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If you have ever experienced butterflies in your stomach because you were so anxious or nervous, it was likely a message… not from the great beyond, but from your gut. Over the past several years, researchers have begun piecing together an explanation for some of the gut feelings we get, and it may be the gut-brain axis in action.
What Is The Gut-Brain Axis?
Simply put, it connects the emotional and cognitive centers of our brain with certain intestinal functions. The gut-brain axis (GBA) is like a two-way street between the central nervous system and the enteric nervous system. It carries signals from gut-microbiota to brain and from brain to gut-microbiota through neural, endocrine, immune, and humoral links. Research shows that healthy gut microbiota are integral to these interactions between brain and gut.
The gut-brain axis includes the central nervous system, both brain and spinal cord, the autonomic nervous system, the enteric nervous system, and the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis.
The HPA axis is part of the limbic system, concerned with memory and emotional responses. It’s the coordinator of our adaptive responses to stressors. Depending on the stressor, cortisol may be released, a stress hormone affecting many organs, including the brain. In this way, neural and hormonal…
