Staying Present to Foster a Healthy Gut-Brain Connection
Welcome back to the series in which we tackle all aspects of the gut-brain axis and explain how to achieve a symbiotic connection between your mind and your gut. By now, we know about what comprises this link, and its bi-directional nature: how your gut health affects your brain health, and vice versa. With that in mind, let’s talk about how you can use the power of your mind to ensure the healthiest possible brain-gut connection.
Meditative practice
In previous posts, we’ve talked about how mindfulness and meditation practices can positively benefit your mental health, brain health, and stress levels. But did you know that regularly engaging in present introspection can also go a long way to nourishing that all-important connection between the brain and the gut?
A mindful gut
Mindful eating is a lifestyle choice that anyone can implement, and it can help to improve the health of the gut and the brain. It’s quite simple, really. When eating, instead of mindlessly snacking or turning to quick convenience foods, take the time to appreciate what you are putting into your body.
Ask yourself:
Am I truly hungry?
Why am I eating now?
What is it that I am craving, and why?
Take the time to be grateful for your food, and take time over chewing your food. Engage your attention on what’s in front of you and enjoy the multi-sensory experience.
Why do this? Well, research has shown that taking this approach to eating encourages us to make healthier choices and benefits our brain and gut health.
Boosting microbiota
Additionally, mindful eating can also help to address issues relating to stress. As we know, chronic stress can disrupt the sensitive gut-brain axis, and long term can lead to an unhealthy microbial environment. And studies have revealed that meditation and mindfulness around eating can have the opposite effect: over time it can lead to improvements in the diversity and composition of gut microbiota.
Improving immunity
We lightly touched before on how the immune system is a key component of the gut-brain axis. Good news: mindfulness and meditation practices have also been shown to help in modulating this immune response, therefore enhancing the body’s ability to respond to various challenges in its environment. And having a well-balanced immune system is vital to maintain good gut health, brain health, and protect against inflammatory conditions.
Who knew something so simple could be so beneficial? Give mindful eating a try today!