Several forms of high impact human cardiovascular(CV) pathology are related to autonomic dysregulation, emerging in association with adrenergic events. A phylogenetic survey of organisms with spontaneous occurrence of these pathologies and correlation with life history points to the adaptive value of the phenotypic flexibility facilitated by these dynamic systems. It also suggests that varied intra-individual CV physiologic responses to environmental threat are complex, adaptive and play a central role in vulnerability to several forms of human cardiovascular pathology.