INSIGHTFUL0:27
Serotonin Starts In The Gut
First, where your mood really begins
test-apple-validator-4
May 16, 2026 · 15 min · 17 segments
test-apple-validator-4
May 16, 2026 · 15 min · 17 segments
test-apple-validator-4
So we all obviously have these incredibly complex brains that control pretty much everything we do and how we feel and what we say and who we kind of are as people.
But you might have heard yourself say things like, "I've got butterflies in my stomach," or, "I need to trust my gut," or, "I'm shitting myself," if you're really scared.
Now on one level these are just phrases that we throw around in conversation, but from a scientific perspective they actually do hold a lot of truth, and that is because our gut is also known as the second brain.
There are more than one hundred million nerve cells in our gut, and our brain and gut communicate with each other all the time through what's called the gut-brain axis.
This is the chemical responsible for our mood and our energy, and the most important thing to understand about this chemical is 90% of it is being made in our gut.
Our brain and body is constantly assessing how healthy our body actually is, and if the body is in a good state, if it's well-rested, if it's got sunlight, if it's got loads of good nutrient-dense foods in, it leads to an increase in serotonin in the gut which then improves how we feel in our mind.
And then on the flip side, if our serotonin levels decrease, then our mood and energy levels will be pretty low as well.
So we all obviously have these incredibly complex brains that control pretty much everything we do and how we feel and what we say and who we kind of are as people.
But you might have heard yourself say things like, "I've got butterflies in my stomach," or, "I need to trust my gut," or, "I'm shitting myself," if you're really scared.
Now on one level these are just phrases that we throw around in conversation, but from a scientific perspective they actually do hold a lot of truth, and that is because our gut is also known as the second brain.
There are more than one hundred million nerve cells in our gut, and our brain and gut communicate with each other all the time through what's called the gut-brain axis.
This is the chemical responsible for our mood and our energy, and the most important thing to understand about this chemical is 90% of it is being made in our gut.
Our brain and body is constantly assessing how healthy our body actually is, and if the body is in a good state, if it's well-rested, if it's got sunlight, if it's got loads of good nutrient-dense foods in, it leads to an increase in serotonin in the gut which then improves how we feel in our mind.
And then on the flip side, if our serotonin levels decrease, then our mood and energy levels will be pretty low as well.
Every episode on Radar is fully transcribed, speaker-labeled, and rich with metadata. Here is a taste of this one. Try Radar for free to see the rest.
3 of 7
Serotonin Starts In The Gut
First, where your mood really begins
The Law Of Serotonin
Now the rule that changes everything
Humans’ Original Home: Nature
Why stepping outside feels like returning
+4 more clips · 4 min 10 sec of audio in all
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
All 7 clips — the highlight moments, each cut as its own audio, with a title and a speaker
All 17 segments — the transcript broken into labeled sections, every ad read marked
All 23 topics — jump to every other episode discussing the same subject
Every related episode — other shows Radar links to this one
No account is needed to search Radar.
