What causes the “butterflies in the stomach” feeling?

Butterflies (Source: pixabay.com)

Butterflies in the stomach is a physiological response of the body when we are nervous due to fear or any other situation like talking to your crush for the first time. In these situations, the brain goes into “fight or flight” mode preparing our body to either run from the situation as soon as possible or to fight the entity causing the fear/ nervousness.

In this mode, our body decreases blood flow to non-vital areas of the body, so that the blood can flood into muscles (e.g. arms, abs, and legs) so that if you have to fight or flee, you can in a better way. And digestion isn’t really important in the middle of a fight, and thus body decreases the blood flow to the stomach, and this is the reason we feel “butterflies in the stomach”.

Along with this, the body experiences a high level of adrenaline which raises your heart rate and breathing which heightens your alertness to changes internally.

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