Question: Hello! When you get a stomache ache (for example from overeating) how do you know that you don't feel good (is it through nerves or something)?
Yes, nerves send electrical signals through our body. The brain interprets these signals.
When the walls of the stomach are stretched by too much food, the cells don’t work as efficiently as normal and electrical miss-firings occur. These signals are sent to the brain and interpreted as discomfort or stomach ache.
It is to do with the nerves. The network of nerves in our body is called the central nervous system and it includes the nerves, spinal cord and brain. They work together to help us decide how to react to things. Usually when you eat and your stomach becomes full, messages is sent to slow our eating down and stop.
But if you face a plate full of deliciousness and you can’t stop and decide to keep eating, the stomach will get larger to make room for the extra food you need. It can only expand so much and after this point, the stretching of the stomach starts to put strain on parts of the body which ends up feeling like a stomach ache. The stomach ache is one of the signals to stop eating.
I find it really interesting that the stomach can also detect problems that aren’t to do with over-eating. Like when you eat something that’s off. Your body detects something is wrong, shuts the stomach down and makes you vomit. It’s very sophisticated because there are all kinds of things that you can eat that are bad for you, and in a very short space of time the stomach decides (without your conscious mind playing a role) “No way, I’m not processing that”. I’d love to know which molecules are responsible for that response. Or maybe organisms are detected. In which case the stomach needs to know which bacteria are bad for you, and so on.
So the response is based on nerves telling your brain something’s wrong, but the detection that something is wrong is chemical if you eat bad food.
Yes, nerves send electrical signals through our body. The brain interprets these signals.
When the walls of the stomach are stretched by too much food, the cells don’t work as efficiently as normal and electrical miss-firings occur. These signals are sent to the brain and interpreted as discomfort or stomach ache.
1
It is to do with the nerves. The network of nerves in our body is called the central nervous system and it includes the nerves, spinal cord and brain. They work together to help us decide how to react to things. Usually when you eat and your stomach becomes full, messages is sent to slow our eating down and stop.
But if you face a plate full of deliciousness and you can’t stop and decide to keep eating, the stomach will get larger to make room for the extra food you need. It can only expand so much and after this point, the stretching of the stomach starts to put strain on parts of the body which ends up feeling like a stomach ache. The stomach ache is one of the signals to stop eating.
1
I find it really interesting that the stomach can also detect problems that aren’t to do with over-eating. Like when you eat something that’s off. Your body detects something is wrong, shuts the stomach down and makes you vomit. It’s very sophisticated because there are all kinds of things that you can eat that are bad for you, and in a very short space of time the stomach decides (without your conscious mind playing a role) “No way, I’m not processing that”. I’d love to know which molecules are responsible for that response. Or maybe organisms are detected. In which case the stomach needs to know which bacteria are bad for you, and so on.
So the response is based on nerves telling your brain something’s wrong, but the detection that something is wrong is chemical if you eat bad food.
1