Your Gut is Your Second Brain
By Dr. Carly Njaa
D.C., B.Sc. Kin, Chiropractor
Nov 8, 2023
You have a lot of nerve. Really!
We talk a lot about the sympathetic nervous system that activates your flight or flight stress response. We help you tap into the “rest and digest” mode which is operated by the more mellow parasympathetic nervous system. But wait, there’s more!
You have yet another - the enteric nervous system (ENS) - and it is this nervous system that is affectionately referred to as a second brain.
The enteric nervous system is an impressively complex network of neurons that governs the function of your gastrointestinal (GI) tract. It is referred to as our "second brain" because it can actually regulate digestive processes all on its own - completely independent of the central nervous system (CNS). The ENS is a part of the peripheral nervous system and is composed of over 100 million neurons. (That’s a lot of nerves!)
Let’s break down some of the key features of the enteric nervous system.
Local Control: The ENS can independently regulate various digestive functions, like peristalsis (the movement of food through the GI tract), secretion of digestive enzymes, blood flow, and the absorption of nutrients.
Communication: The ENS communicates with the central nervous system through sensory and motor neurons. It can send information to the brain about the state of the GI tract and receive instructions from the CNS.
Intrinsic Reflexes: The ENS can generate reflexes without input from the central nervous system. For example, if you swallow something irritating or toxic, the ENS can initiate a vomiting reflex to protect the body.
Complexity: The enteric nervous system is highly organized and contains various types of neurons that form intricate circuits. It can sense changes in the environment, make rapid adjustments to digestive processes, and adapt to different dietary and physiological conditions.
Pretty amazing! But what happens when the ENS stops functioning the way it’s supposed to?
Dysregulation of the ENS has been linked to various gastrointestinal disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).
The ENS plays a crucial role in maintaining gut motility, regulating blood flow in the GI tract, and coordinating processes like digestion, absorption, and excretion. It can operate independently, but it also receives input from the central nervous system and communicates with it to ensure coordinated bodily functions. This complex network of neurons is essential for the proper functioning of the digestive system.
One of the main drivers of a dysregulated ENS and the conditions associated with it is stress. Because the ENS has a strong communication network with the brain, it can be impacted by negative feelings like anxiety, sadness, depression, fear, and anger. That can affect how fast food moves through the GI tract, activate the immune system, increase inflammation in the gut or make it more sensitive to bloating and other intestinal discomforts.
So what do you do if you're living with too much stress? Do you heal your microbiome through functional nutrition, adding fiber and probiotics to your diet? Yes. Do you take a close look at your life to uncover and untangle some of those sources of stress through clinical counseling? Yes. But what about chiropractic care?
As a chiropractor, I say yes! Let me tell you why. Chiropractic care is about more than just pain relief (although pain relief is a beautiful thing.) At its core, what we do is promote balance in the body so that all of your systems work together as they should. When they do, your health improves naturally.
Chiropractic care can help calm the nervous system in a number of ways. For starters, remember that pain relief we mentioned? Well, pain causes stress, and alleviating it can ease the burden on your ENS.
Beyond that, the communication between your first brain and your second brain (ENS) travels up and down your spinal cord, but what happens when your spine is out of alignment, when a nerve is pinched, or vertebrae are compressed? You guessed it! It’s going to have an impact on your ENS - along with other systems in your body.
If regulating your enteric nervous system or improving your gut health is on your to-do list, our holistic team of practitioners can ensure you get the right kind of care for the results you want. From functional nutrition and therapeutic massage to chiropractors and physiotherapists, we can get to the root cause of intestinal discomfort.
Carly Njaa
D.C., B.Sc. Kin, Chiropractor