Your Heart Feels Emotions 3 Seconds Before Your Brain Knows It.
People tend to think the brain is the ultimate boss, but what if I told you that this was a half lie. When your heart senses something dangerous, exiting, lovable, it sends a signal up to your brain milliseconds before you can explain it.
Scientists call it interoception. We call it gut feeling.
What actually happens?
This is the detailed process how this weird process occurs.
Something happens outside
Your hearts rhythm changes a tiny bit. It gets a little tighter, faster, or more open. It all depends on the situation.
Your heart sends that new rhythm through a nerve, Nerve Vagus. This nerve is the 10th cranial nerve, the longest nerve in the body, and the main cable for your parasympathetic nervous system. 80% of the process happens here but the rest happens in the sympathetic system which physically accelerates your heart when you are excited or scared.
Then your brain tries to make a story. For example it can say “I’m anxious” or “I like playing this sport”.
So emotions are not “in your head”. It starts as a shape-change in your chest, and the brain trying to catch up.
The heart's rhythm changes in step 2 from your interceptors. They reside in your aorta and around your heart, they feel and stretch the rhythms.
When the Nerve Vagus is healthy, it releases a calming chemical called acetylcholine. Your heart beat slows, and the heart rate variability goes up. In the end a part of the brain called insula realizes the body is now safe.
This topic will be covered more in depth in our anatomy workshop. Please check insidethehumanbody.org for more information.
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