5 Gut Tips to Help Your Brain

By: Laura Bogh
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Brain Health Gut Health
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July 7, 2022
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7 Min read

Y Gut-Brain-connection ou most likely have experienced the gut-brain connection without even knowing it. If you have ever felt a strong gut instinct or feeling, or had butterflies in your stomach, then you've experienced this connection. This link between the gut and the brain goes both ways. By learning more about it, we have more tools for improving our mental health.

What is the gut-brain connection?

The gut-brain connection affects our mood, digestion, and overall state of health.  The gut's brain, also known as ENS or the enteric nervous system, can cause big emotional shifts in humans. Scientists call this part of your body the 'second brain' and it is capable of interrupting your brain's normal working processes. It is incapable of processing thoughts, as your brain would do, however, it manages most of the other processes in our bodies.

There are two ways that our brain and gut communicate with each other. The first is through the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the information highway between our organs and our brain. 90% of its fibers carry information from the organs to the brain. Only 10% are used for the brain to send information, or instructions, to the gut. This is an indicator of how much information is going to, and affecting, the brain from our organs.

One of the main tasks of the vagus nerve and enteric nervous system is to shift us out of "flight or fight" mode to a "rest and digest" mode. After an accident, or a situation where you experience a threat or danger, your body enters the flight or fight mode with your heart pounding, gut seizing, muscles trembling, and your brain working on over-drive. Your vagus nerve determines how quickly your body comes back to normal to a “rest and digest” state. The stronger and healthier this system is, the faster this process happens and your body will have overall lower stress levels to manage. Thankfully, there are several ways we can tap into this process and help our brain manage stress, anxiety, and depression. In his book Activating Your Vagus Nerve, Dr. Habib describes how this same process can have other positive health effects including improving heart conditions, sleep apnea, IBS, and autoimmune diseases.

The other way our gut and brain communicate is through hormones. One of the many examples of this is serotonin. 95% of the serotonin in our bodies is produced in our gut. This neurotransmitter plays a key role in determining our mood (especially a good mood), while also managing our immune system and digestion. The amounts and types of microorganisms in our gut are critical to creating the balance of hormones in our bodies. A study that looked at the types of microorganisms in the gut and mental health showed that having Lactobacillus helveticus and Bifdobacterium longum in the gut correlates with fewer stress hormones. In a similar example, the cause of Parkinson's has been linked to molecules that accumulate and damage the brain. These molecules are produced by specific gut bacteria. When there is an imbalance in our gut microbiome, it leads to nutritional deficiencies, hormonal and neurotransmitter issues, bloating, gas, fatigue, insomnia, depression, anxiety, and cravings. By focusing on gut health and restoring optimal balance in the gut, these symptoms dramatically improve, which ultimately improves our mental health.

5 Gut Tips to Help Your Brain

Maintain a healthy gut – The harder your gut has to work to digest; the more stress will be communicated up to the brain. This can cause several symptoms, including foggy thinking. By keeping your gut healthy, you are helping to reduce your stress levels, balance hormones and neurotransmitters, and prevent nutritional deficiencies.
Probiotics - Probiotics help to balance out the gut microbiome, improving digestion, hormone balance, and mental wellbeing.
Diaphragmatic breathing – Using only your diaphragm to breathe is a strong trigger to calm your brain. There are many ways to practice this, including yoga, which has broad impacts throughout our body, especially on the gut and the brain.
Laughing and socializing – Laughter also gets the diaphragm moving in a specific way that activates the vagus nerve and encourages the body into a state of calm. Humans laugh out loud more when around others and socializing triggers the release of brain calming hormones.
Cold exposure – Cryotherapy is another way to put a mild stress on the body to help teach it how to return quickly to normal. There are many studies on the benefits of this modality for several purposes, including strengthening the enteric nervous system, reducing pain and inflammation, and improving mental health.

By using our gut and strengthening its enteric nervous system, we are able to improve our stress levels, reduce anxiety and improve our overall mental health.