Gut health + mental health 101
One of the most fun ways we can use to support our brain health (and thus our mental health) is through nutrition. There are countless books and studies nowadays about the impact of our gut microbiome on our mood and mental health.
The gut (your gastrointestinal tract) is full of hundreds of millions of bacteria, both beneficial, and not-so-beneficial. These bacteria help breakdown our food, and they are also involved in the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin. Optimal gut health means we have the right diversity of good bacterial populations, as well as the right proportion of good bacteria vs. harmful bacteria.
The brain and the GI tract communicate through something called the “gut-brain axis” – a two-way communication system that stretches from the brain all the way through your digestive tract. This means the digestive tract (including the microbiome) can send messages to the brain, and, conversely, the brain can also send all sorts of messages down to the gut! They are constantly in conversation with each other, and thus, the health and happiness of one depends on the health and happiness of the other.
What influences the gut-microbiome?
• No. 1: Diet: good gut bacteria love fibre-rich foods, harmful bacteria typically love highly processed foods. We can increase the diversity and population of beneficial bacteria through eating foods that these gut bacteria love to eat themselves – i.e. prebiotics! We can also eat probiotic-rich foods to directly introduce beneficial bacteria into the gut.
• Sleep: Just like us, our gut-bacteria closely follow the 24-hour circadian rhythm. Not sleeping enough or having poor quality sleep negatively impacts the bacterial composition of our gut, killing off good bacteria. Changes can be seen in as little as one day (or one missed night of sleep).
• Stress: chronic stress can deplete the populations of healthy gut bacteria, thus jeopardizing the balance of good vs. bad bacteria in our gut. The gut senses when we are stressed and sends distress signals to the brain. In turn, the brain also sends stress signals to the gut. Managing stress is not only important for mental well-being, but also for the health of our microbiome.
In future posts, we’ll be diving deeper into how diet, sleep, stress, and exercise affect gut health and mental health.
Key takeaway: taking care of our mental health can help keep our digestive system functioning well, and taking care of our gut microbiome can help take care of our brains!
Written by: Ana Tiruta, Canadian Certified Counsellor
