If the author is that knowledgeable and did that meta-joke, then, respect, but probably most people reading this don’t know this, so good opportunity to bring it up.
If you want to find more on this topic then the relevant search words would be the Gut-brain Axis or Gut-brain connection.
Wikipedia has a starting point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gut–brain_axis
Studies have confirmed that gut microbiome contribute to range of brain functions controlled by the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and amygdala (responsible for emotions and motivation) and act as a key node in the gut-brain behavioral axis.[9]
I know this even without the research. I have IBS, and my modd can change on a dime at the same time my gut changes moods. Like, if I get gas, or indigestion, it can be quite sudden. And at the same time my entire demeanor will flip like a switch. Sometimes before I feel it in my gut. Like I can be asking myself why am I so depressed and then the guy bomb will hit and I’m like oh, that’s why.
What makes this funnier is that we’ve found that the intestine actually has a ton of impact in our emotional regulation.
The microbiome in it, exactly.
We are meat suits driven by primitive bacteria. Explains a lot, me thinks.
We thinks*
https://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/thinkingMeat.html
And the fact that the heart has nothing to do with emotions. The brain doesn’t even get to be represented in the comic!
You’ve gotta be shitting me.
We even acknowledge it:
“I have a gut feeling he’s the murderer”
“Waking up to learn Hillary had lost was a gut punch”
“I feel a visceral anger every time I hear his smug and smarmy voice, even before I’m disgusted by what he says.”
“I feel it in my water” is close enough.
Possibly that even is the joke :P
If the author is that knowledgeable and did that meta-joke, then, respect, but probably most people reading this don’t know this, so good opportunity to bring it up.
I thought it was an Irritable Bowel Syndrome joke
I’ve suspected this, but source?
Edit: Oh, metabolomics
If you want to find more on this topic then the relevant search words would be the Gut-brain Axis or Gut-brain connection.
Wikipedia has a starting point:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gut–brain_axis
Here’s the 9th reference on a site that doesn’t require a login:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321136378_Gutsy_Moves_The_Amygdala_as_a_Critical_Node_in_Microbiota_to_Brain_Signaling
Honestly I don’t have one at hand, but I remember it quite distinctly as it’s tied into research into neurodivergence.
Nevertheless you can die of heartbreak 💔
You also can die from internal bleeding 💔
Or when your head literally explodes 🤯
Or when you are overran by an elephant 🐘
Which doesn’t make any of the above more emotional
Source?
I know this even without the research. I have IBS, and my modd can change on a dime at the same time my gut changes moods. Like, if I get gas, or indigestion, it can be quite sudden. And at the same time my entire demeanor will flip like a switch. Sometimes before I feel it in my gut. Like I can be asking myself why am I so depressed and then the guy bomb will hit and I’m like oh, that’s why.
Like 80% of the serotonin in your body is in your intestines iirc.
And what should I eat to become angry like Hulk?
Spinach will get you halfway there.
So Popeye is basically the prequel to Hulk?
That just gets you involved in a violent love triangle.