Gut Feelings

Food-fixated people are sometimes accused of thinking with their stomachs. When Michael Gershon talks about thinking with the stomach, he means it literally. Gershon, who appeared on the Business Shrink last week, is one of the world’s leading expert on what he calls “the brain in the gut.” It is no surprise, he says, that gastrointestinal ailments have roots in anxiety and depression.

“Everybody’s known for many years that the brain can affect the gut. Anybody’s who’s examined closely foxholes, shortly after an artillery barrage, will tell you that there are nasty affects the brain can have on the gut,” Gershon told the Business Shrink.

But Gershon has uncovered the complexity of the enteric nervous system, which manages every aspect of digestion with a “sophisticated, nearly self-contained network of neural circuitry, neurotransmitters and protein,” much like the brain.

“When it comes to a brain in the gut I must be a genius,” said the Business Shrink, apparently in reference to his girth.