Many internal physiological states, such as digestion, breathing, and heart rate, have been linked to mental, psychological, and emotional experiences. This connection between body and mind is supported by interoception, the innate ability to sense internal physiological states like hunger, thirst, pain, the urge to use the restroom, heartbeats, and breathing. Studies have successfully translated this interoception into feelings and sensations via the stomach, according to Medical Express – Natural Mental Health Magazine.

Important Internal Sensory Signals

Typically, important internal sensory signals are sent by what is called the gastric rhythm, an electrical oscillation regularly produced by the stomach to facilitate digestion. This rhythm has been linked to activity in the frontoparietal network, a connected set of brain regions involved in regulating emotions and attention-related processes.

Previous studies indicate that communication between the gastric rhythm and the frontoparietal network, generally known as visceral brain coupling or stomach-brain coupling, may play a role in some mental health disorders, including anxiety, depression, and stress-related conditions. However, many aspects of the relationship between visceral brain coupling and emotional or psychological symptoms remain unclear.

Mental Health Symptoms

Researchers from Aarhus University and the German Institute of Human Nutrition conducted a new study aiming to explore this relationship more deeply by examining mental health symptoms in a group of people alongside the electrical activity in their stomachs. Their research paper, published in the journal “Nature Mental Health,” indicates that stronger synchronization between the stomach and brain is often associated with deteriorated mental health.

“Chronic deviations in brain-body interactions contribute to a wide spectrum of mental health disorders. However, the relationship between stomach-brain coupling and emotional symptoms is still not well understood. We investigated this new interoceptive axis and mental health in 243 participants using a machine learning approach,” the researchers stated.

Sharing Emotional Experiences

Baniles, Ripolló, and colleagues assessed participants’ mental health using a test that encouraged them to share their emotional, psychological, social, and physical experiences. They also recorded electrical signals and activity in participants’ stomachs using two common experimental techniques, electrogastrography (EGG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

“We found that increased coupling of the frontoparietal brain region with the gastric rhythm signals a multidimensional marker of poor mental health, including anxiety, depression, stress, and well-being,” wrote Baniles, Ripolló, and colleagues.

Interactions on the Stomach Axis

Control analyses confirm the specificity of these stomach-brain axis interactions. Our study suggests the stomach-brain connection as an influential factor in mental health and offers new potential targets for interventions addressing abnormal brain-body coupling.

The team’s findings emphasize the link between gastric-brain coupling and emotional or psychological health, revealing patterns associated with increased anxiety, low mood, stress, and poor mental health. Other researchers may soon conduct additional studies to explore the processes through which strong visceral-brain connections contribute to specific mental health disorders. In the future, this collective work could pave the way for new therapeutic strategies aimed at alleviating symptoms of stress-related psychological conditions by addressing abnormal stomach-brain communication patterns.

The Scientific Link Between Body and Mind

The connection between internal physiological states and mental and emotional experiences is a cornerstone of modern neuroscience and psychology. This innate ability is called interoception, describing the sensation of our internal state. It is the ability to sense, interpret, and process signals coming from the body’s internal organs, such as the heart, lungs, and stomach. This sensory system operates continuously, recording everything from heartbeat and blood pressure to bowel movements or changes in body temperature. Sometimes called the “sixth sense,” it provides the brain with a live, continuous map of the body’s internal condition.

The brain uses interoceptive signals to generate emotions. For example, when your heart rate increases and your breathing quickens in a risky situation, your brain interprets these sensations as fear or anxiety. Without interoception, we would not be able to “feel” anything.

A person’s ability to understand and interpret internal signals plays a critical role in emotional regulation. People with strong interoception are better able to recognize and control their emotions, while weak interoception may lead to difficulty understanding feelings, which is linked to conditions such as anxiety disorders, depression, and eating disorders.