What part of your brain controls nausea?

Are you feeling queasy and wish to know what part of your brain is causing this? Well, look no further. In this humorous article, we will take a dive into the science behind nausea and identify which part of your brain is responsible for making you feel like throwing up.

The Basics Behind Nausea

Nausea can be caused by various factors such as motion sickness, food poisoning or even anxiety. In simple terms, it’s an unpleasant sensation that makes one feel like vomiting.

But How Does It All Begin?

The science behind nausea begins in the gastrointestinal tract (GI). When there’s something wrong with our stomachs or intestines, they send signals via the vagus nerve to an area in our lower medulla called the Area Postrema (AP) which is located right next to another region called the fourth ventricle. AP plays a significant role in regulating nausea and vomiting as it allows toxins or other noxious substances to stimulate its sensory neurons without raising much response from its immune system.

When AP detects these signals from GI, it then sends them up to two regions that are mainly involved in triggering vomit reflexes: Nucleus Tractus Solitarius (NTS) and Dorsal Motor Nucleus of Vagus, who are best friends forever (BFFs) when it comes to coordinating gut activity.

If something so gross travels through your mouth unto your community (stomach), there oughtta be ways we sense that crap!

Substances that produce inflammation cause reflex responses such as a sudden increase in heart rate \or rapid breathing\ . When things go wrong further down where their digestive tract meets their butt, whether from gastroenteritis (\) or food poisoning(\, the reflex arc can be plus-plus: Your limbs receive less oxygen as blood vessels constrict in attempts to divert the flow of resources to your core organs.

The Role of NTS and DMNV

NTS is responsible for regulating various functions such as cardiovascular stability and respiration. When we get nauseous, NTS receives inputs from AP (via vagus nerve), which triggers a chain reaction resulting in an increased respiratory rate and heart rate. This is necessary as it provides additional oxygen to our muscles when they need them most.

DMNV has a slightly different role compared to NTS, instead of increasing heart and breathing rates when one feels nauseated, DMNV is responsible for decreasing digestive activity; this basically means that any stomach contents are retained within it, making it difficult for us to vomit.

So Which Part of Your Brain Is Responsible For Nausea?

As you may have guessed by now, nausea originates from Area Postrema (AP). However,NTS plays a crucial role in coordinating vomiting-related activities such as enhanced respiratory rates + cardiac output because more oxygen needs supplying while maintaining bowel movement while suppressing gastric motility.

Wait what? What was the difference again between Area postema (‘The Hallway’) , nts (‘Receptionist Desk’) & dmnv? I gotta retrace my steps right quick.

Region	Role
AP/Hallway	Detection of toxins, initiating the sensation of nausea.
NTS/Receptionist desk	Coordination vomiting-related activities including

OK OK! AS to what drrr.

So What Happens When You’re Nauseous?

When AP detects something toxic in our GI tract, it sends a signal up to two regions: NTS and DMNV.

• NTS responds by increasing heart rate + respiratory rates which helps supply more oxygen to our muscles while suppressing gastric activity.
• DMNV decreases digestive activity making it difficult for us to vomit.

Why Do We Vomit Then?

Sounds confusing – if everything’s working just fine when we’re nauseous, why don’t we just fall asleep and dream about living in zero-gravity ? This doesn’t quite make sense given that our body is trying so hard not to throw up but eventually ends up succumbing anyhow.

The reason behind this is because there are other parts of the brain involved apart from AP, NTS and DMVN; these regions participate in detecting unpleasant tastes/smells or memories etc., things that make one want to vomit but aren’t actually harmful.

These areas include:

1. Lateral Vestibular nucleus (LVN): regulates balance/equilibrium.
2. Solitary Tract region (ST) : processes smell & taste info
   3.Medial Vestiobular nucleus(MVN): regulation alignment with muscle activity

While “Area postrema(AP),” “nucleus tractus solitarious(NTS)”and “Dorsal Motor Nucleus(NMC)” play significant roles regulating the physiology underlaying someone feeling sick feelings.\

So next time your body decides to play games and you start feeling nauseous, remember that AP is the ‘hallway’ of vomit reflexes, while NTS, acting as a helpful receptionist helps coordinate output via increased heart rates and pumped up adrenaline levels!