When you should (and shouldn't) listen to your gut

Your body can register a threat before your brain finds the words to understand it – here’s what the science says about how reliable that hunch is

Crossing the road to avoid someone who is giving bad vibes. Asking a stranger if they need help because something seems ‘off’. Texting a friend for no reason other than you sense they aren’t OK. These are all prime examples of following your gut instincts – but do they really hold any weight, or are they just fear dressed up as mysticism?

What is gut instinct?

A gut instinct is that flash of clarity, or hunch, that you get about a particular situation. Unlike anxiety, which can linger for long periods, a gut instinct is immediate and unignorable. There’s often a distinct physical element too – feelings of nausea, sweaty palms, and goosebumps are all common experiences.

But gut instincts aren’t as magical as you might think, although they are still rather impressive. What’s actually happening is your brain is making a quick judgement before your conscious mind has had a chance to catch up. Researchers think these flashes of knowing come from the brain’s ability to process large volumes of information in the background, including facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, patterns, and past experiences. That’s why a doctor may suddenly feel that something isn’t right with a patient before test results confirm it, or why you might avoid a particular street even if you can’t explain why. What’s happening is you’ve likely picked up on subtle cues that inform your decision.

Thanks to the gut-brain axis, emotional and stress responses can trigger physical sensations that we often call ‘butterflies’ or a ‘sinking feeling’. In other words, your body can register a threat or inconsistency before your thinking brain has a chance to put it into words.

Is following your gut always a good idea?

The complication is that anxiety can create very similar sensations, which is why gut instinct isn’t always a perfect guide. However, when it works, it can lead to positive outcomes.

For example, a 2024 study published in the journal Emotion looked at the consequences of following gut instincts by giving 256 participants information about intuitive and analytical styles of decision-making.

Then, over the course of two weeks, they used an app to report when they were about to make a decision, and were randomly told whether to use an intuitive or analytical approach. The participants also rated their mood before and after decision-making, and shared how easy, pleasing, and ‘right’ that decision felt to them.

The results found that making any kind of simple decision made people feel good, but that intuitive decisions led to an even bigger mood boost. Additionally, people were more likely to follow through with an intuitive decision, suggesting that making choices that ‘feel right’ are easier to implement.

So, it’s clear that the brain-gut connection exists, but how can we use this knowledge to our advantage?

Feel into the experience

According to psychosexual, relationship, and trauma therapist, Shelly Diprose, becoming more attuned to the physical sensations you’re experiencing is essential. In particular, Shelly speaks about noticing when gut feelings may be linked to past trauma.

When those butterflies or racing thoughts appear, Shelly suggests taking a moment to investigate whether there is a real threat or if it’s simply unfamiliar. She notes that this is helpful in relationships, too: “For many people, feeling safe, cared for, or emotionally close can itself feel unfamiliar if their past experiences have been different,” says Shelly, noting that sometimes our nervous system interprets unfamiliarity as danger. “When we slow down and separate what is happening in the body from what is happening in the present moment, we can begin to respond more thoughtfully rather than reacting automatically. In a sense, we learn how to become the driver of our own nervous system.”

It’s not to say that sensing a threat or feeling fearful is ‘wrong’ – it’s just that it may not be the intuitive nudge you think it is, and while it could signal a genuine threat in the moment, it could also just as likely be a reaction to something painful from the past.

How to build awareness

The trick to connecting with your gut instincts is all about self-awareness, because, as Shelly puts it, intuition tends to “speak through physical sensations, before thoughts.”

She suggests opting for the kind of practice that can be repeated and accessed regularly, and completed in a minute or two. For example, a meditative body scan can be done almost anywhere, giving you the chance to consciously check in with any physical sensations in that moment. This isn’t about spotting your intuition in the moment, but, instead, strengthening your ability to connect with your body – something that many of us struggle to do naturally.

“Another helpful habit is self-reflection,” suggests Shelly. “Look back on past decisions and ask: ‘What did I notice in my body at the time?’ This can help you build a map of how your intuition shows up for you.”

Finally, give yourself grace if you find yourself acting out of fear or following a gut instinct that doesn’t pan out in the way you hoped. Like any attempt to get to know ourselves more deeply, this process takes practice and patience.

“Over time, reflecting in this mindful way develops a more trusting relationship between the thinking mind and the body’s signals,” says Shelly, “allowing intuition to become a tool that informs decisions, rather than something that feels mysterious or unreliable.”