MSS #116: The Gut’s Secret Mind – Why Your Second Brain Shapes Your Thinking

MSS #116: The Gut’s Secret Mind – Why Your Second Brain Shapes Your Thinking

29 Mar, 2025

🕒Read time: 3.3 minutes
🚀 In a hurry? Jump to "3 Ways Your Gut Shapes Your Thinking" for a reduced reading time of 1.5 minutes.

Have you ever had a gut feeling about something?

Or watched a quiz show where the contestant says, "My gut says it's A, but now I think about it, I think the answer is B" – only to find out their gut was right?

It turns out your gut isn’t just digesting food – it's playing a role in memory, intuition, and decision-making.

Scientists have discovered that the gut has its own nervous system – often called the "second brain" – and it’s wired directly to the brain, constantly feeding it information.

This week, we dive into the gut-brain axis, exploring how the millions of neurons in your gut might be shaping your thoughts, memories, and instincts more than you realise.

Your Gut Has a Brain of Its Own

Your gut contains over 500 million neurons – more than the spinal cord!

This network, known as the enteric nervous system (ENS), doesn’t help you solve maths equations, but it communicates with your brain via the vagus nerve and affects how you feel, react and even recall information.

So why does this matter?

• Your gut is constantly sending signals to your brain (in fact, 90% of signals on the vagus nerve travel from gut to brain, not the other way around).

• Gut sensations can influence memory recall, decision-making and problem-solving.

• Some of your “gut instincts” are actually your older brain screaming "I know this!" before your thinking brain catches up.

• The gut responds to stress by slowing digestion, which can cause that familiar nausea when you’re anxious.

We’re only just beginning to understand the full impact, but one thing is clear: your gut isn’t just reacting to your brain – it’s shaping your thinking too.

3 Ways Your Gut Shapes Your Thinking

🔹 1. The Gut Screams Answers Before You Can Think

Ever struggled with a multiple-choice question and felt your gut instinct screaming an answer at you? This isn’t magic – it’s your older brain recognising something before your conscious mind can recall it.

🔬 Fact Check: The brain remembers everything you’ve ever seen, read, or heard, but you can’t consciously retrieve it all at once. When faced with a familiar situation, your gut signals recognition before your thinking brain fully processes it.

💡 Try This: Next time you feel a gut instinct in a quiz or decision, pause and ask:

• Does this feel like recognition or just a wild guess?

• Is my gut recalling something my logical brain hasn’t caught up with yet?

Trust your gut in factual recall—it often knows the answer before you do.

🔹 2. The Gut Stores Emotional Imprints

Ever walked into a place and felt a sudden wave of nostalgia, but you don’t know why?

This might be your gut neurons reacting to an emotional memory, even before your brain consciously remembers it.

🔬 Fact Check: While the gut doesn’t store memories like the hippocampus does, it is closely linked to the emotional and sensory processing centres of the brain. This is why certain environments, smells, or sensations trigger deep emotions before you even realise what’s happening. Our sense of smell is directly ‘wired’ through the Hippocampus, that’s why a distinct smell can instantly take you back to an old memory.

💡 Try This:

• If a place or situation makes you feel strangely familiar or uneasy, stop and ask: What does this remind me of?

• Trust that your gut is picking up on past experiences faster than your logical brain can retrieve them.

🔹 3. Gut Signals Can Hijack Your Thoughts

Ever been in a bad mood and had irrational thoughts like “everything is terrible” only to realise later… you were just tired or stressed?

That’s your gut-brain axis influencing your perception of reality.

🔬 Fact Check: When you’re stressed, your fight-or-flight system diverts energy away from digestion, slowing gut function and sending distress signals to the brain. These signals can make minor problems feel bigger, leading to negative thought patterns.

💡 Try This:

• If your thoughts suddenly take a negative turn, pause and check in: Am I actually in danger, or is my gut just reacting to stress?

• Practising deep belly breathing can stimulate the vagus nerve, calming both your gut and brain.

Your gut isn’t “hijacking” your mind—it’s just communicating distress.

Recognising this can help you take control of your emotional responses.

Summary

Your gut is more than a digestion machine – it’s a thinking partner that:

🔹 Recognises familiar information before your logical brain does.
🔹 Triggers emotional and sensory memories faster than conscious recall.
🔹 Influences your thoughts and perception of reality based on its state.

Next time your gut speaks up, listen closely – it may just be the smartest part of you.

See you next week. One more thought 👇

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That's it for this week. Thanks for reading, really hope this helped. Contact me if you think I can help you further at [email protected].

Happy thinking.