The Brain

The brain is the main controller of the body and it instructs the rest of the body how to react and adjust to stressors. When the sense

organs (eyes, nose, muscles, etc) detect stressors, the message of stressors will be passed along the nerves to the brain. These

messages pass through the reticular activating system either from or to the limbic system and the thalamus. The limbic system is

where emotion evolves while the thalamus is where decisions are made on how to deal with the incoming message. Then the

hypothalamus comes to experience the stressors and activates two major stress reactivity pathways: the endocrine system and the

autonomic nervous system.