You Know That Gut Feeling You Have?...

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 13 December 2022

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

TFW when you're so excited you get those butterflies in your stomach - or maybe when you see something icky, you feel ill. On today's show, producer Berly McCoy looks at this relationship between our gut and our brain. Berly talks to host Emily Kwong about how the organs evolved to have a tight connection - connections that go beyond transient feelings of excitement or disgust. In fact, an increasing body of research shows links between the gut and conditions we typically associate mostly with the brain – like anxiety and Parkinson's Disease.

Here's a link to the study about gut bacteria and the brain in some children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. https://www.theautismstudy.com/study

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:04.6	Hey Shortwaveers, it's Emily Kwong here and I have a gut feeling you're really gonna
0:10.2	like this episode.
0:11.2	Pretty super early McQuay's here.
0:12.9	Hi.
0:13.9	Hey Emily.
0:14.9	So I kinda hinted at it, but what do you have for us?
0:17.2	I've been thinking about all the ways our brain is connected to our gut.
0:21.9	So you mean like when someone gets some really bad news and they feel it in their stomach,
0:26.2	it's like a punch.
0:27.2	Yeah, or when you're so nervous, you feel like you could throw up or even seeing something
0:32.6	really gross, how it might make you lose your appetite.
0:35.2	Yeah, been there.
0:37.0	We talk about gut reaction, we talk about all your gut, it's just like in our language.
0:41.6	But is there any basis in science?
0:43.9	There is.
0:44.9	Our brain is super tied to our gut.
0:46.6	For example, if we smell or think about food, our brain sends a signal to our gut to
0:51.1	turn on gastrointestinal juices.
0:53.5	How our brain controls our gut is super interesting, but there's more to this story.
0:59.7	Scientists are learning that communication and control go both ways.
1:04.0	So today on the show, how our brain talks and listens to our gut.
	...

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