The Brain-Gut Axis

[Guest guest]

Very interesting article! It also points to the fact that Serotonin

Uptake Inhibitors such as Prozac and similar drugs often cause severe

distress in the gastro-intestinal tract. Serotonin exists both in the

brain and in the digestive system.

 

ellen

 

 

, " yogiguruji " <yogiguruji@a...> wrote:

> Good Morning!

>

> The Brain-Gut Axis

>

> Experts have recognized a powerful connection between the digestive

> system and the brain. For example, psychologic factors greatly

> influence contractions of the intestine, secretion of digestive

> enzymes, and other functions of the digestive system. Even

> susceptibility to infection, which leads to various digestive system

> disorders, is strongly influenced by the brain. In turn, the

> digestive system influences the brain.

>

> For example, long-standing or recurring diseases such as irritable

> bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, and other painful diseases affect

> emotions, behaviors, and daily functioning. This two-way association

> has been called the brain-gut axis(Merck manual).

>

> It's very difficult to separate your emotions from your " gut "

> feelings. Your gut, intuition, is really your years of experience,

> your common sense, the something that tells when it's right or wrong.

> When you base your decisions from your heart (emotion), it's

> cluttered with all sorts of personal sentiments. A good analogy is

> that your heart is only about two inches away from your stomach (gut)

> but a million miles away in logic. We must learn, how to balance our

> (heart) emotion with our somatic (gut) feelings.

>

> Neuroscientist/pharmacologist Candace Pert, author of Molecules of

> Emotion, has concluded, based on her research, that chemicals called

> neuropeptides, which are produced and have receptors throughout the

> brain and body, are the biochemical correlates of emotions. For Pert,

> the distribution of peptide receptors throughout the body is of

> critical importance, and she challenges the long-held assumption in

> traditional neuroscience that emotions are an entirely brain-based

> phenomenon. More recently, Pert has used the implications of her

> research on emotion to make claims about the nature of gut feelings.

>

> Modern scientists, neurologist Antonio Damasio, in his book

> Descartes' Error and other publications, focuses primarily on how we

> make decisions, and his unique contribution is his theory that

> emotions play a central role in appropriate decision-making. His

> somatic marker hypothesis, clearly implicates the body as a source of

> emotional input crucial to the decision-making process. Yet, he

> definitely does view the brain as the location of integration between

> emotional inputs and input about the characteristics of the external

> situation. Furthermore, he maintains that after initial somatic input

> is linked with a specific type of situation, phenomenon such as gut

> feelings can arise through a closed circuit within the brain. In

> other words in the absence of input from or output to the body.

>

> Emotions often find their outlet in the gut. Nerves, stresses,

> emotional upsets, mental problems, and other psychological factors

> can wreak havoc with the GI tract. That's because the brain and the

> gastrointestinal system are intimately connected.

>

> The entire journey of food through the 30-foot-long digestive tract

> is quarterbacked by a remarkable communication network known as the

> enteric nervous system (ENS). This intricate nerve complex is located

> in the gut wall and communicates with the brain via the spinal cord.

> In turn, hormones, neurotransmitters, and connections to the central

> nervous system that affect muscle, mucosa, and blood vessels in the

> digestive tract influence the ENS.

>

> In the 1990's neurocardiologists discovered the brain in the heart –

> which also acts independently of the head. The " heart brain " is

> comprised of a distinctive set of nerve cells, neurotransmitters, and

> support cells and has highly sophisticated computational abilities.

> The heart brain can also learn, remember, and respond to life

> independently of the brain in the head.

>

> Recent imaging studies of the brain show that functional GI symptoms

> are not necessarily the result of dysfunction in the bowel, but may

> be due to disturbances in brain-gut pathways that alter pain

> thresholds, control movement through and contractions of the GI

> tract, and influence our behavior.

>

>

> Andrew Pacholyk LMT, MT-BC, CA

> Peacefulmind.com

> Alternative medicine and therapies

> for healing mind, body & spirit!