The Science of Everything#1: What is your Gut telling You?

“Are there butterflies in your stomach when your crush is around? Or you feel nauseated when your teacher calls you?"

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While I was pitching our group's Designed Sanitary Landfill to our Solid Waste Management class, convincing our professor that ours was better than others, standing in front explaining why our design should be chosen as the best, I felt my stomach churning, I was very nervous! Luckily, I finished my pitch without embarrassing my self too much (lol).

When I got home, out of curiosity (I have a very inquisitive mind hehe), I researched why I felt like it. And google has everything covered, here's what I found:

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Our digestive system is closely linked to our nervous system. Researchers refer the stomach as the “second brain”, based on findings, the gut contains 100 million neurons linking it to the brain, known as the brain-gut axis.

Gut feelings are associated with the body’s fight-or-flight response.Our heart rate increases to pump more blood when our brain perceives a potential threat to survival, releases huge amounts of glucose from the liver, and shunts blood away from the gut. The blood is then redirected towards the muscles in the arms and legs which makes them ready to either defend you, or run away faster. At the same time, the nervous system stimulates the adrenal glands, releasing hormones including adrenaline and cortisol that can turn the body into a tense, sweaty mess.

However, this acute shortage of blood to the gut slows digestion. The blood vessels specifically in this region constrict, reducing blood flow through the gut. This reduction in blood flow through the gut causes the sensation of nervous butterflies or a pit in our stomach that is inherent to our psychological stress responses, making us not happy with the situation.

"What to do when this happens?"
Take a deep breath and relax, convince yourself that it will eventually pass. If only I have known this a bit earlier, I wouldn't be feeling like I'm gonna throw up. But at least, now I know.

Thank you for reading! Feel free to comment your experiences below. Follow me @shairanada for more interesting posts. :)

References:
https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-do-we-get-butterflies-in-our-stomachs-72232
https://greatist.com/happiness/why-do-i-get-butterflies-my-stomach
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-fallible-mind/201701/the-pit-in-your-stomach-is-actually-your-second-brain