How Good Gut Health Leads to Better Mental Health
Ever experienced that “gut-wrenching” sensation when feeling intense emotions? Struggle with digestive disruption when your stress levels get high? All of this and more can be explained by the gut-brain axis.
In part two of our gut and brain series, we’re going into detail about how the elaborate connection between the brain and the gut plays a pivotal role in shaping our mental health.
Communication pathways and gut microbiota
In last week’s post, we covered the fundamental ways that the gut and the brain are linked, including via:
Neurotransmitters
The nervous system
The Vagus Nerve.
At the heart of this connection is the gut microbiota. This extensive community residing in the digestive tract comprises trillions of microorganisms, including viruses, bacteria, and fungi. This complex ecosystem actively communicates with the central nervous system. The diversity of these microbes is crucial to maintaining a healthy gut, a high-functioning brain, and good mental health. Let’s explore why.
Cognitive function
Emerging research suggests that gut health has a significant impact on our overall cognitive function. The gut microbiota produces compounds that directly affect a range of cognitive processes. As a result, having a healthy gut environment is becoming increasingly recognized as a useful strategy in preserving cognitive function across our lifetime. It can also reduce the risk of early cognitive decline and even degenerative conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
The stress connection
We spoke before about the bi-directionality of the gut-brain axis, meaning that one affects the other and vice versa. Dysregulation of the body’s stress response through this gut-brain axis can lead to a range of stress-related disorders, including PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder. How does this work?
Chronic stress disrupts the delicate balance of microorganisms in the gut, leading to inflammation and increased permeability of the intestinal lining.
This allows harmful substances to enter the bloodstream and triggers an immune response that directly impacts the brain.
Mood and emotions
Similarly, an imbalance in gut microbiota, referred to as dysbiosis, has major knock-on effects on our moods and emotional well-being. A growing body of research points to direct links between dysbiosis and a range of mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression. The gut produces a notable amount of the neurotransmitters that are heavily involved in regulating our moods, such as serotonin and GABA, or Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid. Gut imbalances can cause alterations in these neurotransmitters which contribute to the development and advancement of these mood disorders.
Luckily, there are so many things we can do to promote a healthy gut microbiome and nurture that gut-brain axis to promote better mental health. So don’t miss further installments in this series to find out more!