What Fraction of Our Brains Do We Actually Use?

The "second brain" problem is a new discovery in recent years. Many people have experienced on-the-spot syndrome: they will suddenly feel stomach upset, nausea and discomfort before they speak on stage, or they will feel abdominal cramps because of an upcoming interview. In addition, many people have gastrointestinal reactions due to taking antidepressants. This is often related to the "second brain."

Second brain

(Refers to the nervous system in the intestine)

American biologists believe that there are two brain systems in our body. One is the brain that is known to grow in the skull, and the other is the little-known "second brain" in the abdominal cavity. The two of them correspond to each other, just like a pair of twins. As long as one of them feels uncomfortable, the other will have a similar feeling.

The "second brain" is actually the nervous system in the intestine, consisting of neurons, neurosensors, and proteins dispersed in the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and colon tissue. Like the brain in the skull, they also quickly transmit information to each other, independently sensing and receiving signals, and responding to them, making people feel "pleasant" and "discomfortable", but they cannot be like real In the sense, the brain has the thinking function.

Biologists studying development and evolution have discovered that the original nervous system was divided into two parts: the neural center of the brain and the nervous system of the gastrointestinal tract. They maintain a loose connection through the vagus nervous system, and what the vagal nervous system sends to the intestinal nervous system is only a small part of the nerve center of the brain. In most cases, the "second brain" independently exerts its own Features. "The two brains in the human body have been formed along the course of biological evolution," said Professor Weingold, a consultant at the Royal Hospital and a gastrointestinal expert at the University of London. Early tubular animals could only adhere to rocks. , Waiting for prey to pass by while preying. Even so, they already have the original nervous system. With the evolution of life, the nerve center has also developed and improved. A series of survival activities such as animal foraging and mating constitute the main content of their lives, which makes the role of the intestinal system particularly important. But all this has to obey the command of the head and brain, and the distance between the "console" and the "position" seems to be a little farther. For advanced animals, this requires the gut nervous system to perform command and control functions relatively independently. This actually reveals the mechanism of the formation of the "second brain".

In the activities of life, in addition to the brain, the role of the spinal cord is extremely important. If the brain is compared to the life command center, the spinal cord is the only information exchange channel between the brain and the limbs. However, the spinal cord cannot usually be called the human second brain. So, is there really a second brain in the body? To this seemingly incredible question, scientists have come to a conclusion that many people did not expect-the answer is yes.

Professor Mike Gelsson of Columbia University has determined that there is an "organization" in the folds of the human gastrointestinal tract tissue, which is the nerve cell complex. With the help of a specialized substance, a neural sensor, the complex can work independently of the brain and exchange signals, and it can even participate in intellectual activities such as learning like the brain. Professor Michael Gelsson founded the Department of Neurogastroenterology.

Like the brain, glial cells provide nutrition to the second brain. The second brain also has its own cells responsible for immunity and defense. In addition, the presence of neurosensors such as serotonin, glutamate, and neuropeptide proteins has also increased this similarity with the brain.

This so-called second brain in the human body has its own interesting origins. The ancient cavity organisms had an early nervous system. This system turned the organism into a complex brain in the process of evolution. The remaining parts of the early nervous system were transformed into centers of activity that control internal organs, such as the digestive organs. It can be observed during embryonic development. In the earliest stages of embryonic nervous system formation, cell aggregates divide first, one part forms the central nervous system, and the other swims in the embryo until it falls into the gastrointestinal system, where it turns into an independent nervous system, which later becomes During development, the system only established contact with the central nervous system under the action of a specialized nerve fiber, the vagus nerve.

Not long ago, people thought that the intestine was just a muscular tubular body with basic conditioned reflexes, and no one had noticed its cell structure, number, and its activities. Scientists are surprised to find that there are hundreds of millions of cells in the gastrointestinal tract, and the vagus nerve simply cannot guarantee a close connection between this complex system and the brain. So how does the gastrointestinal system work? Scientists have found through research that the gastrointestinal system can work independently because it has its own headquarters-the human second brain. The main function of the second brain is to monitor gastric activity and digestive processes, observe food characteristics, regulate digestion speed, and speed up or slow down digestive juice secretion. It is very interesting that like the brain, the human second brain also needs to rest and immerse in dreams. The intestine of the second brain will have some fluctuations during dreaming, such as muscle contraction. In stressful situations, the second brain, like the brain, secretes specialized hormones with excess serotonin. People can experience that state, that is, sometimes there is a feeling of "cat grabbing the heart", and in particularly severe cases, such as scaring and irritating the stomach, diarrhea may occur. The so-called "frightened fart flow" refers to this situation, which the Russians call "bear disease."

There has been a term in the medical community that the neural stomach mainly refers to the response of the stomach to strong stimuli such as heartburn and trachea spasm. If there are further adverse stimulating factors, the stomach will secrete substances that can cause gastritis and gastric ulcers according to the instructions of the brain. Conversely, the activity of the second brain also affects the activity of the brain. For example, sending indigestion signals back to the brain can cause nausea, headaches, or other discomfort. The human body is sometimes allergic to some substances as a result of the second brain acting on the brain.

Although scientists have discovered the role of the second brain in life activities, there are still many phenomena waiting to be further studied. Scientists have not yet figured out what role the second brain plays in human thinking and whether there should be a second brain in lower animals. It is believed that one day science will make everyone truly aware of life.

To this end, scientists issued an appeal: "Take care of your stomach! Take care of your second brain!"