Truth about butterflies in your stomach

          We all have experienced a variety of gut feelings and gut reactions associated with different emotions, including anxiety, anger and sadness. "butterflies in the stomach" is the familiar experience.While it's a universal, even charming experience,butterflies mean that a complex interaction has been activated from deep within the brain, manifesting throughout the body, including the digestive system. Even more outlandish and provocative is the, recently proposed idea by Dr. Emeran Mayer, that the 100 trillion microbes living in our gut may have a word to say in this mind - gut conversation. 

           "Any emotion or stress response that originates in the brain will change many gut functions", Mayer, a gastroenterologist, neuroscientist and professor of medicine at UCLA,said in an interview. 

           " The gut will change like a face, associated with every emotion" Mayer said. When we experience an emotion,the brain talks to the gut,and the gut responds back to the brain. 

              Emotion related changes will also affect the gut microbes and the molecules they produce. That creates a feedback loop, by sending more information back to the brain either through the bloodstream or the vagus nerve, which is a part of autonomic nervous system. When that happens, the hypothalamus in the brain produces a hormone called Corticotropin-releasing factor,or CRF. It spreads to the amygdala, which makes your hand sweat, heart race and stomach clench. CRF also signals the adrenal glands to release cortisol and adrenalin, and tells the enteric nervous system to divert energy away from digestion. The stomach slows down and may even reverse, and the intestines speed up. This is the "butterflies in the stomach" feeling. 

              Blood flow is diverted to the muscles and away from the gut,creating characteristics facial expressions. The only difference is that while everybody can read an emotional facial expression,we are completely unaware of the emotion related events going on in our gut. 

Now the next time you hear someone say, they have butterflies on their stomach, you know exactly why that's happening.