It’s All Connected: How Gut Health Can Affect Your Mental Health and Vice Versa
When you’re with someone you like, you may feel butterflies in your stomach. If you watch a scary movie, you might call it gut-wrenching. When you feel anxious, you may say you have a nervous stomach. Your brain and gut work together to interpret signals and respond to your environment. How you feel and what you eat can majorly impact your gut health and mental health. But how exactly are they connected? What are the effects of one on the other? We can explore these questions and find the balance between them.
Your Gut Instinct
If you’ve ever heard of the phrase “trust your gut” or “gut instinct,” it’s not without reason. Your gut is the location of your enteric nervous system, also known as the “second brain.” That is because it has over 100 million nerves lining the GI tract that communicate signals between your gut and brain. The main nerve of this system is the vagus nerve which runs from the brain stem down to the colon. This nerve controls your parasympathetic nervous system, which regulates internal organ functions, such as digestion, heart rate, and respiratory rate.
When your body is in fight-or-flight mode, your parasympathetic nervous system suppresses functions that aren’t vital to the situation. One of the functions it suppresses is your digestive system. That means that when you are stressed or anxious, you won’t be able to digest your food properly. If you’ve experienced chronic stress and anxiety, that can have a long-term negative impact on your digestion and vice versa. It’s not uncommon for IBS patients to experience depression and anxiety as side effects of their digestive issues.
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The Gut Microbiome
Inside your gut, you have billions of good bacteria, called the microbiome, that aid digestion, support your immune system, metabolize nutrients, and communicate with the brain. Your gut microbiome can be affected by your diet, exercise, lifestyle, and your mental health. When there’s an imbalance in your gut microbiome, it can have a significant impact on your digestion and your mental health. If your doctor suspects you have issues with your gut microbiome, you might consider making dietary changes and taking probiotics to promote good bacteria growth.
How to Manage Your Gut Health
If you’re struggling with your gut health, it could be beneficial to speak with your medical provider about incorporating the following into your daily routine:
Exercise
One of the best things you can do for your health is to move your body every day. Whether that’s through an exercise routine or something as simple as going on a 45-minute walk, your digestion and mental health will both benefit from it.
Diet
Many digestion issues can be linked to your diet. It can be beneficial to your gut and mental health to switch to a healthier diet that is centered around eating whole, fresh foods. Talk to your doctor or nutritionist about which foods are the most beneficial for you.
Professional Help
You don’t have to struggle alone with your mental health and gut health issues. Your doctor can help you get to the root cause of your issue. Additionally, therapy is a wonderful tool to assist your mental health. By talking to a mental health professional, you can find the root cause of your issues and figure out a way to overcome them.
Supplements
To support your gut and mental health, you may discuss supplements with your healthcare provider. Supplements with probiotics or digestive enzymes have been shown to benefit gut health. You can also discuss taking other supplements from your doctor that have been linked to improving mood and mental health.
With that said, if you’re experiencing gut health issues, you should have a comprehenisve evaluation to find the root cause of your issues. Consider working with a functional medicine practitioner to create a custom treatment plan that will address your gut issues.
A Functional Medicine Approach for Gut Health
At Robinson MD, we practice functional medicine, which means we don’t examine your health issues in isolation. We take your entire body and lifestyle into consideration to find and treat the root cause of your health issues. If you want to explore functional medicine as an approach to your gut health issues, you can take our Wellness Questionnaire to determine if it’s right for you.
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