The Connection Between Gut Health & Mood

If you have ever felt butterflies in your stomach, had a gut feeling, or if you're prone to a "nervous tummy" when you're anxious, then you have experienced the gut-brain, or mind-body, connection. Research has found that our gut plays a much larger role in the body besides simply digesting food and expelling waste. Your gastrointestinal tract houses trillions of beneficial bacteria (collectively known as the microbiome), is lined with over 100 million nerve cells, like your brain it uses over 30 types of neurotransmitters, and over 95% of your body’s serotonin (happiness hormone) and 50% of its dopamine (feel-good hormone) are found in your gut. The gut makes up a secondary nervous system called the enteric nervous system (ENS), because it communicates so closely with the central nervous system (comprised of the brain and spinal cord) it has been nicknamed the "second brain". The gut-brain-axis involves complex crosstalk between the endocrine, immune and autonomic nervous systems and can impact the health of your entire body.

Since your gut is responsible for the majority of your feel-good neurotransmitters, a happy gut is essential for a happy mind! Those beneficial bacteria residing in your digestive tract secrete neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine and GABA. Not only do these microorganisms produce these mood modulating neurotransmitters, but they stimulate neurons in the gut to send signals to the brain via the vagus nerve (which connects the central nervous system to the heart, lungs, and digestive tract). Research has linked impaired gut microbiome to a variety of cognitive and mood disorders, including:

• Anxiety

• Parkinson’s disease

• Alzheimer’s disease

• ADHD

• Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)

• Schizophrenia

• Autism

Your microbiome can affect how your body responds to stress and chronic stress can affect the composition of your microbiome. A healthy gut promotes a normal stress response through the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis and imbalanced gut flora can cause an exaggerated stress response.

Please remember that mental health is complex, healing your gut is only part of the puzzle and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. In my experience it had a tremendous impact on my anxiety, panic attacks and mood but it was just one of the strategies in my healing toolkit.

In my next post I'll discuss how to support your microbiome so stay tuned and thanks for stopping by!

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