Stomach Jumping

[dodgymanc]

People talk about their stomach doing 'somersaults' when you feel in love, or butterflies when they're nervous etc etc. Why does this happen? What causes these feelings to be actioned in the stomach, and what evolutionary/practical purpose does it serve?

[kempie]

Nervousness causes the "fright, flight and fight" hormone, adrenaline, to be released into the bloodstream. Consequences of this include an increase in blood pressure and heart-rate (your heart thumps) and blood being diverted from certain 'unnecessary' organs (skin turns cold & clammy and so-called "butterflies" in the stomach) to ensure a rich flow to the skeletal muscles, enabling you to run or fight and thus survive the perceived threat.

Perhaps someone can describe how love equates to fear since they seem to elicit similar bodily responses.

[mycatis]

Fear is our most basic of emotions, I think every feeling we have basically comes down to fear, (fear of being hurt, embarrassed, alone, poor, sad etc) maybe love equates to fear simply through a fear of losing the person you love, making a fool of yourself or them not feeling the same way, therefore (biologically) losing a chance to be with a potential mate to pass on your genes.  Just a thought :)

[Litchick]

Good answer Kempie!  I also read that some people need to run to the toilet when nervous and this is adapted from the need to "dump waste" to make the body lighter while running away from the fear.

[nfn]

Mycatis puts it into words I can only emmulate. Love is unexplainable, as are feelings. Mycatis, I take my hat off to you