Everyone knows about that terrible feeling you get in your stomach. That feeling you get when you're a kid and you break your mom's lamp; now you just have to wait for her to get home and find out. Or maybe it is that feeling you get in high school when you get called to the principal's office. I don't really know what to equate it with as an adult. Maybe it is the feeling that you're just going to fail at life no matter what you do. It's just that feeling.
I've got that feeling. Sometimes it happens and you just can't figure out what it's from. Not this time. I have a pretty good idea what (or who) it's from. 1
I got a little curious and started doing some research on that feeling. Here's what I found...
This is a minor form of anxiety. Anxiety is hormonal and neural just like every other aspect of your body. The hormones that cause this are the adrenal medullary hormones, more specifically catecholamines.
Neurons from the brain run down the spinal cord and into the medulla, located just above the kidney. These neurons stimulate the cells of the adrenal medulla to produce catecholamines. The catecholamines then spread through the bloodstream. Blood glucose levels rise, blood vessels constrict and the heart beats faster. This raises the blood pressure. Blood is diverted from temporarily nonessential organs to the heart and certain muscles. 2
So basically, all of your blood is centered around your essential organs. Where are your essential organs? Stomach area. It is unknown why your brain sends these neurons or what triggers your brain to send them, but it just knows.
I find this all so fascinating and useless.
1 Details will remain unpublished do to lack of knowledge on who reads this blog.
2 Source: Rachelle's Biology Book
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