Anatomy of Fear

If something is scary or stressful, your hypothalamus sends signals to pituitary and adrenal glands, which let out hormones (a fancy word for messengers) to tell the rest of the body what to do.

Adrenal glands let out a hormone called epinephrin into the blood, which gets your body ready to fight bad guys or high-tail it outa there!

Muscles feel tense & ready to karate chop your enemies!

Lungs breathe fast & shallow to get extra oxygen to your muscles

Digestive & Urinary systems slow down -- your stomach doesn't want to eat, your bladder might have an accident, and your rectum (hope it's empty) contracts!

Salivary Glands make less saliva, leads to dry mouth & you get less chatty

Sweat Glands make your hands sweaty

Pupils get bigger

Liver lets sugar into the blood for muscle power

Heartbeat & blood pressure turn up!

Example: "Acrobatics -- Now that's an adrenalin rush!"