Your brain is extraordinarily complex, consisting of many different parts, each serving their own respective functions in your day to day actions. Your reptilian brain, or your primitive brain, is the first part of your brain to develop, and is responsible for your body’s vitals, such as your heart rate, breathing, and your body temperature. Your mammalian brain, or limbic brain, is responsible for your emotional functioning. This part of your brain is responsible for behavioral and emotional responses, especially when it comes to danger or survival. Your amygdala lives in your limbic brain, which is a small piece of your brain responsible for continually scanning the environment for threats or danger. The most complex part of your brain is your neocortex, or your thinking brain. This is the part of your brain responsible for reasoning, problem solving, or creativity. The neocortex consists of roughly 70% of your brain.

During normal, nonstressful events, the three parts of your brain work together to achieve tasks and goals in your daily routine. However when you are under stress, or when a threat is perceived, your brain and body work differently. Your reptilian brain and limbic brain overpower your neocortex so you can survive the danger at hand. Once your amygdala perceives a threat, all of the blood in your neocortex is pushed to your body, as well as your limbic and reptilian brain. This is your body’s protective mechanism built in to survive the threat at hand. The threat that your amygdala perceived will trigger a threat response in your body of fight, flight, or freeze. This is not something you have a choice over; rather it is your body doing what it needs to do to survive the threat at hand.