Have you ever had “butterflies” in your stomach or a “gut wrenching” experience? You know, that type of feeling that you get in your stomach when you are nervous or excited about something? As it turns out there is a scientific explanation as to why, the gastrointestinal tract is sensitive to emotion. Anxiety, anger, sadness, excitement can all trigger physical symptoms in the gut. There is a network of neurons that line our guts; it is so extensive that some scientists have even nicknamed it our “second brain.” As it turns out, our gut does a whole lot more than handle digestion and cause feelings of nervousness, in connection with our brain; the gut partly determines our mental well-being and plays a key role in the development of diseases throughout the body. In turn, it has been concluded that a healthy gut helps in maintaining good mental and emotional health –what you are eating directly affects your mental and emotional state. The gut and the brain both develop from the same tissues, one section evolves into your central nervous system –your brain and the other into your enteric nervous system –your gut. The Vagus Nerve connects these two nervous systems. Some of the same hormones and neurotransmitters that control the brain are also found in the gut! The enteric nervous system (ENS) helps you to sense environmental threats and then directly influences your response. Dr. Michael Gershon author of “The Second Brain and chairman of the department of anatomy and cell biology at Columbia University says: “A lot of the information that the gut sends to the brain affects well-being and doesn’t even come to consciousness.” Read the whole article below:
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 20:00:01 +0000
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