The Relationship Between Gut-health and Stress

Have you ever had a gut feeling about something or felt butterflies in your stomach? Have you ever described an experience as gut-wrenching? There’s a reason we associate our guts with periods of mental anguish or extreme emotion. Your brain and gut are connected and each affects the other for better or worse. Stress on your digestive system impacts your mental state and vice versa. Reducing stress is a way to improve this relationship and promote better gut health.

Understanding the Gut-Brain Axis

It’s helpful to understand how the gut and the brain are linked. The gut-brain axis is the relationship between the two and it consists of the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system. They communicate with each other through a series of chemical reactions called biochemical signaling. This back and forth conversation links intestinal functions to the emotional center of the brain that controls drive and motivation. It is also linked to the cognitive center of the brain that deals with learning and problem-solving. It stands to reason that good gut-health leads to a better mental state and that a calm and balanced mind can improve gut health. To better understand this it’s important to know what microbiota are.

Understanding Microbiota

Microbiota are tiny communities of microorganisms that live inside your body. The microbiota that lives in your gastrointestinal system is called gut microbiota or gut flora. It helps your immune system protect you, but it needs to be healthy and balanced to work properly. There is evidence that psychological, environmental, and physical stressors impact gut health. Psychological stressors could be a lack of sleep. Environmental stressors could result from exposure to extreme temperatures or high altitudes. Environmental stressors could be exposure to pollutants and loud noises and overexertion through physical activity. Diet also plays an important role in the health of your gut microbiota.

Microbiota and the Vagus Nerve

Another way microbiota interact within the gut-brain axis is through the vagus nerve. This cranial nerve runs from the brain to the colon. One of its many functions is to stimulate involuntary contractions inside the digestive tract. This allows food to travel from the esophagus through the stomach to the intestines.

Promoting Good Gut Health

If stress is affecting your gut health, there are ways to improve it. Basic things like sleeping and eating better and exercising more are a good start. Changing the things in your life that cause you stress is another. None of these things are accomplished easily, but since they are all related, improvement in one area benefits the others. Let’s start with one of the biggest factors affecting our physical and mental health, sleep.

Sleep

The relationship between sleep and health has a lot to do with diet. Studies have shown that higher food intake before bed has a negative impact on sleep patterns.  Short sleep duration has also been linked to obesity. Research has also shown that microbiome diversity increases the amount of sleep we get as well as the efficiency of  that sleep which is the time spent sleeping compared to the time spent in bed.

Diet

Dietary changes are necessary to improve gut health. A diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables as well as nuts, legumes, seeds, and other high fiber foods contribute to a healthier gut. Eliminating or limiting processed foods from your diet is beneficial as well as cutting down on sugar, gluten, and dairy. Avoiding alcohol is another way to improve gut health and also helps you improve the quality of sleep.

Exercise

No one doubts the benefits of exercise on mental and physical health. Cardiorespiratory fitness burns calories and releases endorphins that improve our mood. Exercise helps us sleep better. Research has also shown that exercise helps diversify the gut microbiome, improves gut motility, and prevents constipation.

Meditation and Self-care

Reducing the stress in our lives is not easy because the causes are not always within our control. Pressures from work and family can be difficult to navigate, but there are many options for self-care that help reduce stress and improve health.

The stress-regulating benefits of meditation have been shown to help maintain a healthy gut barrier function. Meditative practices also help suppress chronic inflammation which in turn helps your body maintain its healthy gut-barrier function.

Yoga and mindfulness practices help create balance, calm the mind, and reduce stress too. Simple things like performing a relaxing activity, breathing exercises, or talking to friends are all a part of self-care that helps regulate stress and keep the entire body in balance.