The view in Korean medicine that the heart governs the mind and spirit shares many similarities with modern brain functions. In particular, modern medicine has already clearly established that emotional factors such as stress and anxiety directly affect our body's digestive functions. This is precisely due to the complex neurological connection called the gut-brain axis.
Our brain and gut are not simply organs separated above and below. Like an intimately connected highway, they converse constantly by exchanging numerous neurotransmitters and hormones. Among these, the vagus nerve directly connects the brain to the gut, playing a key role in allowing our emotional state to influence gastrointestinal motility, digestive enzyme secretion, and even the gut microbiota environment.
Imagine this. When we experience stress, the brain secretes stress hormones such as cortisol, and the sympathetic nerve is activated, putting the body in a state of tension. At this time, blood flow intended for the digestive organ decreases, intestinal motility accelerates or slows down abnormally, and intestinal permeability can even increase to trigger inflammatory reactions. Does it not bear a striking resemblance to how heart fire described in the Donguibogam affects the entire body?
That is why stomach pain, diarrhea, constipation, stuffiness in the epigastrium, and dyspepsia appear when you are tense or anxious. This can be viewed not as a problem of the gut itself, but as psychosomatic symptoms that appear when the brain's stress response is transmitted to the gut. This is precisely why, even if gastroenterology reports no abnormalities, you must suspect an imbalance in this gut-brain axis if the discomfort persists. Chronic stress weakens the intestinal wall, induces inflammation, and disrupts the balance of beneficial gut bacteria, negatively impacting overall gut health; thus, it is not an issue to simply overlook as just having a sensitive gut. Governing the mind ultimately becomes an essential key to governing the gut.
