Your Gut Health and Your Brain 🧠

Your gut and brain are directly connected to each other and can influence how the other operates.

The human gut and brain are primarily connected by the vagus nerve, which allows for bidirectional communication between your brain and your gut. This connection means the brain can control your gut's digestion, inflammatory responses, etc. Meanwhile, your gut can influence your brain by responding to gastrointestinal stress with depression, mood swings, anxiety, etc.

How does it work?

The gut affects our brain this is clear now, however, the reasoning behind it is a combination of factors. The ability of our gut to affect anxiety, depression, and general mood swings is due to the fact that 90% of the body's serotonin receptors are located within the gut. In addition to this things like our diet are what can cause problems, a diet without all the proper nutrients the gut needs to maintain stability will cause problems for your gut health and therefore cause problems with your mood regulation.

An unhealthy gut can cause depression, increased stress, and even memory problems.

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The Chronic Problem

While it is obvious that there is a multitude of benefits to maintaining a healthy gut, recent studies suggest taking care of your gut health can also help reduce the likeliness of certain chronic diseases, such as:

• Parkinson's Disease

• Alzheimer's Disease

• Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Here's a great video "Caltech Researchers Link Parkinson’s Disease to Gut Bacteria." See the link between our gut's health and chronic disease such a Parkinson's.

While gut health isn't the only factor into preventing these chronic diseases, it's definitely a strong one with more and more science being worked on to figure out the extent of the affects our gut has.

So how should you maintain a healthy gut?

There are a plethora of things you can do to maintain a healthy gut, but some of the best ways include exercising, drinking plenty of water, meditation, and of course having a healthy diet.

The term 'healthy' diet can be subjective depending on the goal or the specific health afflictions being aimed at improving, however, for overall improvement of your gut health the following foods are great additions to your diet.

• Eating high-fiber foods, such as fruits and vegetables, is critical as it keeps your digestive tract in check.

• Fermented Foods are also great for your gut health as they can help reduce inflammation and improve your intestinal health.

• Whole grains are also helpful as they add a bit of fiber to your diet and help out lots of the microbes in your gut.

A healthy diet example is a Mediterranean diet.

Personally

I eat a high fiber, mostly plant-based 🌱 diet, no red meat, drink 4 liters of water a day, exercise, and am focused on keeping nutrition simple. I am sharing what works for me and what I routinely recommend to my patients.

"Balance. Portion control. Keep nutrition simple. Eat Smart. Eat Healthy. 🌱 🌾 🌿"

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✴ Connect with Dr. Dooreck on LinkedIn where he focuses his sharing on Health, Diet, Nutrition, Exercise, Lifestyle, and Balance.

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