THERE IS A SECRET CONNECTION BETWEEN YOUR FEELINGS AND YOUR GUT.
Well, there's actually over 100 million secret connections....but who's counting?
Hey everyone, Laci Green here for DNews!
You've probably heard sayings like: you've got "butterflies in your stomach", "a knot
in your stomach", that what happened was "gut wrenching".
We even use phrases like "my feelings were hurt" - which is meant to be a metaphor, but
may have a more literal origin.
We've known for a long time that sometimes we feel our emotions physically in the body
- and in fact there are loads of MRI scans to back it up - but why are so many of the
negative emotions (like fear, anxiety, and disgust) felt in your stomach?
DNEWS INVESTIGATES.
Dr. Anthony Komaroff of Harvard Medical Schools explains that the answer is pretty simple
- your brain and your gut are best buds.
They're in constant communication with each other, sending signals back and forth when
your brain OR your stomach is distressed.
Specifically, they're connected through the Enteric Nervous System, or the ENS, which
has over 100 million nerves running directly from your brain...to your stomach.
So emotional distress can cause a distressed gut AND, strangely enough, a distressed gut
can *also* cause emotional distress.
It's a two way street.
What you'll notice about a lot of the emotions that people feel in their stomach - butterflies,
the gutwrench, the knot -- is that they're all different ways of experiencing the same
emotion: stress.
When there's something that stresses you out, it triggers the fight-or-flight response in
the brain.
This is an instinctive physiological response experienced by ALL animals in the animal kingdom!
It's there to protect you in dangerous situations -- to prepare you to fight in the case of
an attack or to outrun the predator.
Part of fight-or-flight's physiological response is inhibiting the secretion of stomach juices
while diverting blood flow from the stomach and into your lungs and muscles instead.
Pair this with all the stress hormones that your body is releasing, like adrenaline, and
it produces a physical reaction that's experienced all over your body -- including your heart,
and your gut.
Because of your brain's connection to the stomach through the Enteric Nervous System
and the stomach's involvement in digestion, stress is also a common irritant of the digestive
system.
It can cause stomach aches, gas, constipation, diarrhea, and a whole host of other wonderful
conditions.
But hey -- it's all there to protect you in the event that a lion were to attack....OR
WORSE...you'd be paired up with your crush in science lab.
Kind of strange that we have a similar physiological reaction to both, right?
Some evolutionary scientists say that the human mind hasn't yet evolved to handle our
not-actually-threatening 21st century woes.
That's why a stress reaction meant to protect you from being eaten alive also happens all
the time in everyday situations.
The more you know, right?
Thanks for joining me for DNews everyone!
What triggers YOUR stress response?
Tell me about it down below and I'll see you next time!