Page 10 - Kiki ONGOING FLIPBOOK_Neat

When stress chemicals are released, it gives a message to our brain that something is not

ok. Our brain’s main job is to keep us alive so when it thinks something is going wrong, it

goes into a mini survival response.

Sometimes brains find it hard to tell the difference between real danger (like being chased

by a bear) and not such serious dangers (e.g. thinking someone is cross with us or an

interview might not go as well as we wanted).

In survival response, the brain switches down the energy expensive parts of our body. This

is to save energy so it can be used for staying alive (like running away from that bear!). It

is a bit like turning the radiator down to save energy.

The brain turns down the digestive system (that’s why people may feel sick when stress is

high) our immune system (which is why people get ill when stress is high) and our pre-

frontal cortex (the part of the brain in charge of Executive Function Skills that help us to be

attentive, flexible, calm, think things through (rather than reacting) and remember things.

This means that if our brain gets worried about something (such as whether people like

us), it is even more difficult to stay calm and think things through logically.