giulia enders
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intro’d to Giulia via her ted (may 2017 tedxdanubia)
The surprisingly charming science of your gut
hardly anyone seems to care about the organ.. the concrete anatomy/mechs behind (what we eat).. seems like we’re trying to figure out this magic trick (what to eat) but nobody’s checking out the magician.. just because he has.. and embarrassing hairstyle or something.. and actually.. there are reasons science disliked the gut for a long time..
it’s complex.. sa: 40x area of our skin.. then.. such a tight pipe.. so many immune cells being trained there.. have 100 trillion bacteria doing all sorts of things.. producing little molecules.. then about 20 diff hormones.. and nervous system of our gut is so complex.. when cut out a piece.. it’s independent enough that when we poke it.. it mumbles back at us.. friendly
can control outer sphincter.. inner one we don’t.. leftovers from digestion delivered to inner one first.. inner will open in a reflex and let thru a little bit for testing..
inner.. not connected to nerves that care too much about outer world or time.. just caring about me.. now i can go anywhere.. because i consider it more when that inner muscle puts a suggestion
funny rumbling noises.. not because we’re hungry.. because sm intestine is actually a huge neat freak.. takes time between digestion to clean everything in those 8 meters of gut.. really, seven of them.. being very clean and hardly smelling like anything.. creates a strong muscular wave that moves everything forward that’s been leftover.. this can sometimes create a sound.. so what we’re embarrassed of is really a sign os something keeping our insides fine and tidy…
weird crooked shape of our stomach.. actually makes us be able to put pressure on our belly w/o vomiting.. like when laughing ..doing sports.. pressure will go up and not so much sideways..
also creates this air bubble .. can create discomfort for some.. but for most.. just results that it’s far easier to burp when laying on left side instead of right
whole body.. someone i knew.. had killed self.. happened to be sitting next to that person day before and .. he had very bad breath.. i thought: could the gut have something to do w it..
brain.. 10 % of the nerves that connect brain and gut deliver info from brain to gut.. 90% .. deliver info from gut to brain
brain is very isolated.. in skull surrounded by thick skin.. needs info to put together how whole body is doing..
gut.. is possibly most important advisor for brain.. it’s our largest sensory organ..t
collecting info not only on quality of nutrients.. but on how so many of our immune cells are doing.. things like the hormones in our blood that it can sense.. it can pkg this info and send it to brain.. not reach areas like visual cortex or *word formations.. otherwise.. when digest would see funny colors/noises.. but it can reach areas for things like morality, fear, or emotional processing or areas of self awareness…t
*beyond words ness – not yet scrambled
so does make sense when body/brain are putting together feeling of.. how am i as whole body.. that the gut has something to contribute.. and also makes sense that people who have conditions like irritable bowel syndrome or inflam bowel disease have a higher risk of having anxiety or depression.. good to share.. many people will think ‘i have this gut thing and maybe i also have this mental health thing.. maybe.. brain is just feeling sympathy w gut.. (sci not clear on that right now)
helps me in my daily life.. makes me think differently of my moods and not externalize so much all the time.. ie: when i wake up too early and start to worry/wander.. i can stop and think.. what did i eat yesterday.. did i stress myself out too much.. did i eat too late.. and maybe get up and make tea.. something light to digest.. simple.. but surprisingly helpful for me
realizing bacteria differently.. what real cleanliness is.. and it’s not the hygiene hypothesis: when you have too little microbes in environ.. because you clean all the time.. so people get more allergies/autoimmune diseases.. so i knew this hypothesis and i thought i wouldn’t learn much from looking at cleanliness of the gut.. but i was wrong..
turns out.. real cleanliness is not about killing off bacteria right away.. 95% of all bacteria on planet don’t harm us.. they can’t.. they don’t have the genes to do so.. many actually help us a lot..t scientists looking into.. ie: clean gut; digest; put on weight; feel more courageous..resilient to stress; .. it’s about a healthy balance.. you can’t avoid bad all the time.. not possible.. there’s always something bad around.. it’s about having good bacteria.. enough of them.. and then some bad. immune system needs bad so it knows what it’s looking out for
immunity ..
(thinking in particular about Gerard’s book – faith madness and spontaneous human combustion [https://www.amazon.com/Faith-Madness-Spontaneous-Human-Combustion/dp/0312268076].. writing about here in 2011.. http://monkblogs.blogspot.com/2011/07/pointillism-and-paradox.html )
taking it further.. maybe we make it sort of like a life hygiene..t.. about fostering the good as much as trying to shelter from bad..
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reading – gut
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find/follow Giulia:
(only one tweet from 2014)
http://www.darm-mit-charme.de/
Giulia Enders (born 1990 in Mannheim) is a German writer and scientist whose first book Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ, has sold more than two million copies in Germany and that was published in English, French (more than one million copies sold), Italian and other translations in 2015
Enders is enrolled in the doctoral (PhD) programme in gastroenterology at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. In 2012, she won the first prize at the Science Slam in Freiburg, Berlin and Karlsruhe with her talk Darm mit Charme (Charming Bowels). This talk was also published on YouTube. Enders received the offer to write a book about this subject that has sat atop the German paperback charts shortly after the release in March 2014. The drawings for the book were made by her older sister Jill Enders.
love
Darm mit Charme was published in March 2014; in July 2014, the editor Ullstein Verlag announced that 500,000 copies were sold. The rights for the book have been sold in 18 countries.
In her book, she explains the functions and the importance of the human gastrointestinal tract. She also criticises the excess of hygiene in society and its impact on the immune system (hygiene hypothesis).
She is currently working on her thesis about the topic Acinetobacter baumannii that can cause infected wounds, respiratory diseases and blood poisoning. She would like to become a gastroenterologist afterwards.
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be you. 