Why do you feel sick to your stomach when you get nervous?
In: Biology
It’s part of the Fight or Flight Response. Your body isn’t capable of distinguishing between “I have a test tomorrow that I didn’t study for” from “There is monkey chasing after me with a knife, omg where did it get a knife?”
The stress response releases hosts of hormones and other chemicals into your body, but part of the process involves redirecting bloodflow/energy from your digestive system to your muscles, heart, lungs, and brain. Since you might have a full stomach (or a full intestine) when this shutdown occurs your body is literally preparing to purge those organs. So it’s not just nausea, being nervous can also make you have to go to the bathroom for the same cause.
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