Conventional medicine tends to focus on medical interventions, surgical procedures and prescription medication. Not a lot emphasis is put on disease prevention or utilising natural holistic measures such as well balanced diet, immunotherapy (supporting the body’s immune system naturally to fight disease) or energy therapy to heal the body, mind and spirit. Instead of suppressing symptoms and strengthening disease or removing ‘faulty’ parts of the body, we should focus on discovering the cause of an illness and tapping into the body’s natural abilities to heal and regenerate.
In the traditional medicine approach patients tend to have ‘things’ done to them rather than be an active participant in treatment, taking responsibility for themselves and their lifestyle choices. This is why hospitals burst at the seams, people suffer from chronic illnesses and lose hope in the process of trying to find solutions to their health and life challenges. The old paradigm is clearly on the verge of collapsing with an exciting new dawn approaching with its ground-breaking discoveries to improve life and enhance wellbeing. One of them is the discovery of the third brain. Have you even thought that in essence you may have three brains? Let us look at the more closely.
First brain
No surprise here. It’s the brain in our head, an organ that is responsible for controlling the functions and movements of the body as well as sensations, emotions and mental processes. For a long time the scientists thought that the first brain was the Chief Executive of the body. However, it’s turned out that there is more than one boss. In fact, there are two more brains to support its function.
Second brain
At the turn of the ninetieth century the Spanish team of scientists led by Dr Cajal identified special interstitial cells called Cajal cells that were intertwined amongst neurons in the smooth muscles in the gastrointestinal tract. At the time, both the Cajal cells and neurons were thought to be responsible for moving the digested food through the intestine and totally controlled by the first brain.
When several years ago the scientists found out that this neuronal network, consisting of approximately one hundred million of neurons embedded in the walls of the gastrointestinal tract, is not only interconnected with one another but also with the neurons inside our heads, a new concept of ‘second’ brain came to light. It became apparent that the communication between the gut and the first brain runs in both directions and the neurons in GI tract influence the neuronal network in the head and vice versa. The gut-brain connection has an influence on the GI function, feelings and thoughts as well as decision making.
Hence, the second is brain is our gut or the gastrointestinal tract and it has as many neurotransmitters as our brain in the head. The discovery of the second brain shed a new light on human health and wellness as toxic gut caused mainly but unhealthy, modern diet, stress and medication may result in many psychological challenges people now experience. Many doctors start treating mental health problems by addressing the gut issue first and achieve surprisingly positive results.
Third brain
For more than 3000 years the world was not aware of this vital part of the body. In 2010 a team of scientists have discovered a new organ in the human anatomy and called it the third brain. Our third brain is in fact the microbiome and its discovery has opened a new potential for people dealing with health problems.
The microbiome consists of trillions of microbes such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and others. It can be found in many locations across the body- mainly in the lining of the gastrointestinal tract and secondly in the mucosa, blood, skin, hair, sinuses etc. About 70% of these microbes are intertwined in the neuronal net in the gastrointestinal tract which forms the second brain, where as the rest is dispersed throughout the whole organism.
The microbiome forms at birth when the baby is delivered into the world. During a natural childbirth, the baby pick up various microbes as it comes out through the birth canal. The micorobiome continues to be established in the baby’s body with breastfeeding until it is fully formed. It then becomes the operating system of the body which can start working at its optimal physical, emotional and social level. That is the intention behind it anyway.
Both first and second brains consist of the human neurons and are governed by our human DNA which contains approximately 22,000 genes but they are only one 360th of the genes present in our human body. The third brain, on the other hand, makes up more than 99% of the genes in our organism which means that we are less than 1% human as the majority of our genes are microbial. This has far-reaching implications for us as the third non-human brain turns out to be as important as our human brain and it greatly impacts on our life potential.
The scientists discovered that the gut microbiota have the ability to communicate with our first brain via certain neurotransmitters they produce and release ,e.g. serotonin to make us happy and by doing so they can manipulate our emotional states and behaviour. Moreover, it has been proven that the microbiome also influences our eating behaviour and makes us eat what serves them, not us to keep them alive!
The question arises how much of free will we have to make decisions about our lives and to what extent what we think and do is controlled by the microbiome. Some researchers are of opinion that changing the gut microbiome may result in changing our behaviour as well as emotions and mental states we experience. We can change our ‘ bad gut bacteria’ by switching to a healthy diet that is to our advantage to colonise the gut with ‘good bacteria’ which will support our health and well-being. More information about these exciting discoveries in the book The third brain by Peter Greenlaw, Marco Ruggiero and Drew Greenlaw.