

Pupils – They enlarge so that you can see more clearly. These hormones also affect the following: These changes cause more blood to flow to your muscles preparing you to run. Another hormone, adrenaline (also known as epinephrine), causes your heart rate and breathing to increase. It also increases your blood sugar to provide more energy. It increases your heart rate to allow more blood flow to muscles. The amygdala causes this response by releasing hormones into the bloodstream. This response is necessary for survival because it prepares the body to defend itself. The fear response arises when we witness something that puts our lives at risk (like a car crash). It’s part of the nervous system which is controlled by the brain. Everything we do relies on how the brain reacts to things.įear is no different from any of those automatic bodily functions. It even controls our ability to move, feel emotion and think. It tells our heart to beat, our lungs to breathe and our stomach to digest food. The brain controls everything that we do. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to do anything. The brain is the control center of the body. This response helps animals survive by giving them extra strength to fight or run away from a potential threat. This is known as the fight or flight response. When you’re under stress these actions increase. That’s part of the automatic nervous system which controls unconscious actions necessary for survival like digestion, breathing and heart rate.

Norepinephrine and epinephrine are neurotransmitters that affect the sympathetic nervous system. The amygdala is the emotional center of the brain. This will cause your muscles to tense up and get ready to run. For example, if you feel fear and your amygdala decides running is the best course of action, it will tell your locus coeruleus to release norepinephrine. It controls other parts of the brain that have specific neurotransmitters.

When you feel angry, it releases hormones to help you fight. When you feel fear, it releases hormones to tell your body to run away. It releases hormones into your blood stream to help with different reactions. The main purpose of the amygdala is to decide how you should react to different emotions. The amygdala is one of the few parts of the brain that doesn’t have a specific neurotransmitter. On the other hand, cortisol causes anxiety when it reaches the hippocampus (the “fear center” of the brain). For example, dopamine causes euphoria when it reaches the nucleus accumbens (the “pleasure center” of the brain). All neurotransmitters have specific effects depending on which part of the brain they reach first. Some transmit feelings while others cause physical reactions like muscle twitches or seizures. There are several types of neurotransmitters. They control many functions in the human body including emotions. Neurotransmitters are responsible for transmitting messages between nerve cells (brain cells). These chemical messengers travel through the blood stream and affect other parts of the body such as muscles, glands, organs and even neurons. When someone feels sad or angry, they release chemicals into their bloodstream called neurotransmitters. The almond shape makes it easier to understand how the structure works. The almond shape makes it easy to see inside the structure, but difficult to get out again without surgery. It’s a small almond shaped structure with two long arms extending from it. The amygdala is located at the base of your brain. What part of the brain controls emotions?
