Gut Bacteria and Mental Health

Gut bacteria and mental health

 

Want to improve your mood? Take care of your gut.

Want to improve your gut? Take care of your mood.

 

Scientists have found that your brain and your gut have a deep connection. Millions of neurons connect them together. Stress goes down from your head to your gut, knocking you and your gut flora

off-balance. On the other hand, a healthy gut can help make your brain happier. “If you have alterations in the brain, you will almost certainly have altered output to the gut because the two organs are that closely connected.” Emeran Mayer, a gastroenterologist (David Geffen School of Medicine, U California, LA).

 

For example, 95% of your serotonin (a hormone so influential on good mood and pleasure that it is often referred as the ‘happiness hormone’) is produced in your gut.

 

The vagus nerve, is a nervous highway that goes from the head to the abdomen. Ninety per cent of the information that travels along this nerve goes from the gut, to your brain, and not the other way around.

The hundreds of trillions of bacteria that live in your gut deliver chemicals in the blood that may get to the brain and modulate your mood. This may explain why scientists have found the health of your mind depends a lot on the health of your gut!

So what can you do to keep your gut in balance? It is almost completely a matter of how you eat.

Follow guidelines already stated in this leaflet and include probiotics in your diet.

 

PROBIOTICS

Probiotics are live microorganisms that provide beneficial effects. These products supply your gut with a beneficial intake of certain kinds of bacteria. According to the World Health Organization, probiotics are

‘live micro-organisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host’.

Probiotic rich foods include;

Honey, Fermented Vegetables, Sauerkraut, Dark Chocolate, Root and ginger beers, Olives, Buttermilk, Raw Pickles, Yoghurt, Kefir, Raw vinegars, Miso, Sourdough, Wine

 

For more information download the Take 15 booklet HERE