why do we get sweaty palms if we’re doing something dangerous like climbing? Isn’t that counter-productive?

Question

why do we get sweaty palms if we’re doing something dangerous like climbing? Isn’t that counter-productive?

In: 3370

Answer 1

I feel like a lot of people have this false assumption that every physiological response humans have must be beneficial in some way. Sometimes it just simply is counter-productive. There isn’t always some magical adaptation we have for every situation. Not all responses have a biological advantage.

Sweating during climbing is quite counterproductive, it happens since the body is unable to distinguish between “threats”; we react in the exact same way (trembling, sweating, hyperventilating) if we’re in a dangerous climbing situation or if we were doing a scary public speaking event. Someone else outlined the specific sympathetic response. Humans aren’t perfect.