It was about this time of year when I realized there might be something wrong with me. Pulling myself out of the haze of fatigue, it occurred to me that falling asleep with the lights on in front of the blaring TV at 8pm and waking up at 9am more tired than the night before was not normal. That the chronic, persistent insomnia that had plagued me for years was perhaps a symptom rather than a normal, modern-day irritation or the result of too many time zones in too few weeks.

So, where were we? Ah yes, the small intestine.

Once the chyme has gotten past the door of the pyloric sphincter it finds itself in the first section of the small intestine, the duodenum. Here’s where it’s very important that things have gone well so far in the digestive process. The chyme is supposed to be acidic enough at this point that it will trigger certain reactions.