Think twice: How the gut’s “second brain” influences mood and well-being
Sott.netAdam Hadhazy
Scientific American
Fri, 12 Feb 2010
The emerging and surprising view of how the enteric nervous system in our bellies goes far beyond just processing the food we eat.
As Olympians go for the gold in Vancouver, even the steeliest are likely to experience that familiar feeling of “butterflies” in the stomach. Underlying this sensation is an often-overlooked network of neurons lining our guts that is so extensive some scientists have nicknamed it our “second brain”.
A deeper understanding of this mass of neural tissue, filled with important neurotransmitters, is revealing that it does much more than merely handle digestion or inflict the occasional nervous pang. The little brain in our innards, in connection with the big one in our skulls, partly determines our mental state and plays key roles in certain diseases throughout the body.
Although its influence is far-reaching, the second brain is not the seat of any conscious thoughts or decision-making.
“The second brain doesn’t help with the great thought processes…religion, philosophy and poetry is left to the brain in the head,” says Michael Gershon, chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at New York – Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, an expert in the nascent field of neurogastroenterology and author of the 1998 book The Second Brain (HarperCollins).
Technically known as the enteric nervous system, the second brain consists of sheaths of neurons embedded in the walls of the long tube of our gut, or alimentary canal, which measures about nine meters end to end from the esophagus to the anus. The second brain contains some 100 million neurons, more than in either the spinal cord or the peripheral nervous system, Gershon says.
This multitude of neurons in the enteric nervous system enables us to “feel” the inner world of our gut and its contents. Much of this neural firepower comes to bear in the elaborate daily grind of digestion. Breaking down food, absorbing nutrients, and expelling of waste requires chemical processing, mechanical mixing and rhythmic muscle contractions that move everything on down the line.
Thus equipped with its own reflexes and senses, the second brain can control gut behavior independently of the brain, Gershon says. We likely evolved this intricate web of nerves to perform digestion and excretion “on site,” rather than remotely from our brains through the middleman of the spinal cord. “The brain in the head doesn’t need to get its hands dirty with the messy business of digestion, which is delegated to the brain in the gut,” Gershon says. He and other researchers explain, however, that the second brain’s complexity likely cannot be interpreted through this process alone.
“The system is way too complicated to have evolved only to make sure things move out of your colon,” says Emeran Mayer, professor of physiology, psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.). For example, scientists were shocked to learn that about 90 percent of the fibers in the primary visceral nerve, the vagus, carry information from the gut to the brain and not the other way around. “Some of that info is decidedly unpleasant,” Gershon says.
The second brain informs our state of mind in other more obscure ways, as well. “A big part of our emotions are probably influenced by the nerves in our gut,” Mayer says. Butterflies in the stomach – signaling in the gut as part of our physiological stress response, Gershon says – is but one example. Although gastrointestinal (GI) turmoil can sour one’s moods, everyday emotional well-being may rely on messages from the brain below to the brain above. For example, electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve – a useful treatment for depression – may mimic these signals, Gershon says.
Given the two brains’ commonalities, other depression treatments that target the mind can unintentionally impact the gut. The enteric nervous system uses more than 30 neurotransmitters, just like the brain, and in fact 95 percent of the body’s serotonin is found in the bowels. Because antidepressant medications called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) increase serotonin levels, it’s little wonder that meds meant to cause chemical changes in the mind often provoke GI issues as a side effect. Irritable bowel syndrome – which afflicts more than two million Americans – also arises in part from too much serotonin in our entrails, and could perhaps be regarded as a “mental illness” of the second brain.
[hat tip: Wil Spencer]
VIDEO — The Truth & Lies Of Arguing, with Jan Irvin – June 17, 2013
17 June 2013, Responding To Fallacies With Logic! Jan Irvin, Defending Against And Discrediting Tom Hatsis.
Vinny’s Nutshell: Jan Irvin www.gnosticmedia.com
Following attacks by Tom Hatsis a full response in detail is required over a number of hours in order to show conclusively the length of lying, manipulation and logical fallacies he has used to discredit Jan, this is a power house interview where Vinny shows remarkable humility in order to make amends for the stress and frustration the earlier interview had caused.
Revealed: British intelligence agency secretly accesses the world’s phone calls, internet traffic
By Madison Ruppert
Editor of End the Lie
June 21, 2013
In yet another revelation of widespread spying, we have now learned that the British intelligence agency GCHQ has secretly gained access to the massive network of cables carrying the world’s phone calls and internet traffic.
Furthermore, we now know that the agency has begun processing the immense amount of personal information provided by the streams, which it then shares with its partner, the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).
The NSA itself has been under fire after the PRISM program – and the related Boundless Informant software – was revealed by leaker Edward Snowden, who also leaked the document revealing the GCHQ program to the Guardian.
The revelations have been so damaging that Obama was forced to attempt to defend the program in Germany despite strong opposition. We also have seen the Director of National Intelligence lie under oath while Attorney General Eric Holder claimed the leaks were “extremely damaging” to national security. All of the government’s language used when talking about the program has been deceptive at best.
While some in Washington D.C. have been working to get more information about this program and the legal authorization behind it, the majority of the Senate skipped out on a major hearing.
Now it seems that whereas previously it looked like it was the NSA collecting most of the data and sharing it with GCHQ, the British intelligence agency is running a massive collection program of their own.
“It’s not just a US problem. The UK has a huge dog in this fight,” Snowden said to the Guardian. “They [GCHQ] are worse than the US.”
GCHQ’s two programs, called Mastering the Internet and Global Telecoms Exploitation, are focused on gathering up as much information as possible without any public debate or even acknowledgment.
As part of an operation codenamed Tempora, the agency has for around 18 months been able to “tap into and store huge volumes of data drawn from fiber-optic cables for up to 30 days so that it can be sifted and analyzed,” according to the Guardian.
This results in communications between completely innocent people being accessed and processed, along with those of targeted suspects.
The variety of information is staggering: phone call recordings, email message content, Facebook entries and the history of anyone’s access to websites.
Somehow, all of this is deemed legal, according to the Guardian, despite the fact that the warrant system was supposed to restrict interception to a specified range of targets.
An unnamed source “with knowledge of intelligence” claimed that the data was actually collected legally under a system of safeguards – much like the claims made by individuals in the U.S. government – and “had provided material that had led to significant breakthroughs in detecting and preventing serious crime.”
Yet when Americans were given guidelines for the use of the data collected through this system, they were told in a legal briefing by GCHQ lawyers, “We have a light oversight regime compared with the U.S.”
Given what we now know about the U.S. oversight system, that should be troubling. Even more so when we realize that Americans were told it was “your call” to judge the necessity and proportionality of what they were allowed to look for.
According to the Guardian, “a total of 850,000 NSA employees and US private contractors with top secret clearance had access to GCHQ databases.”
These databases must be massive considering the fact that the documents reveal that GCHQ was handling some 600 million “telephone events” every single day.
The agency had also tapped over 200 fiber-optic cables and was able to simultaneously process data from no less than 46 cables at a time.
Since a single cable carries 10 gigabits per second in data, “the tapped cables had the capacity, in theory, to deliver more than 21 petabytes a day – equivalent to sending all the information in all the books in the British Library 192 times every 24 hours,” according to the Guardian.
If that wasn’t concerning enough, GCHQ is constantly tapping more cables and the storage facilities for the data are in a state of constant expansion as well. The aim is to be able to process thousands of gigabits at a time.
The massive Tempora program “has been built up over five years by attaching intercept probes to transatlantic fiber-optic cables where they land on British shores carrying data to western Europe from telephone exchanges and internet servers in north America,” according to the Guardian.
This was accomplished via secret agreements with commercial companies described as “intercept partners” in one document.
According to the Guardian, the documents reveal that some of the corporations were actually paid for the cost of their cooperation with GCHQ, which also took major steps to keep their identities secret.
While U.S. companies were implicated in the NSA PRISM program early on – and continue to be with revelations of Skype’s Project Chess – it seems that GCHQ was able to keep their alliances hidden.
In one internal guidance paper, the companies were assigned “sensitive relationship teams” and staff members were urged to disguise the origin of what they called “special source” material in their reports.
This was based on a fear that the role of the companies as “intercept partners” would cause “high-level political fallout.”
Yet the same unnamed source said that the companies were obliged to cooperate with the GCHQ program and are “forbidden from revealing the existence of warrants compelling them to allow GCHQ access to the cables.”
If companies attempt to refuse to choose not to cooperate, “we can compel them to do so. They have no choice,” the source said.
While the source claimed, “There is no intention in this whole program to use it for looking at UK domestic traffic – British people talking to each other,” we now know that there is a lot of leeway in how the NSA’s system works.
Furthermore, the entire legal basis for the operation is questionable, as the Guardian points out, since the law legitimizing the operation was signed 13 years ago “with no inkling of the scale on which GCHQ would attempt to exploit the certificates, enabling it to gather and process data regardless of whether it belongs to identified targets.”
To make matters even worse, the categories of material subject to surveillance are secret and not subject to public debate. GCHQ’s compliance with the certificates signed by the foreign secretary are audited by GCHQ itself and the results of the audits are kept secret.
To drive home just how massive this program really is, GCHQ lawyers said it would be impossible to list the total number of people targeted by the program because “this would be an infinite list which we couldn’t manage.”
For more be sure to read the Guardian’s in-depth articles here and here.
I’d love to hear your opinion, take a look at your story tips and even your original writing if you would like to get it published. I am also available for interviews on radio, television or any other format. Please email me at Admin@EndtheLie.com
Please support alternative news and help us start paying contributors by donating, doing your shopping through our Amazon link or check out some must-have products at our store.
VIDEO — strange cloud over Calgary, Canada – June 18th 2013
YouTube – Gry Elise Nyland
June 18, 2013
VIDEO + PICTURES — Flooding in Calgary Canada – Rivers Flood Roadway in Dangerous Conditions
YouTube — MrViralNews
June 21, 2013
[pictures]
3 Reasons Why You Should March Against Chemtrails and Geoengineering on 8/25/13
[Potent News editor’s UPDATE: I had a few fishy feelings about this event to begin with and now things are starting to make a lot more sense. I would like to apologize to the readers for my hasty advertising of this event. I would also like to point out that I have great respect for the author of Global March For Chemtrails Has Some Fishy Management (2nd UPDATE), not only because of the content of this article, but also because he previously personally sent me very pertinent information revealing the sketchy nature of Non-Violent Communcation.]
by Elizabeth Cook
Activist Post
June 21, 2013
1. The March Against Monsanto was a huge success in bringing the public’s attention to the dangers of genetically modified foods. Nearly fifty percent of U.S. states introduced bills requiring labeling or prohibiting genetically engineered foods since the date of the protest on May 26, 2013. And all without the “help” of mainstream media. Great achievement, but the battle has only just begun. As brilliant as the march was, it only addressed half of the problem.
Have your crop yields declined over the years? Have you noticed the decaying trees in your neighborhood? Well, apparently Monsanto has, which is why the company holds a patent on “aluminum resistant seed.” Don’t want to be forced to eat GMO? Then please march on Sunday, August 25, 2013.
2. What do autism, Alzheimer’s, asthma, influenza and Morgellons Disease all have in common? They have all been skyrocketing since the advent of chemtrails. Award winning investigative reporter, Will Thomas, has reported findings of over 300 types of virally-mutated fungi in chemtrail fallout. The Idaho Observer has reported findings of: 26 heavy metals including arsenic, gold, lead, mercury, silver, uranium and zinc; four molds and fungi; seven viruses; a variety of infectious pathogens; nine chemicals including acetylcholine chloride; drugs including two sedatives; and six bacteria including anthrax. Researcher Clifford Carnicom has reported finding chemtrail fibers that are an exact match with the fibers found in those suffering from Morgellons Disease. Are you ready to put an end to the needless suffering of millions of people? Then march for your brothers and sisters.
3. According to the research of Dane Wigington of Geoengineeringwatch.org, chemtrails and geoengineering are the single, greatest threat to life on Planet Earth. UN scientists estimate that 150-200 species of plant, insect, bird and mammal become extinct every 24 hours. This is nearly 1,000 times the “natural” or “background” rate and is greater than anything that the world has experienced since the vanishing of the dinosaurs nearly 65 million years ago. Chemtrails appear to have triggered climate feedback loops affecting ocean currents between the Atlantic and the Arctic. One of these feedback loops is methane expulsion. This methane expulsion has not been happening over a hundred years or even decades. It has been happening only over a few years. This is a global, game-changing event. Are you ready to put an end to the real global warming? Then march for Planet Earth!
For a list of scheduled events in your area, please visit: http://globalmarchagainstchemtrailsandgeoengineering.com/
To create an event in your area, go to:
https://www.facebook.com/GlobalMarchAgainstChemtrailsAndGeoengineering/events?hc_location=stream
VIDEO — Brazil Boiling: brutal clashes as country gripped by protests
RT
June 20, 2013
Violent clashes have erupted in the northern city of Fortaleza in the hours leading to a Confederations Cup match with Mexico. Dozens were hurt as riot police unleashed tear gas and barrage of rubber bullets at a crowd of some 30,000 Brazilian protesters. Protests and clashes continued in other cities as well. READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/89f5mm
RT LIVE http://rt.com/on-air
Subscribe to RT! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c…
Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/RTnews
Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/RT_com
Follow us on Google+ http://plus.google.com/+RT
RT (Russia Today) is a global news network broadcasting from Moscow and Washington studios. RT is the first news channel to break the 1 billion YouTube views benchmark.
PN 