{"id":152258,"date":"2024-03-05T14:05:49","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T19:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/archives\/152258"},"modified":"2024-03-05T14:05:49","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T19:05:49","slug":"how-your-gut-bacteria-controls-your-mood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/archives\/152258","title":{"rendered":"How Your Gut Bacteria Controls Your Mood"},"content":{"rendered":"
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4h9OUtPy_CU<\/div>00:00:01<\/a> 95% of Serotonin is produced and stored in the gut\u00a0 not the brain. Research has uncovered a connection\u00a0\u00a0 between your gut bacteria and depression. In\u00a0 your lower intestine and colon there is a\u00a0\u00a0 garden of microscopic bacteria, fungi and viruses,\u00a0 this collection of organisms is called the gut\u00a0\u00a0 microbiome. Now individually they are minuscule\u00a0 but collectively they weigh about the same as\u00a0\u00a0 your brain, and when fed the right food they\u00a0 become an incredible pharmacy, they produce\u00a0\u00a0 vital chemicals that are key to your immune\u00a0 system and they produce neurotransmitters\u00a0\u00a0 such as Gaba and serotonin. Gaba has a calming\u00a0 effect on the body and mind and serotonin plays\u00a0\u00a0 a crucial role in regulating mood, sleep, appetite\u00a0 and pain sensitivity. Let’s look at Emily, she has\u00a0\u00a0 always been known for her cheerful and outgoing\u00a0 nature but after a long course of antibiotics\u00a0\u00a0 she found herself plagued by persistent feeling\u00a0 of sadness, Emily was eventually diagnosed with\u00a0\u00a0 depression. Now what is really interesting here\u00a0 is that she had a happy childhood, no traumas, a\u00a0\u00a0 good relationship and supportive friends, so the\u00a0 depression made no sense to her, but one day she\u00a0\u00a0 stumbled upon a fascinating article about the\u00a0 connection between the gut and mental health.\u00a0\u00a0 She learned that antibiotics actually kill off the\u00a0 good gut bacteria and this can cause depression.\u00a0\u00a0 So doing some further research Emily decided\u00a0 to take charge of her gut health and started\u00a0\u00a0 to incorporate probiotic rich foods such as live\u00a0 natural yogurt, sauerkraut and kimchi into her diet.\u00a0\u00a0 These foods contain live bacteria that helped\u00a0 populate her gut with beneficial microbes and\u00a0\u00a0 to further support her gut health she minimized\u00a0 processed foods and refined sugars which are\u00a0\u00a0 known to kill off the good bacteria. So as time\u00a0 passed Emily noticed little changes she began to\u00a0\u00a0 experience improved digestion, increased energy\u00a0 levels and a more stable mood. Her depression\u00a0\u00a0 started to lift and she felt more resilient\u00a0 and better equipped to handle life’s challenges.\u00a0\u00a0 Now as a psychotherapist I’m more than aware\u00a0 that treating depression isn’t always as simple\u00a0\u00a0 as changing your diet, depression is a complex and\u00a0 chronic mood disorder that’s influenced by many\u00a0\u00a0 factors including genetics, environment and your\u00a0 history but what I’m trying to illustrate is that\u00a0\u00a0 a vast amount of research has shown a definite\u00a0 link between your gut microbiome and your mental\u00a0\u00a0 health. For example scientists transplanted poo\u00a0 from depressed mice into sterile mice, now the\u00a0\u00a0 sterile mice had no gut microbes but once the poo\u00a0 transplant had taken place the previously sterile\u00a0\u00a0 mice demonstrated behavioural and physiological\u00a0 features characteristic of depression.\u00a0\u00a0 Researchers are now experimenting with faecal\u00a0 microbiota transplants in humans and this has\u00a0\u00a0 shown improvements in bipolar disorder, depression,\u00a0 insulin sensitivity, Crohn’s disease as well as\u00a0\u00a0 reductions in anxiety and ADHD symptoms. So you\u00a0 can see that researchers are moving towards the\u00a0\u00a0 development of microbiota based interventions\u00a0 in the treatment of depression. For example\u00a0\u00a0 there are now a lot of studies that illustrate how\u00a0 probiotics reduce depression and anxiety symptoms,\u00a0\u00a0 now researchers are calling these probiotic\u00a0 psychobiotics and the main constituent of\u00a0\u00a0 these psychobiotics is the bifidobacterium and\u00a0 lactobacillus families. Fermented food containing lactic\u00a0\u00a0 acid such as cultured milk and yogurt products,\u00a0 sauerkraut and sourdough bread have been\u00a0\u00a0 found to increase levels of the bifidobacteria\u00a0 and lactobacillus families. I think it’s really\u00a0\u00a0 empowering that you can increase serotonin by\u00a0 the food you eat and this really conflicts with\u00a0\u00a0 the notion that you need antidepressants\u00a0 because you have a chemical imbalance in\u00a0\u00a0 your brain, remember 95% of serotonin is actually\u00a0 produced and stored in the gut not the brain.\u00a0\u00a0 The Council for Evidence-Based Psychiatry says, “Although scientists have been testing the chemical\u00a0\u00a0 imbalance theories validity for over 40 years, and\u00a0 despite literally thousands of studies, there is\u00a0\u00a0 still not one piece of direct evidence proving\u00a0 the theory correct”. The chemical imbalance theory\u00a0\u00a0 originally came from pharmaceutical companies\u00a0 as a way of marketing their antidepressants\u00a0\u00a0 and if you think about it there is not, and never\u00a0 has been, a test to measure your brain chemicals.\u00a0\u00a0 You cannot measure neurotransmitters\u00a0 from a blood test, MRI scan or a CT scan.\u00a0\u00a0 I’m not saying don’t use antidepressants but I\u00a0 do believe that rather than relying so heavily\u00a0\u00a0 on antidepressants we do need to address the root\u00a0 cause of depression from a psychological therapy\u00a0\u00a0 and increase the growth and diversity of your gut\u00a0 microbiota. So you’ve gut talks to your brain and\u00a0\u00a0 your brain talks to your gut, the communication is\u00a0 bi-directional. Your gut and brain send messages\u00a0\u00a0 via your vagus nerve, so the vagus nerve connects the\u00a0 gut and brain through what is called the gut brain\u00a0\u00a0 axis, all of which play a vital role in sleep, pain,\u00a0 mood, hunger and stress. It communicates information\u00a0\u00a0 from the gut to your brain using neurotransmitters\u00a0 such as serotonin and glutamate and gut hormones.\u00a0 Suddenly the idea of having a gut instinct\u00a0 makes sense, so if you ever notice how language\u00a0\u00a0 is rich we’ve gut based expressions? Have you ever\u00a0 had a gut-wrenching experience or butterflies\u00a0\u00a0 in your stomach? Your emotions, brain and gut\u00a0 are intricately connected, in fact your gut is\u00a0\u00a0 frequently called your second brain, it even has\u00a0 its own nervous system, the enteric nervous system.\u00a0\u00a0 The enteric nervous system is embedded in the lining\u00a0 of your gastrointestinal tract beginning in your\u00a0\u00a0 oesophagus and extending down to your anus,\u00a0 it consists of more than 500 million neurons.\u00a0 So scientists are now recognising the\u00a0 importance of a healthy and diverse\u00a0\u00a0 gut microbiome in the role of good mental health.00:06:53<\/a> So are you going to make some changes to your diet to improve\u00a0 the growth and diversity of your\u00a0\u00a0 microbiome? Let me know in the comments\u00a0 and if you’ve enjoyed this video you may\u00a0\u00a0 be interested in the video on the screen\u00a0 now and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Source : Youtube<\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4h9OUtPy_CU00:00:01 95% of Serotonin is produced and stored in the gut\u00a0 not the brain. Research has uncovered a connection\u00a0\u00a0 between your gut bacteria and depression. In\u00a0 your lower intestine and colon there is a\u00a0\u00a0 garden of microscopic bacteria, fungi and viruses,\u00a0 this collection of organisms is called the gut\u00a0\u00a0 microbiome. Now individually they are minuscule\u00a0 … Continue reading How Your Gut Bacteria Controls Your Mood<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":152259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3672],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1709665550-maxresdefault.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152258"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}