if you sit and think about a major deadline looming next week, driving yourself into a hyperventilating panic, you still alter cardiovascular function to divert more blood flow to your limb muscles. Crazy. And, potentially,
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