The third part of the ANS which regulates digestion is the enteric branch. It manages EVERY aspect of digestion and is often referred to as "the second brain" or the "gut brain." While this branch functions independently of the other two branches, it interacts with them as well as they interacting with the enteric and each other. Nothing in the body functions without the input and balance of the whole. The enteric branch produces neurotransmitters (chemicals that take nerve messages from one cell to another) that influence mood and cognition, as well as digestion.
Now, you can see how everything that we experience is related via neurotransmitters to our digestive system. The excessively produced cortisol that is released by the adrenals as a stress response over extended periods of time decreases parasympathetic activity and shuts down the normal enzymatic and healthy bacterial activity of the gut. Daily stress frequently leads to unhealthy food choices (those so-called "comfort food" binges) that wreck havoc with our pancreas (sugar handling), adrenals (sleep, blood pressure, hormone production, mood), thyroid (stress, energy, mood, temperature regulation along with the hypothalamus), brain (cognition and numerous endocrine regulatory information) and gut (immune function, allergy response, bacteria balance, digestion, proper food assimilation and inflammatory response--auto immune regulation).
Who would have thought that daily emotional stress, the symptoms of which were once mocked/downgraded by the medical profession as being only "psychosomatic," could affect every important function in our body?
The next blog will discuss and summarize the affects of the stressors we face today...some of which may surprise you...and how they interrelate to one another, the digestive system and weight loss.
Dr. Esther
drkollars@gmail.com
fixdhealthcare.com
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