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It feels like your body reacts a million different ways when you get scared — the blood rushes out of your face, you jump, you gasp, your heart starts racing.

But what’s happening inside your body that makes you feel afraid?

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It all comes down to a tiny, almond-shaped structure in the brain that’s called the amygdala.

It’s responsible for kickstarting your “startle response.” That sends out a distress signal to the hypothalamus, and from there, your brain makes the call between fight and flight.

Learn more about the science of fear in the new episode of “Boddities.”

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