Welcome to the Bedtime Scientist.
Tonight we're going to wonder about something.
Most people never learn that feelings don't just live in your
head, they live in your body too.
Real physical things happening in real physical places.
And there's a reason for them. Sometimes, when something
exciting or nervous is about to happen, you feel a flutter in
your stomach, like tiny wings opening and closing.
People call them butterflies, or sometimes your cheeks get warm
when you laugh hard or when someone says your name in a kind
voice. Sometimes your chest feels full
or your throat feels tight, like you have to swallow around
something that's hard to explain.
And sometimes, when a feeling gets very big, your eyes fill
with tears. These aren't pretend things,
they're messages. Inside your body, there's a
network of nerves called your nervous system, and messages
travel along it all day long. Tiny updates.
The body telling the brain something important is
happening. The brain answering back.
I'm listening. It's a conversation that never
fully stops, even when you're asleep.
When something exciting is about to happen, your brain sends a
message down the line. Get ready.
Your heart begins beating a little faster.
Your body moves energy and blood toward your arms and legs in
case you want to run or jump or throw your arms around someone
you love. And deep in your stomach, the
small muscles there begin to flutter, a tickle that is the
butterflies. It's your body helping you
prepare for something important before you even know what it is.
That's one place feelings live. There are others.
When your cheeks grow warm, something else is happening.
Under the skin of your face are tiny blood vessels, like small
rivers. They open a little wider and
more blood moves close to the surface.
That's where the warmth comes from.
It happens when you're embarrassed sometimes, but also
when you feel loved or surprised or noticed by someone.
Big feelings have a way of showing up where we can see
them, and sometimes they show up where only you can feel them.
The lump in your throat may be one of the most remarkable
things the body does. When a feeling rises inside you,
your throat opens slightly wider to bring in more air.
A small muscle near the back of your throat does the opening,
and when you try to swallow against that openness, you feel
the lump. Your body wants you to be able
to breathe deeply when something matters, to gasp or shout or
sing or cry if you need to. Your body is making room for the
breath, for the feeling, for whatever you're carrying.
And sometimes when a feeling gets too big to hold quietly
inside, the body makes tears. Tears can come from sadness, but
they also come from laughing very hard, or missing someone
you love, or hearing a song that reaches something deep inside
you. Sometimes people even cry
because someone was gentle with them when they needed it most.
When tears come, the body is not failing, it's letting something
out. Scientists have found that
emotional tears actually carry stress chemicals out of your
body. When you cry, you're releasing
them through your eyes. That's part of why people often
feel calmer afterwards. Their breathing slows, their
shoulders soften, their nervous system begins to settle.
Their body is finishing the conversation.
Different feelings show up in different parts of the body, and
there's a reason for that too. Your stomach has more nerve
endings than almost anywhere else inside you.
Some scientists even call it your second brain.
That's why excitement and worry show up there first, before
you've even named the feeling. Your throat is where breath and
voice and swallowing all meet. It's the place inside you where
what's held in and what's LED out cross paths.
Your face has more muscles for showing feeling than nearly any
other part of you. You were built to wear what you
feel so the people who love you could see it.
And your chest holds the heart and lungs, the two parts of you
that respond fastest to anything important.
So when a feeling shows up somewhere in your body, know
that it isn't random. That place was built for it.
Sometimes feelings are very big and words don't quite reach
them, but your body always has somewhere for them to go.
And once a feeling has a place to live, it often feels a little
easier to be with. This is the part I want you to
really remember. Every flutter in your stomach,
every warm cheek, every tight throat, every tear was your body
noticing that something inside you mattered.
Your body has been listening the whole time, and when a feeling
gets too big to hold by yourself, you can ask for help
or move your body or rest. All feelings are OK.
What we do with them is what we get to choose.
Long before there were cities or schools or bedtime lights, human
bodies were already doing these same things.
Hearts speeding up, breath catching, faces warming, eyes
filling with tears. For thousands and thousands of
years, people have carried feelings through their bodies.
Every child, every parent, every grandparent. grown-ups feel
these things too. Your body is doing what bodies
have always done. And right now, as you rest, that
conversation is beginning to slow.
Inside your body, there's a long, quiet messenger called the
vagus nerve. It runs from your brain, down
through your throat, past your heart, and all the way into your
belly. And right now, it's the one
carrying the body home, your heart beating more evenly, your
breathing is getting longer and softer, the muscles in your
shoulders, your jaw, your forehead are all letting go of
the day, one by one. Even the small space between
your eyebrows where so many thoughts like to gather, is
beginning to loosen. Your body is telling your brain
it's time to rest, and your brain is listening.
They're slowing together, the way they always have, the way
they will tomorrow night and the night after that.
And just before you drift off to dream of butterflies, warm
cheeks, and all the feelings the body remembers, I want you to
know something about you. Your mind is a wonderful thing,
so full of curiosity, and I like your mind just the way it
wonders. I'll be back again soon to
wonder more with you.