COURSE II: The Second Brain

This lesson places the gastrointestinal system within the wider network of connections of the nervous system, appreciating its role as an organ of perception. Through taking in food, its vast surface is in contact with the outer environment, passing on information to the brain via the Vagus nerve. The central nervous system then feeds back responses to the gut, these communication highways being the gut-brain axis. Focus is turned to the autonomic nervous system and its intimate connections with the body’s hormonal axis. Understanding these connections and pathways, we can begin to appreciate the diverse factors that influence gastrointestinal integrity, and as a consequence, general health.