Does stress affect gut health? Yes, and if a healthy balance cannot be attained through changing the diet …
Does gut health affect stress, or does stress affect gut health? Or both? The way to stress relief might just be in our stomachs.
And we can thank trillions of tiny microorganisms that live in our gut. Some are not beneficial and actually harm our digestive systems. But the majority of them are beneficial species of bacteria that help us balance our microbiomes, and improve health–including our stress levels.
Those bacteria play a role in the amount of time toxins stay in the body, attack harmful compounds that could become carcinogenic, and helps detoxify metals and other pollutants. When our gut microbiome is not working properly, or if there is an imbalance between the ideal numbers of good and bad bacteria, we enter a state of dysbiosis, and are unable to properly detoxify our systems. Stress can also cause dysbiosis, causing the overgrowth of bad bacteria, which can affect stress. It becomes a vicious circle, and can increase leaky gut and eventually affect the entire immune system.
Interrupting the cycle
So how can you prevent stress and interrupt that circle? You can start by adding probiotics to your diet. Probiotics are the good bacteria that you want in your gut. You can add to the population of good bacteria first by changing your diet, if necessary, to a Mediterranean style diet, eating a majority of plant-based foods and some animal protein.
Supplements can be used as an alternate way of including probiotics in the diet.
Prebiotics are next. Prebiotics support your gut bacteria by feeding them, through the introduction of fiber, carbohydrates, and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Although the human body has difficulty digesting fiber, it is exactly what gut bacteria love to eat. And when they eat well, they produce postbiotics.
Postbiotics are important products for bodies to stay healthy. One type of postbiotic is short-chain fatty acids, which keep the gut lining healthy and intact as well as prevent leaky gut syndrome. Some postbiotics are responsible for sending messages to the brain that might tell us when we are hungry, and others produce serotonin that helps stabilize mood and reduce stress.
When a patient is given antibiotics for an infection, the gut can experience dysbiosis, so it is important to include probiotics and prebiotics in the diet first. Avoid processed foods that remain in the colon for a longer period of time, as they could encourage bacterial overgrowth.
Does stress affect gut health? What about COVID?
A study recently found that gut health could affect COVID-19 recovery time, and the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance actually added probiotics with a particular bacteria called Bifidobacterium into protocol for COVID patients.
Some foods to include in a diet for improved gut health are:
- kale
- broccoli
- mushrooms
- artichokes
- garlic
- kimchi
- yogurt
- sauerkraut
- kefir
- other pickled or fermented foods
Exercise has been connected to healthy gut bacteria production as well, and can also reduce stress, which helps with gut health. In addition, a 15- to 20-minute walk after a meal can reduce the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Does stress affect gut health? Yes, and if a healthy balance cannot be attained through changing the diet of a client, supplements are a good alternative along with exercise or other stress reducing activities.
