Butterflies in the stomach: a feeling we all experience sooner or later
When we talk about butterflies in the stomach in most cases we refer to "falling in love: finding the right partner is not easy, that's why when we are attracted to a person, our body is the first to speak to us even through a sensation like butterflies. In general, it would be a good idea for everyone to learn body language: how many things it would reveal to us, about ourselves and about others Watch this video.
What are butterflies in the stomach?
It is a feeling at the level of the gut which, however, for science is not as romantic as they want us to believe. Often attributable to colic or stomach ache, it goes without saying that the name "butterflies in the stomach" was designed to give a different meaning to these emotions that can be felt not only during falling in love. It is true that butterflies in the stomach feel those who are infatuated with someone, only that while in this context they are defined as such, in other cases we speak more generally of anxiety. It will certainly have happened to you: before an exam at the university, during the unnerving waiting for a response, at a job interview or during a meeting with the boss; in all the situations just mentioned, although you felt an unpleasant tension in the abdomen, you did not lead it back to the butterflies in the stomach. Yet it was really them, but in a negative way.
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Butterflies in the stomach: why do they try them?
When we say that love is relatively central, we are referring to the fact that the intestine is also known as the second brain with an autonomous nervous system: this is why negative and positive emotions and feelings also pass through here.
Furthermore, the entire digestive system is lined with millions of neurons and other specialized cells that produce the same neurotransmitters in the brain as serotonin, dopamine, noradrenaline. Furthermore, some researchers have found that the intestine is an important source of benzodiazepines, known drugs to fight anxiety and panic attacks.
Butterflies in the stomach in psychology
Butterflies in the stomach and psychology are closely linked: this is because the second brain we were talking about, the intestine, definitively affects our thoughts, emotions and our daily behaviors. This is why people who suffer from irritable bowel often have problems correlates such as difficulty sleeping, aggression, depression and chronic fatigue.
After this excursus between science and psychology, we can say that butterflies in the stomach are the result of the activity of intestinal neurons stimulated by neurotransmitters. Everything starts from an external stimulus that can be pleasant, such as amorous attraction, or not.
It is not said that behind this sensation there is love, of course this is the concept to which the butterflies in the stomach are most related, but we must consider that everything begins in the brain, which generates a series of responses by increasing the heartbeat to for example, up to intestinal spasms.
Anxiety, stress and butterflies in the stomach: what's the correlation?
Anxiety affects our life at different times and can persist for very long periods even without the subject noticing. It is a normal psycho-physical reaction that alarms us from external dangers by giving us an adrenaline boost that increases our heart rate. The feeling of butterflies in the stomach is often also associated with anxiety and in these cases it is a mechanism activated in the wrong way: in normal everyday situations when stress has accumulated, we can experience an unpleasant abdominal tension than in others cases we would call butterflies in the stomach.
Butterflies in the stomach: both men and women try them
There are those who say that the second brain of the woman (the intestine) is more delicate and sensitive, therefore responsible for experiencing sensations like butterflies in the stomach, much more frequently than the male gender. This is not quite the case. The phenomenon of butterflies in the stomach affects both men and women alike, but often the man tries to appear colder and more detached, as if wanting to ignore that tingling in the abdomen. The woman, on the other hand, in most cases lets herself go and manages to feel strong emotions both positively and negatively, sometimes putting a strain on her digestive system.
Tips for relieving tension in the stomach
If you find that you often have to deal with sudden and annoying stomach aches, here are some tips to relieve tension and feel better immediately. One of the first things to do is to focus on the breath: an extremely effective remedy to deal with the nervous status in the stomach. It may seem trivial and obvious, but inhaling and exhaling slowly and deeply is the easiest way to relax the bowels of the stomach, relieving the feeling of tension.
