Emotions Affect Your Stomach Just Like Food

Emotions, both the pleasant and the unpleasant ones, work just like food that your body needs to digest. It should come as no surprise that emotions affect your stomach, just like good or rotten food. Feeling a knot in the stomach if we are scared, or the famous butterflies flying around when we are in love are just a few examples of this connection between our mind and our digestive system. But… Can we control or minimize their negative effects?

“Life is in the name form, not the
adjective form” -Ortega and Gasset-

Why are emotions and the digestive system connected?

Doctor, Mario Alonso Puig, is a specialist in general surgery and the digestive system. He explains that the immediate impact of our emotions on our stomach happens because one of the most important emotional cards in our brain, the island of Reil, recovers information from the digestive tract.

In addition, the part of the nervous system that is responsible for the gastrointestinal system and lining of the stomach contains neurotransmitters such as the brain.  Surprisingly, this structure, which consists of a network of hundreds of millions of neurons, causes this system to remember and learn in a way that is independent of the brain. That is why it is known as the “other brain”.

We have three ” brains “

We have not one, not two, but three “brains” in our body that have been identified. In addition to the one we all know, we have a second and a third in the digestive tract and in our heart. In fact, 90% of serotonin – the hormone that regulates our mood – is produced in the digestive system. This is why emotions affect your stomach.

These three “brains” must be in contact and work together. Doctor Puig assures us that when one goes down, the harmful effects become noticeable on a physical level.

In the case of the digestive tract, the person suffers from diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome, cramps, digestive problems, etc. Unfortunately, from a medical point of view, only a little help can be provided to a person suffering from this. However, there are solutions on the emotional side:

Emotions affect your stomach, so get rid of anxiety to get healthy

If the person reduces their anxiety level or sees life with more hope, the digestive system is often synchronized naturally with the brain in our head.

Practice smiling, even if it’s fake!

Something as simple – or perhaps not so simple in some situations – as showing a smile has the ability to change the path of anxiety because it sends a message to the brain that everything is fine.

While it may be difficult to achieve at first if we can cope with a smile in an unpleasant situation, our brain feels obligated to do something to adapt to the message received.

A real smile – that is, an involuntary or spontaneous smile – is said to have the same effect on the brain as a fake smile. A bit like we had received a compliment or some good news.

Get rid of toxic emotions

Between 60% and 90% of consultations in medical institutions are due to so-called “toxic feelings”. It is anger, anxiety, sadness, rage, shame, envy, guilt, hostility, disgust… For a separation of cortisol, the fear hormone.

Looking for the positive side of life involves a physical change. The formation of new brain tissue that allows us to rediscover ourselves and thus be able to focus on the positive things in a continuous way.

Stop pouring your emotions into bottles, write them down

The price of continuing to bottle up your negative emotions can be illness. This is a very good reason to start tackling your negative emotions.

A technique recommended by Dr. Puig consists of writing them down. Because by reflecting on our emotions in writing, they go through the left anterior or prefrontal area. It is the basis of our positive emotions.

By articulating negative emotions through language, they must absolutely go through the left prefrontal zone, and this automatically reduces their strength.

If the feeling is anger, then go for a walk

When faced with feelings of anger, Mario Alonso Puig recommends running fast. For  oxytocin and betaendorphin, created by running, disconnect the tonsil nucleus and hypothalamus. It is the bases that are responsible for angry reactions.

With this information, it is clear that the best thing for our health and well-being is to stop holding on to negative emotions. This way we will avoid indigestion or other more serious diseases that have to do with our stomach or intestines.

Before holding a disappointment, collecting despair, or hiding rage, keep in mind that taking a pen and expressing negative emotions on paper is a healthier alternative than collecting them. That way, you can avoid emotions affecting your stomach in a negative way.