Sept. 19, 2026

Can You Really Trust Your Gut? One Doctor Says No, Unless You Do This First!

Can You Really Trust Your Gut? One Doctor Says No, Unless You Do This First!
Can You Really Trust Your Gut? One Doctor Says No, Unless You Do This First!
Intimate Knowledge
Can You Really Trust Your Gut? One Doctor Says No, Unless You Do This First!

A doctor who studies gut feelings for a living wrote a fascinating article in the Washington Post this month. We learn about the science behind a gut feeling and when and how to know whether to trust it. Researchers found that people who make quick judgements based on gut feelings alone, only get it right around 54% of the time. Instead, scientists say you should treat gut feelings as stop signs, a moment to assess what you’re feeling and why before making a rash decision. They even suggest doing two specific exercises to interrupt the hormonal surge that happens when a “gut feeling” takes over your body.

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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks.

00:00:02
Speaker 2: It is Saturday, September 19th. We hear it all the time. People tell you, trust your gut. We got stats on whether or not you should trust your gut. Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Before you break it down, simply put, just give us a general idea.

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Should we trust our gut?

00:00:23
Speaker 3: Well, sometimes yes, sometimes no, but it's not something you can consistently rely on, period.

00:00:30
Speaker 1: Do not trust your gut. consistently. So is this, might as well flip a coin?

00:00:35
Speaker 3: Basically, there is a way to take what your gut is feeling, relax your body, and then make a calm decision. People are too quick to trust this rush to your stomach, literally. And there is a chemical reaction, a hormonal reaction that you are feeling. And there's a reason behind it, but there's also a reason why you can't fully trust it.

00:00:58
Speaker 2: Because it sounds like you're just running on emotion. I think we're not supposed to do that.

00:01:02
Speaker 1: Exactly. Is that what you're describing?

00:01:03
Speaker 3: So a doctor, yes, who studies gut feelings for a living wrote an article in Washington Post.

00:01:10
Speaker 2: What school did he go? Where do you become a doctor of gut behavior?

00:01:14
Speaker 1: What is he doing?

00:01:14
Speaker 3: Well, he's a neuroscientist.

00:01:16
Speaker 1: A neuroscientist? Yes. Neuro? Yes.

00:01:18
Speaker 3: And so gut feelings are a neurochemical signal.

00:01:22
Speaker 1: Gut.

00:01:23
Speaker 3: That leads to a change in your stomach's electrical rhythm. That is exactly what a gut feeling is. But they say when you look at the statistics, because they've done plenty of studies about gut feelings, and they say, bottom line, they should not be blindly trusted. I actually have stats that's really interesting about how they actually came up with this statistics. They actually talked to emergency room doctors who had to make like immediate decisions. They're constantly having to make rapid life or death decisions, right? So they did some studies evaluating these emergency physicians. They found that by relying on your gut feelings, it only led to the right diagnosis in 54% of cases. Look, I guess that's a little bit better than the majority, but still 48% of the time or 46% of the time, I'm terrible.

00:02:15
Speaker 1: Your gut was wrong.

00:02:16
Speaker 3: Your gut was wrong. And so that was one of the biggest, aha, wow. And it is, it's emotion so often. And you have to really be able to recognize this. So they described it like this. You meet somebody at a party and you want to like them, but something feels off and you don't really know what it is. You can't pinpoint it, but you just get this like bad feeling. And so we'll call this like, Ooh, I just had a gut feeling. And then we all say, Ooh, you know what? I don't know why, but I'm not feeling that. I'm walking away. Bad energy. I've definitely felt that. Have you felt that before?

00:02:47
Speaker 2: I'm not a big gut guy, but yeah, I get what people are talking about when they say that.

00:02:52
Speaker 3: They say what happens is people who make quick judgments based on their gut feelings often are misjudging the emotions of the other person. And so if you actually employ a systemic way of thinking, again, taking the emotion out, you're going to have a much better chance of reading someone because your emotions are trying to evaluate their emotions and you're just almost never going to know.

00:03:17
Speaker 2: Okay, we're saying evaluating another person, but sometimes people are making gut decisions about all kinds of things, not necessarily having to do with relationship. What are you supposed to, I'm waiting to get to that part. What am I supposed to do with the feeling I have?

00:03:31
Speaker 3: Okay.

00:03:32
Speaker 1: That gut feeling.

00:03:33
Speaker 3: You have to recognize why you're having it.

00:03:35
Speaker 1: Why you're having it.

00:03:35
Speaker 3: All right. So they say the science of a gut feeling, it's stress, even prior memories that will literally cause part of your brain. It's called the amygdala. That's the emotional processing hub, okay, of your brain. That's the part of your brain, we were just talking about this with Betsy, that is formed in the first few years of life. And it's how it basically receives and feels love and it's protecting you and it's all of these things. And it releases a molecule. It's a corticot... I can't do this. It releases a hormone, okay? And that hormone surges through this nerve and it's the main communication highway between your gut and your brain. And literally, your brain is processing this emotion and it sends it straight to your stomach, which makes it either feel... Like it can trigger spasms in your colon, which is why you feel queasy or you urgently have to use the bathroom. Like people get gut reactions where they have to run to the restroom or they suddenly feel nauseated or they suddenly feel queasy. That is literally your brain that is processing emotions through stress and through prior memories or prior experiences. And you just get this rush of hormone that actually makes you feel something.

00:04:54
Speaker 2: How does it, I guess oftentimes it can be positive or negative.

00:04:58
Speaker 3: Yes. And they said that because it can be butterflies on the first date because you just saw somebody who you have the hots for and all of a sudden, literally on a molecular level, you are feeling this excitement and this rush. But it's also the same exact mechanism when you are caught telling a lie and you get busted and you're in trouble and someone's your mom or a teacher's yelling at you, you get that pit in your stomach and you feel like your stomach's tied into a knot. Those are the same hormones causing very different physical reactions in you. And so you can't necessarily trust your body sometimes. One of them feels wonderful and the other one feels terrible. And they're the same mechanism. Isn't that wild? And they say because of that, you can't trust your gut. Your gut is not an oracle. Your gut is not telling you what you should do.

00:05:51
Speaker 1: People swear by the gut.

00:05:53
Speaker 3: You don't actually know what your body is responding to and you don't know why it's having that response.

00:05:59
Speaker 1: People swear by the gut. You have to trust your gut. Gut instincts.

00:06:04
Speaker 2: People say it all the time. I just have a feeling. People live by that. I guess that's fine.

00:06:10
Speaker 1: That's okay. But if You got a 50-50 shot. Yes. And that's just as good as anything else.

00:06:15
Speaker 3: All right. So what should you do when you get that gut feeling? The expert who studies this for a living says treat that gut reaction as a stop sign and not a traffic signal. Like it's not telling you to go, to slow down.

00:06:33
Speaker 1: Stop.

00:06:34
Speaker 3: It's not telling you that you've done something wrong. or that something is really, really right. It's telling you to slow down, stop, take a beat and look around and assess. Like if you're getting that rush, just imagine that to you. We all know what that feels like. Don't immediately act. Don't immediately make a decision. Don't immediately... choose something, stop and assess. Like take a moment. So look at it as a stop sign. I thought that was really, really cool. And they say that way you're actually interrupting the vagus nerve, that thing that goes from your head to your gut, and you're actually stopping it and you're letting everything calm down. These are hormones surging through your body that don't necessarily make you make the right decision. Isn't that so interesting?

00:07:19
Speaker 1: Are you a gut girl?

00:07:22
Speaker 3: I have in the past, um, I, yes, I think, I don't necessarily solely rely on that, but I listened to it and I have regarded it in that moment. But I like the idea of not necessarily trying to interpret it because you don't really know where it's coming from. It's actually just maybe a signal for you to stop and look around and analyze. They actually say you can try to slow your breathing by focusing on extending your exhale. And if you actually feel anxiety, like you've got this gut feeling and you don't know what's going on, They say you take a bag of ice cubes or frozen veggies and put it over your face as you hold your breath for 15 to 30 seconds. And they say it will literally reduce your anxiety and calm your nervous system down. And it will help you actually get a regular rhythm back to your gut. And you'll be able to make a better decision. Put ice on your face. Have you ever heard of that before?

00:08:19
Speaker 2: I haven't heard of most of the things in this episode so far.

00:08:23
Speaker 3: I just thought that was so cool. And this is coming from somebody, again, who studies just what happens to your body, the science of a gut reaction, and what to do when you get that feeling. And this can happen. Look, I remember when I first started going live, did you ever get nervous?

00:08:40
Speaker 1: Oh, I always got nervous.

00:08:41
Speaker 3: I thought I was going to faint. I thought I was going to have to run to the restroom. Like it was just overpowering. And I remember like, yeah, you have to breathe. If I had a bag of ice, I probably would have put it on my face. But what was that trying to tell you? Don't do this danger. You could do something really stupid. If I had trusted my gut when I was that scared, I actually felt like I couldn't speak. I probably wouldn't be sitting here today doing what I'm doing. I chose to go against my gut reaction, which was telling me Stop, you're about to make a fool of yourself.

00:09:14
Speaker 1: See, is that, let me try this on.

00:09:18
Speaker 3: Okay.

00:09:19
Speaker 2: Do people listen to their gut only when it's nudging them the direction their mind is already telling them to go?

00:09:25
Speaker 3: Right?

00:09:25
Speaker 2: You didn't listen to your gut because you had a dream. You had a desire. You had a goal. You had a passion. You had a career. You know, and the gut's telling, I'm not going to listen to you gut. How much does the mind really still have a play here, Robes, in that do people, and I hear people say it all the time, that they actually make decisions, like big life decisions based on gut.

00:09:51
Speaker 1: What is wrong with you? I can't comprehend that.

00:09:55
Speaker 3: But the point being is they're making those decisions, and if they can only recognize that that gut feeling might be coming from some past trauma, or from some past experience. And they don't realize that that gut feeling is actually coming from a completely different place and is actually screwing with your interpretation of what's actually at hand. So that's part of it. That's the whole point to stop, to get curious, to ask yourself, wow, why do I feel so strongly? It can't just be like woo-woo, like the universe is speaking to me. No, there's something in your body. There's something in your brain. There's something in your memory. There's something in you that is giving you this warning and it's worth looking at. It's worth examining, but don't make a decision solely based on that because you actually don't know the source of it. I thought that was so interesting. All right. When we come back, this same doctor also said, you know what? Your gut feeling can also be right. And they're going to tell you when you know, and when you should actually follow your gut. Welcome back everyone to Amy and TJ. So don't you feel like you're understanding where your gut feeling may come from, what to do about it, and why not to necessarily immediately trust it, to examine it, to get curious. But now the same doctor is telling us, you know what? You got to remember that your gut feeling can also be right. And one of the ways you might be, or you should actually lean into the feeling your body is giving you when it's persistent. when it's a nagging sense, when something doesn't add up and you just keep getting, so you've not immediately reacted, but every time the situation comes up or every time it's persistent. And so what you do is you start asking more questions. You start requesting to just keep examining why. And sometimes that instinct they said has turned out to be life-saving. Sometimes people, you know, people, my gut knew, I knew not to, I will tell you, I've had feelings before where something just feels like it's telling you not to cross the street or to take a step back or to, and all of a sudden a truck ran, runs a red light. I've had that happen. That could be coincidence. But I remember in that moment feeling like it was a gut feeling and to trust those spidey senses, they call it, right? But it is when it's nagging and it's lingering and you take a beat and it's still there. There are moments where they say you should trust your gut. Have you ever, do you have a moment where you can look back and say, hell yeah, I'm so glad I trusted my gut on that one?

00:12:44
Speaker 1: I don't. Wow.

00:12:46
Speaker 2: Maybe just on the spot I can't remember something. Surely along the way I'm just not a gut guy. You know this because I overthink and plan and go through scenarios and steps and on almost everything big and small to the point of annoyance of the other people in the house. So I'm just not, I'm thorough. I don't look at something, oh, I got a good feeling about that one.

00:13:09
Speaker 3: You never say that. Actually, just hearing that come out of your mouth is so funny. And look, the doctor also said this. I thought this was interesting. We all remember the time we had the gut feeling where there was a payoff. Like, see?

00:13:21
Speaker 1: See?

00:13:22
Speaker 3: I knew it. But you don't remember all the times that your gut feeling was wrong or steered you in the wrong direction or actually flagged nothing whatsoever. We forget about those, but we remember, like I'm telling you, I remember the time where I had a feeling, I took a step back and boom, a truck ran a red light and I thought, holy hell, that was my gut saving me.

00:13:43
Speaker 1: And then after people tell that gut story, they say, yeah, my gut is never right. So I always listen to my gut. They save my life.

00:13:51
Speaker 3: Absolutely do say that. And look, the point being, they say it's what you typically do after you realize you have a gut feeling. It's what you choose to do after you take that beat. If you ask the right follow-up questions, if you dig for more detail, that's what actually leads to the outcome where you could say, aha, my gut, I knew it in my gut. But actually it's oftentimes what we do after we get that feeling, the questions we ask, the curiosity we show. before we make a decision, and that does usually lead to the best outcome. So maybe pay attention that something is happening in your body, but it doesn't necessarily mean what you think it does. It could mean danger, it could mean excitement, it could mean nothing at all, but you only will figure out if it's something that can be trusted if you give it a beat, if you give it a moment, if you don't rush to make a decision based solely on this chemical reaction happening in your body. You've never really ever done something based on a gut feeling, babe? Not once?

00:14:53
Speaker 2: You know, I annoy you all with how much I think through and make a plan for the simplest of things.

00:15:01
Speaker 3: Were you born that way?

00:15:02
Speaker 1: I don't know, babe.

00:15:04
Speaker 2: I looked through several car companies before I picked the right one. I look through, baby, you see me do this all the time. I'm just that way. I don't go with an instinct or a good feeling.

00:15:17
Speaker 1: Nah, let me look this through.

00:15:19
Speaker 2: So no, baby, you are not instinct. You weren't some feeling or something. No, it was a lot of thoughts went.

00:15:27
Speaker 1: Into all of this.

00:15:28
Speaker 3: You know, it's funny. No, I said this to you. I look up quote of the days for our morning runs that we have on Mondays through Friday. And there was one quote I found a while ago. And you said, why won't you believe it? You're an overthinker. You've acknowledged that. I've obviously seen that in you plenty, but it says, believe an overthinker when they tell you they love you.

00:15:52
Speaker 1: You should be sitting pretty. You know how much thought I've given to this?

00:15:58
Speaker 3: I know.

00:15:59
Speaker 1: Because my gut's been telling me something else. No, I'm kidding.

00:16:02
Speaker 3: No, it's good. You've been getting curious. You've been getting curious. That's always a good thing, everybody. And we hope you enjoyed listening to us. We always love you having you along with us on this Relationship Saturday. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.