Imagine you’re about to step onto a stage to give a speech. As soon as you walk in, you feel something shift inside. It’s not based on anything you can see or touch, but you just know something is off. Your stomach tightens, your heart races, and you feel like you’re being pulled in a certain direction.
But WHY?
It turns out, there’s more going on inside you than just a nervous reaction. Your gut and brain are closely connected, more than we might think. When you feel that gut reaction, it’s not just a random feeling—it’s based on biological signals between your brain and gut.
Your gut isn’t just for digestion. It has its own nervous system called the enteric nervous system, often called your “second brain.” This system can function on its own, but it also talks to your main brain. These two brains communicate constantly, sending signals back and forth, telling each other what’s happening in the body.
For example, the gut sends signals to your brain through the vagus nerve, which helps explain why we feel nervous or excited. When something triggers an emotional response in us, it’s not just our brain reacting—it’s our gut too. This helps explain why we feel those butterflies in our stomach when we’re stressed or excited.
A lot of the feelings we get in our gut have to do with hormones like serotonin. This hormone is mostly made in your gut—around 90% of it! It affects how we feel, which is why changes in the gut can impact our emotions. So, when we feel uneasy, it’s often because our gut is signaling the brain that something might be wrong.
Additionally, the fight or flight response we experience during stress also comes from both the brain and gut. Your body releases adrenaline, which makes your heart race and your stomach churn. These physical reactions are all part of the same system working together.
There’s also an evolutionary reason why we trust our gut. In the past, our ancestors needed to make quick decisions for survival—fight or flight instincts had to kick in quickly. Instead of overthinking, their gut feelings would guide them to act fast. Those who listened to their instincts (gut feelings) survived better.
Even today, we still rely on gut feelings to help make quick decisions, especially when there’s not enough time to logically think things through.
Interestingly, gut feelings aren’t always just instincts—they can also be shaped by past experiences. Our brains pick up on subtle cues, like body language or tone of voice, even if we’re not consciously aware of them. Over time, these cues form patterns, and our gut reacts based on what our brain has learned.
This is also why sometimes gut feelings can be wrong. If we’ve had negative experiences with certain situations, our gut may make us feel uneasy—even if there’s no reason to.
So, why do we experience gut feelings? It’s a mix of biological processes in the gut and brain, hormonal reactions, and learned patterns from our past.
Links to similar Studies
- National Institute of Health: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9296981/
- MUSC (Colelge of Graduate Studies): https://gradstudies.musc.edu/about/blog/2024/04/gut-feelings
- UNSW Sydney: https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2024/02/what-is-a-gut-feeling-and-when-should-you-listen-to-it
WiseWhys 
Leave a comment