If you’ve ever felt butterflies in your stomach or had a fight or flight response that sent a rush of adrenaline straight to your gut, you’ve experienced a few examples of how the gut and brain work together.
In fact, your brain and gut are constantly sending each other signals that benefit both in different ways.
The health of your microbiome has a big impact on your gut and brain health.
When your microbiome is weak, you can experience higher levels of inflammation which put you at risk for developing disorders like Alzheimer's, MS, and other neurological conditions.
Keep reading to learn how your brain and gut are connected, and how you can help support your gut-brain health.
How Is Your Gut Connected To Your Brain?
Your central nervous system, which runs throughout your whole body, connects to the nervous system of the gut, called the enteric nervous system.
These two systems send messages back and forth to each other, sharing information and beneficial metabolites.
Your brain and gut also share a connection through the vagus nerve, which is a major nerve that runs from the bottom of your brain stem, down to your digestive tract. This is just one way that your brain connects to your gut.
While your gut and brain can still communicate without the vagus nerve, with the help of the vagus nerve, it facilitates stronger signals between your brain and gut.
Probiotics In Your Gut Affect Your Brain
When you have a healthy balance of beneficial microbes, they work to keep your immune system strong and help mitigate the release of cortisol, the hormone that controls stress.
Your gut bacteria also break down certain fibers from healthy foods, called prebiotics.
Studies have shown that your brain benefits from the breakdown of prebiotics, which promote the production of serotonin and melatonin in your brain.
These neurotransmitters promote good sleep and help regulate your mood and other important roles in your body.
Your Emotions Have a Direct Link To Your Gut
When you’re stressed, your gut becomes stressed as well, and vice versa. When your gut is off balance, this can make you more prone to feeling stressed and anxious.
Depression and other strong emotions impact the health of your gut as well. When you feel depressed, your gut is more likely to suffer.
Things like loss of appetite, and poor sleep are a few that feed back into depression, causing your gut to suffer, which allows a spike in inflammation.
This creates a feedback loop that can be hard to break. When this happens gaps can be created, allowing bad bacteria to take root in your gut.
It’s important to maintain a stable diet that includes healthy probiotics so that your gut can remain strong.
Support Your Gut-Brain Health Today!
Your brain and gut are always communicating. Ensuring that you have good gut health helps to ensure good brain health as well.
Eating foods with probiotics or taking probiotic supplements like Yourbiotics, can help support your gut-brain health.
It’s important to remember that health should be viewed on a holistic level. You can’t promote the health of one part of your body, without promoting health for the rest.
If you would like to learn more about how your gut health impacts you, check out other articles here.
