How Not to Panic Part 2: Why Stress Causes Digestive Issues

This podcast is a continuation of the series on your body, your physiology, and your autonomic nervous system and how they impact you minute to minute in your everyday life. Today's podcast is part 2 of How not to panic! If you have not listened to part 1, I encourage you to do so. This one will make more sense.

Today's podcast is about our Belly! The belly is a wonderful part of our body and responsible for much more than holding up our bathing suits and digesting our food. There is a neural network in our belly, the scientists call it the Enteric Brain. Neural networks are systems that learn to do tasks by considering examples, generally without task-specific programming, so they can be very "knee-jerky" in their responses to stimuli. For example, if you had an accident and are now anxious about driving, your belly can start clenching, twisting or fill with a jittery sensation when you just think about getting in the car.  So listen today to learn more about your wonderful belly, your gut instinct. And for goodness sakes, stop sucking it in. That makes the anxiety levels worse!