What is an Adrenaline?

Is adrenaline when blood goes around your body faster making you more and heated and do stuff better than you normally do?

Adrenaline (C9H13NO3) is a catecholamine and belongs to the family of biogenic amines. It forms colourless to white crystalls (mp: 211-212 °C). Adrenaline is air and light sensitive and forms dark products during decomposition.
For more general information (CAS-Nr., names, ...) follow this link.
Adrenaline
R = H Noradrenaline
R = CH3 Adrenaline
[IMG]http://www2.ccc.uni-erlangen.de/projects/ChemVis/motm/pics/adrenaline.gif[/IMG]
L-adrenaline has some important biological functions. On the one hand, it belongs, like the chemically related noradrenaline, to the family of adrenal medulla hormones. The hormone has a big influence on the storage and mobilisation of glycogene and fatty acids and the corresponding metabolic pathways (see biological function).
On the other hand, adrenaline is a neurotransmitter of the adrenergic nervous system. It has an effect on alpha- and beta-rezeptors (see biological function).
History

L-adrenaline was isolated from adrenal medulla (name (lat.): adrenes) by two independent groups (Takamine, Aldrich and von Fürth) in 1900 and 1901. It was the first hormone which could be crystallized. The structure determination by Jowett and the first total chemical synthesis by Stolz were achieved in 1904. In 1950, Earl Sutherland was able to show that adrenaline and glucagone induce the metabolism of glycogene. This was the beginning of the determination of the molecular mechanism of hormonal effects.

cat·e·cho·la·mine Audio pronunciation of "catecholamine" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kt-kl-mn, -kô-)
n.

Any of a group of amines derived from catechol that have important physiological effects as neurotransmitters and hormones and include epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine.


amines

A group of compounds derived from ammonia by substituting organic radicals for the hydrogens.

Now on to the practical knowledge of Adrenaline. Yes, adrenaline causes your heart to beat faster and body temperature to rise. Adrenaline is released into the blood stream during times of stress. It is what induces the "fight or flight" instincts in a person. What we talk about when we say "adrenaline dump" is exactly that. Adrenaline dumps cause you to lose your ability to "think" things through when you are close to a fight. Your brain no longer functions intellectually, but operates on an instinctive level. That is why sparring/contact training is so important to SD. You need to know techniques well enough to use them for real, and you need to have techniques memorized and practiced so well that using them is an instinctual thing.