Should We Trust Our Gut?
By Maria Taylor
January 25, 2025
“I was eating at a restaurant in NYC with some friends at the time. It was a small food truck that people had recommended. They served almost everything, from pizza to salad. I remember wanting to order the fried chicken burger, since some of my friends have gotten that. But then, I had this weird feeling, like my gut was just twisting”.
This is a story my friend and fellow writer for The Hawk, Charlotte Lieb, told me.
“I dont even know why I listened to my gut, and I ended up order some cheese pizza instead. The next day my friends (who had that chicken burger) told me how sick they had gotten. Turns out they had gotten sick form the chicken.”
“Trust your gut,” is a phrase we are commonly told. To one who has never been told to trust their gut, this phrase might seem extremely uncanny, why should one trust a mere organ to tell them the right answer? Well, for this issue, I’d like to look into the science of our gut feeling.
What is "Gut Feeling"?
The term ‘gut feeling,’ is often referred to as a person’s instinctive feelings, decisions, and most importantly, intuition. This expression is often used in rash situations, where decisions must be made without enough evidence to rationally decide. For example, when meeting a new person we may get a tight feeling in our gut, which could be a sense of our brains warning us to stay away from this person. Although there is no certainty that this feeling is right, the science behind it is very interesting.
What does “Gut Feeling” feel like?
Have you ever felt that nagging feeling in your abdomen? Suddenly feeling suspicious about your surroundings? In a sense, it’s when you cannot explain what you are feeling, yet something is there. Or maybe you get a rush of calmness through your veins, after making a big decision, allowing you to feel relief. The feeling itself is an internal voice, telling you what to do.
Where does gut feeling come from?
Your digestive system, or gastrointestinal (GI) tract, houses the enteric nervous system (ENS), which scientists call the "second brain." This system is made up of around 100 million nerve cells found in the walls of your gut. Its main job is to handle digestion, but it also keeps in touch with the brain through the vagus nerve, making up the gut-brain axis.
‘Gut feeling’ works as a deja vu. When your brian realizes you are in a situation that has happened before (with a bad outcome) it will automatically activate these nerves.
For our cave-dwelling ancestors, gut feeling was a survival mechanism. They used it to avoid predators and other potentially harmful situations. Nowadays, modern research shows that your gut and the unconscious part of your brain together can actually detect patterns and threats faster than your conscious mind can analyze them.
So, next time your gut has something to tell you, listen up! There are good reasons we were born with it.
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