AND BACK TO WAKING DREAM PHYSICALISM

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Although we often talk of the

amygdala and hippocampus as being single structures, there are actu-

ally two parts to each, one half in each hemisphere of your brain.

• Amygdala: Your brain’s alarm center. It senses threats and

other emotionally significant information and initiates the

stress response.

• Hypothalamus: Your brain’s operations manager. It coordi-

nates the release of stress hormones to ready your body for

fighting or fleeing.

• Hippocampus: Your brain’s biographer. It stores and retrieves

conscious memories about the current situation as well as

Your Brain’s Stress Response 15

previous stressors you’ve experienced, how you responded,

and resulting outcomes. This allows you to learn from past

experience and anticipate what’s likely to happen.

• Prefrontal cortex: Your brain’s CEO. It puts together infor-

mation from your amygdala and hippocampus to create a

planned, motivated response to stress. It communicates back

and forth with the amygdala to modify your response as the

stressor unfolds.

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