We have one mind, one brain, and one collective center of thought, right? Wrong! Guess what?

Human beings not only have a brain to make decisions for them, but they also have another organ that helps govern what they do. The ‘second brain’ of a kind. No guys, it’s not the penis, so stop laughing. 😀

You know, when you get that gut-wrenching feeling in the pit of your stomach, yeah that one? Well, apparently your tummy is trying to tell you something.

No, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Indian food is causing indigestion, it means that your second mind is talking now. Yes, your stomach is your second brain! Maybe you should listen to what it is saying.

Why?

One reason for this phenomenon is that your stomach and your brain originate from the same material. The other reason is that your stomach and your brain still retain some of the same characteristics and nerves, it’s true!

Starting from the same tissues, the brain and the stomach originate and basically decide to take two separate roads of development, or the great creator programs this move.

Either way, two paths originate and split to govern two separate areas of the body. This is where the material changes to form our brain, the central nervous system, and the stomach, the enteric nervous system.

The interesting aspect of this split revolves around the Vagus Nerve. The Vagus nerve connects the two nervous systems for life. Because of this connection, both the brain and the gut share neurotransmitters and hormones.

How does this all come together?

The ENS (Enteric nervous system) is the reason why you can sense danger. It is a “Spidey sense” governed by your stomach, gut instincts, and the like-we all recognize this intuitive feeling. The stomach naturally sends these signals to the brain.

Dr. Michael Gershon, the author of “The Second Brain” and Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Columbia, says that this intuition has no consciousness, it just is.

The eye-opening study into the ‘second brain’

So, it seems that a test was the very thing to prove these theories about the mind/stomach connection, and so a test was indeed conducted.

A study was completed using 36 women between the ages of 18 and 55. Dividing these women into three groups, scientists set forth to test the connection. The results were very interesting, to say the least.

The first group was given yogurt, containing probiotics, the second group was given yogurt without probiotics and the third group remained the control group, and consumed nothing at all. For four weeks, the women were studied, and the researchers found that the group which ingested probiotics had a more stable mentality.

During stressful situations, this group was able to assess the situation and calmly develop a solution to the problem, hence the obvious connection to the brain.

Kirsten Tillisch, head of the research team stated, “By controlling the environment of the stomach, we can control what happens in the brain.”

With all this being said, one thing is very obvious. If eating nutritiously was not that important to you before, it surely is now. Apparently, the gut not only benefits from healthy foods by absorbing nutrients, but it also seems to have a preference for what it eats.

It has a mind that prefers vitamins and minerals and a mood that depends on its human to eat the right things.

The connection between the brain, the first mind, and the stomach, the secondary mind, is real, and now we have a deeper understanding of the mysteries of the human being.

If you were ruled by the misconception that the brain controls everything, then you are wrong. This recent discovery may even change the way we see other organs of the body. Hell, we may even find a third brain, nestled within the intricate structures of the kidney or heart.

It’s possible!


Copyright © 2012-2024 Learning Mind. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint, contact us.

power of misfits book banner desktop

Like what you are reading? Subscribe to our newsletter to make sure you don’t miss new thought-provoking articles!

This Post Has 25 Comments

  1. This guy's name

    I’m not doubting any of this, but seriously… a study only involving 36 people?! That proves absolutely nothing at all. I love what this site posts, but c’mon. I could perform a better study involving lab rats getting hooked on crack.

    1. Aha

      come on. Large number of surveyed people do not mean your studies better. With small numbers if it is satisfied their a study, they can stop it.

      1. Sherrie

        Well, it’s like another person said in the comments, that there were 36 people and that doesn’t prove anything. I don’t think we should focus on the numbers, large or small, of the subjects tested and compared. I think we should look at the quality of the answers and the various health conditions of the participants. This could help us compare these answers and results.

    2. Sherrie

      Okay, maybe 36 people is not a stadium full of subjects, but it’s also not a “one out of 3” scenario. I mean, it has a point. I sometimes really wonder about this, and in a way, believe it because I have IBS. My body acts strange towards various foods, and guess what? It’s not always the same foods. Think about it this way, your stomach has moods like your brain, and so on Saturday maybe it doesn’t want to tolerate pizza, but on Monday maybe it rather not have brocolli. This happens to me!!

      And as far as crack is concerned, you wouldn’t have to convince me with one rat. It only takes a couple times smoking that stuff to get hooked.

  2. Tiffany

    I’d believe it more if resources were cited so that others, like myself, could verify everything stated in the article. Was this recent study published in a peer reviewed publication?

    1. Sherrie

      Tiffany,

      We now site our sources at the bottom of each article, in case you’re visiting here and not more recent posts. Thank you!

  3. Perizat Hamdy

    You forget the heart. Check out the The Institute of HeartMath site. Research has found that there were brain cells in the heart and that the heart influence the thinking process to a great extent. So now we know that the Stomach does too. Thank you.

    1. Sherrie

      Perizat,

      I believe there are so many things we don’t know about the body. This is one of the reasons why we struggle to understand how to treat it. Some people also believe in souls, which to some is such an intangible part of us.

  4. Brian Majewski

    Dr. Stephen Porges has written some very interesting information at the University of North Carolina about the poly vego theory and also has a book out about this theory.

    He was a guest on The Dr. Drew podcast where he explains this theory and uses this theory to investigate Adam Carolla’s behavior patterns and identy. Episode #090

  5. Ryan

    The heart supposedly has it’s own neurotransmitters. That could be considered a second brain too! 🙂

    1. Sherrie

      Yes Ryan, it can!

  6. Always Love

    Stomach area = Solar plexus, second brain, subconscious = sun power of life. Positive thoughts to this area grows energy power to body. Healthy food to stomach follows positive thinking to one’s own sun power.

    1. Sherrie

      So, what can be said about irritable bowel syndrome? Although this problem is primarily in the gut, it does affect the stomach and other areas of the gastric and digestive system. Can we say that all our organs have brains, moods, and personalities? Maybe we are filled with our soul which governs these organs.

      1. Athena

        Thats is actually exactly what i think.

  7. choolwe mark

    Thank you for increasing me in knowledge.

    1. Sherrie

      And thank you, Choolwe, for reading and leaving a comment. The readers are why we keep doing what we do. It’s so encouraging and fulfilling to share and to learn from others. Thank you so much.

  8. Rebel of Sol

    The human heart is confirmed to possess a network of neurons and considering it is the first operational organ during fetal development, we should call this the first brain. The cerebral brain originating from the pineal gland would be the second brain and the stomach/solar plexus area possesses the third brain according to the knowledge available today.

    1. Sherrie

      This is actually an intriguing way to look at it…and it makes sense. So, if this is true, then the heart must rule the brain and the brain must rule the gut. With my gut problems, it can well be that my mental disorders damaged my digestive system. It can also be that we engage in unhealthy relationships because our feelings and love take charge over our logic. Ha!

    2. Sherrie

      And yes, I am quite silly and still have this strange reasoning that love comes from that beating muscle in my chest. Funny huh

  9. Charles Brennan @ Living4thWay(Twitter)

    A human has 5 brains all of which are metaphysical, but which have physical connections.
    The mind is the physical projection or a control panel which has connections to all the metaphysical brains or centers. The intellectual brain inhabits the head, the emotional center or brain the solar plexus and not the physical heart. the Instinctive and Moving and Sexual brains inhabit the spinal chord and intestinal area.
    A gut feeling comes from the gut because it is the seat of the lower animal self, the one that over rules almost everyone thing we do because there is no Self or Master in control. E.G. A car comes too close,causes a reaction of fear in the Instinctive brain which immediately causes a Negative emotion to arise and the words from the Intellectual mind show up.

    1. Sherrie

      I love this and would like to learn more about this. Thank you for reading, Charles.

  10. Lea

    Technically, the myenteric plexus of the ENS lining the GIT is called gut brain

  11. Sevenifity

    Well, you are what you eat, right?

  12. Hi

    This is really interesting

Leave a Reply