Gut Health and its Connection to Mental Health

So, what is the Gut-Brain Connection?

There is a reason for the feeling of butterflies in our stomachs. This is because of the gut-brain connection. This is where the gastrointestinal tract (the tract from the mouth to the anus) has a sensitivity to emotion. An example of this is anxiety and sadness. This works in both ways, a troubled brain can send signals to the gut, leading to an uneasy gut. Additionally, a troubled gut will send signals to the brain leading to an anxious brain. This is why sometimes when you are feeling anxious, you might have diarrhoea or if you are not looking after your gut (if you are eating fast food a lot), this could lead to anxious or depressed thoughts.

The Gut and Anxiety

The sensations of feeling nauseated before doing a presentation is not always ‘in your head’, this can be your gut responding to your emotions. Anxiety and gut related symptoms include indigestion, stomach cramps, diarrhoea, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite and abnormal hunger. It can be a long-term mental health condition or a nerve-wrecking event, but it can still have an impact on your gut. However, there is a way you can help this:

• Taking a breath: having a minute to breathe every hour will calm down the mind and by doing this you are also relaxing the gut.

• Being able to say “no”: you cannot do everything! By knowing your limits this can reduce stress. Although, it is good to overcome events where you get anxious, sometimes saying no is so much better your wellbeing.

• Doing exercise: 15 minutes of exercise each day will make your mind a lot calmer. This will reduce the stress in your mind which will make the gut a lot happier.

• Acceptance: this is when you accept that some things are out of your control. Sometimes you have to do things that will make you sad or anxious but by putting practices into place such as taking a breath or doing exercise, it can help your gut not have as much as a bad reaction.

Healthy Gut, Healthy Mind

As I said previously your mental health can be caused by your gut. This could be because you are anxious about the types of faeces you have been having or because you have not been eating properly. In order to look after your mind, you must look after your gut. This means:

• Eating your 5 a day: This will massively increase your mental well-being because your gut will send good signals to your brain.

• Eating a well-balanced diet: If you live of fast food and foods with no nutritional value, then your mental wellbeing will decline.

• Drinking 2 litres of water each day: being more hydrated will make you less tired and increase your mood.

If you are suffering with depression or know someone who is, you may notice that their or your diet is not good. This can be a sign and if it continues you should try and seek help.