Gut-Brain Connection: Its Powerful Role in Your Health
How to Improve Your Gut-Brain Axis
Hippocrates said, “All disease starts in the gut.” And nothing could be closer to the truth. Thousands of years later, scientists are still revealing the magic of the gut-brain connection.
Research has exploded over the last several years. The gut-brain connection is an integral part of our physical and mental health. It's like a telephone wire connecting our mind and body.
In fact, 80% of the communication from your body travels up the gut-brain axis to communicate with your brain. Only 20% of what happens in the brain is relayed to your body. (1)
Understanding this is key to helping you live a life of vibrancy and longevity. It can help you live a life free from chronic disease.
I'm Dr. Martina Sturm, a functional medicine doctor, and practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in Denver, Colorado. Today we’re going to unpack the gut-brain connection. We’re talking about:
How it affects your physical and mental health
Ways to strengthen the gut-brain communication loop
How TCM can help
The Gut-Brain Connection Explained
The gut-brain connection is a “bi-directional pathway.” This concept was first recognized by the Greek physician Hippocrates and philosophers Aristotle and Plato.
Since then, emerging evidence has suggested changes within our gut can lead to:
Central nervous system disorders such as Parkinson's disease
Functional gastrointestinal disorders, including IBS
Neuropsychological disorders like autism
Mental health disorders, including anxiety and depression. (2)
So what is the gut-brain connection exactly?
The gut-brain connection is a two-way communication loop that includes:
The central nervous system (CNS) – brain and spinal cord
The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) – including the vagus nerve
The Enteric Nervous System (ENS) – nerve cells within the gut
The Hypothalamic Axis – the pathway for hormones (3)
The gut-brain connection basically controls your entire body. Have you ever noticed how fatigued you feel after eating a heavy meal? Or how about when you think you’re hungry and then your stomach starts making extremely loud noises? That’s part of the gut-brain connection.
The Brain
Research clearly supports the idea that bacteria in the gut regulate the chemicals in your brain. This affects your emotions, including:
Stress
Depression
Anxiety
Memory
The chemicals in your brain regulate your gut and its motility. If we’re under stress, the rate of our digestion slows. If we’re relaxed, our digestion is more efficient in absorbing nutrients and removing toxins.
The brain also supports the mucosal lining in the intestine where the microbiota (bacteria in the gut) live. If your brain cannot maintain a healthy balance of bacteria and a supportive living environment (homeostasis), your body and brain are vulnerable to dysfunction and disease.
Differences in your ability to digest food changes how nutrients are absorbed into your bloodstream. This affects your microbiome and can lead to bacterial antigens leaking into your body (intestinal permeability). This is known as leaky gut syndrome. It can stimulate an immune response and, over time, lead to autoimmune diseases. (3)
The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
The ANS automates different parts of the body. It controls your breathing, heart rate, and digestion, including your stomach, intestine, and digestive glands.
The ANS has three main parts:
Sympathetic – activated by stress –“fight or flight.”
Parasympathetic – allows you to rest, digest, heal, repair, and procreate.
Enteric – digests food
The ANS receives information from your environment and stimulates your body to respond to danger – a sympathetic response. Or to not respond – a parasympathetic response.
The enteric nervous system (ENS) is sometimes categorized within the ANS. But because of its complexity, it can stand alone in its own category.
The ENS is a group of neurons within your gut that communicates information to your brain.
There are as many neurons in the ENS as there are in the spinal cord. The gut microbiome directly influences how well the ENS can function and communicate information from your gut to your brain. (4,5,6)
The Vagus Nerve
The vagus nerve is perhaps the most famous structure when describing the gut-brain connection. The vagus nerve and the gut microbiota are “key players” in health and disease.
The vagus nerve is the primary pathway for your internal organs and the bacteria in your gut to communicate with your brain. The information passed to the brain then goes on to influence your behavior. It’s the “fastest and most direct” communication path to the brain.
The vagus nerve is the 10th cranial nerve. It receives information from our gut microbiota, but it also receives information from our senses. This information travels to our brains, where it’s sorted and organized. The brain then decides if it’ll stimulate a response or a motor action.
If you step on a rock, the sensation of pain travels up to your brain. Your brain sorts out this information and sends a signal for you to lift your foot in an effort to eliminate the pain.
The vagus nerve has been thoroughly studied by scientists and is recognized for its ability to recognize hunger, feelings of fullness, and your stress response. (7)
The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis (HPA)
The HPA communicates to your brain’s emotional center, the limbic system.
The HPA is the highway from which hormones, including cortisol, a stress hormone, alert you to danger.
Your brain responds by communicating the danger to the body. The ANS is activated, changing your heart rate, breathing pattern, and the speed of your digestion in response to the threat you’re facing.
For example, if you’re hiking on a trail and encounter a bear, your body will instantly release cortisol which travels up the HPA to alert your brain. The brain recognizes this signal as dangerous and prepares your body to respond by increasing your heart rate and breathing. It slows your digestion, putting you in “fight or flight” to help you escape the bear.
I’ve listed and briefly described the structures linking the gut to the brain here. Next, we need to understand what type of information travels along these structures and where this information comes from. (10)
The Role of the Gut Microbiome
Simply put, the gut-brain connection is the pathway from the gut to the brain.
The gut microbiome describes bacteria living in the intestine that sends signals from the gut to the brain through the structures I’ve already described.
The gut microbiome includes tens of trillions of microorganisms and can weigh up to 6lbs. (8)
This bacteria is transferred to our bodies when we pass through the birth canal during the birthing process. Our gut microbiome is influenced by things like:
Being born by cesarean section
Being breastfed
Dietary choices
Research shows altering the bacteria that make up your gut microbiome can change how your brain and body function. Here are a few examples of how what affects the bacteria in your gut:
Eating a diet high in inflammatory foods like sugar, refined carbs, and seed oils
Toxins in our food
Exposure to environmental toxins
Frequent or chronic stress
Inadequate quality sleep
These affect the neurotransmitters and hormones that travel from your gut to your brain. This influences your brain’s chemistry and the signals your brain sends to your body.
Research has also proven the reverse. If you alter the food you eat positively, reduce your exposure to toxins, and minimize stress, you can improve mood and neuro-developmental disorders like hyperactivity and autism. (8)
What’s in Your Gut Affects Your Mental Health
Anxiety, depression, and autism all have proven links to disruptions within the gut microbiome.
A healthy gut microbiome helps to support the lining of the intestines and maintain the integrity of the tight junctions within its lining. (11)
Dysbiosis, an imbalance of the gut microbiome, can create leaks in the intestine where harmful antigens can leak into the bloodstream resulting in low-grade inflammation. This inflammation is now thought to contribute to mental health, cognitive, and other ailments like:
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Alzheimer’s disease
Asthma
Allergies
Autism
Parkinson’s Disease
IBS
…and many other conditions affecting your health. (9)
How to Improve Your Gut-Brain Connection Through Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) including acupuncture, herbs, changes in your diet, and adding the right supplements are a few ways you can balance your gut. Making a small shift in your gut can have a huge impact on your health.
Traditional Chinese Medicine
TCM is a medical system with a long history. It’s widely used in the prevention and treatment of nervous system diseases. It helps support homeostasis or balance within your body.
Many studies show the positive impact TCM has on the gut microbiome. (12) TCM compounds and single herbs can decrease your depression by restoring your gut microbiome and reducing your symptoms of depression with fewer side effects than western medicines. (13)
Acupuncture
Acupuncture has proven to be effective in the treatment of IBS, a disorder caused by dysbiosis. Acupuncture can help improve:
Gut motility
Abdominal discomfort and pain
Stimulating your immune system to combat inflammation
Support the communication along the gut-brain axis (14)
Acupuncture also can help to improve your mental and emotional state. It can be more effective than pharmacological therapies with fewer side effects. (15)
Diet and Supplements
Diet plays a vital role in the makeup of our gut microbiome. What we eat can either support a healthy balance of bacteria in our gut or harm it.
Each person is unique and has specific needs to consider when working to restore their gut microbiome.
Some general guidelines to include in your diet are:
Healthy Fats
Grass-fed/finished Meat
Wild-caught fish
Fiber-rich foods
Fermented foods
Nuts and seeds
Unprocessed non-GMO grains
Some foods to avoid are:
Processed or packaged foods
Foods high in sugar
Artificial food additives like food coloring and artificial sweeteners
Hydrogenated oils and vegetable oils
Fried foods
Non-organic conventionally grown crops
High-quality supplements and herbs can help restore your gut, but they need to be under the supervision of your doctor. (16)
Denver Sports & Holistic Medicine Is Your Guide to Strengthen Your Gut-Brain Connection
Your gut, your brain, and your body are complex. What you need to do to help your body thrive is unique to you.
You need a doctor that’ll look at your whole body. I partner with you to uncover the root cause of your symptoms by using a fusion of eastern medicine (TCM) and western medicine. I use comprehensive methods tested over time and advanced diagnostic tools to dig deep into your gut microbiome.
I treat your symptoms and help you manage and prevent disease so you can finally feel better. Because you deserve more than a band-aid fix.
Click here for a free 15-minute consultation and find out how you can support your gut-brain connection.
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