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!