Digestive Health Series No. 5 Happy Gut, Happy Brain!

You may have heard the term the gut-brain axis. But what does this actually mean?

So before going into this in a little more detail, I want to recap on what we have been looking at over the last few weeks through the Digestive Health Series. We looked at some ways that we can perhaps become aware of what is happening with our digestion, and how that is connected to our body and mind experience. We can also identify in our body what might be going on when our digestion is feeling optimal, and likewise when it is suboptimal.

With this knowledge, we can then look at what we can do to help our digestion stay or move towards a more harmonious state.

The gut-brain axis touches on these aspects, but I would like to delve a bit more into what is actually happening in your body!

In our digestive tract (gut!), we have lots of great bacteria that help us protect against illness and help strengthen the immune system. There are now studies to show that there is a connection between the bacteria we have in our gut and brain function.

The brain is our control centre in the body, interpreting and sending messages in and around our body; what to move, what hormones to release, what we think and feel etc. The brain is connected to our digestive tract (specifically the gastrointestinal tract), via the Vagus Nerve. The Vagus Nerve links to a specific part of the brain called the hypothalamus that controls aspects such as our emotions, hunger and thirst.

When people experience emotions such as stress and anxiety for example, the hypothalamus can help regulate this response (along with the pituitary and adrenal glands which release hormones to help prepare for this situation). We as humans are designed to deal with short exposure to stress, however, are not effectively designed to deal with long term exposure to stress and anxiety.

Lengthened exposure to stress and anxiety can actually alter how the information is passed between the brain and the digestive system, in addition to damaging good bacteria present in the gut. This in turn not only affects our digestive health, but can provide a feedback loop back to the brain enhancing the stress experience, perhaps leading to conditions such as depression.

This is not all doom and gloom however!

The brain can also release what we call happy hormones in non stress experiences! These can include oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine and endorphins. These all have different wonderful functions in the body, with Serotonin for example helping with appetite, digestion and sleep. The release of these hormones can also help encourage optimal conditions for the survival of good bacteria.

We have discussed in previous blogs, diet can really help maintain our digestive health. With the extra information here on what is actually happening in our gut and how that can affect our emotions and overall mental health, we can use diet to improve the conditions for good bacteria in our digestive tract. Likewise, we can use meditation and other focussed brain activity to not only help our gut-brain connection and stress response, but also help improve our overall digestive health, immunity and vitality!

If you feel you might like to explore this further for yourself, do get in touch with an Ayurvedic Practitioner such as myself to help guide you! Book your consultation today!

Happy gut, happy brain, happy you!