Truth, the human gut is pretty complex, and it has a heavy hand in our overall health and well-being—but beyond that, what else do you know about it? While the buzz around gut health shows no signs of slowing down, the fact is many of us don’t know what we don’t know. So, to help you shed some light on the matter, we’ve pulled the curtain back on the inner workings of your gut with eight fascinating facts about gut health.
Your Gut Is Filled With Good Bacteria
Your gut is teeming with bacteria, and that’s really good news. Also known as gut microbiota, there are over a trillion of them, and they’re crucial to the health of your digestive system and your immune health. But the work of your gut microbiota doesn’t stop there. It also plays a pivotal role in breaking down medications and drugs to bring about their intended effects, and similarly, it helps synthesize vitamins.
Your Gut Acts Like A Second Brain
Your gut is equipped with its own nervous system known as the enteric nervous system. This intricate network works with your body’s central nervous system to control your digestive system; communication between the two happens courtesy of an extensive neural circuit. Incidentally, it’s the gut’s use of neurons and neurotransmitters to communicate which first led researchers to call it a second brain.
In addition to your gut acting like a second brain, there’s also a gut-brain connection, also known as the gut-brain axis. The gut-brain connection refers to the fact that the “brain in our gut” and the brain in our head work in concert to support our overall health.
A good example of the gut-brain connection is the “fight or flight” response we’ve all experienced at one time or another. When faced with anxiety and stress, our bodies release cortisol, adrenaline, and serotonin. And when that happens, the enteric nervous system either slows down or speeds up in response to the perceived threat. In other words, the gut responds with physical symptoms in our digestive tract, such as watery stools nausea.
Another example of the gut-brain connection is “butterflies in your stomach.” Essentially, your feelings of nervousness or excitement end up triggering a queasy or uneasy feeling in your gut.
Your Immune System And Your Gut Are Closely Linked
Another little-known fact is that 70% of your immune cells can be found in your gut. Gut-associated lymphoid tissue (or GALT) and your gut microbiome make a great team in the battle against tiny invaders (pathogens) that could make you sick. If you have ever heard about the dangers of overusing antibiotics, this is what’s at stake. Antibiotics can be beneficial in some cases, but they also have the potential of wiping out good bacteria. In the end, they can end up doing more harm than good.
Stress Can Affect Your Gut Health
Information along the gut-brain axis works both ways. Your gut sends signals to your brain, and your brain sends signals to your gut. If you recall our earlier example of the “fight or flight” response, when the brain senses stress and anxiety, it will send signals to the gut triggering gastrointestinal issues. Similarly, irritation in the gastrointestinal system will send signals to the brain triggering mood changes.
Your Gut Can Help You Maintain A Healthy Weight
In addition to breaking down fat and extracting calories from food, the bacteria in your gut also impact the production of appetite-regulating hormones like leptin and ghrelin. So, when there’s an imbalance between the good and bad bacteria, your gut’s ability to do all of the above can easily become compromised, eventually leading you to pack on a few pounds.
Interestingly, studies have shown that there is a difference between the gut biome of people who are obese and those who are lean. In fact, researchers can tell if someone is overweight just by looking at their gut microbiome.
Most Of Your Body’s Serotonin Is In Your Gut
Serotonin is a hormone that plays a key role in stabilizing our mood, feelings of well-being, and happiness. So naturally, when anyone mentions serotonin, you might think that it’s produced in the brain— but you’d be wrong. In addition to everything else your gut bacteria does, it also produces hundreds of neurochemicals that our brain uses to regulate physiological and mental processes like learning, memory, and mood. Serotonin is one of those neurochemicals, and your gut bacteria manufactures 95% of your body’s supply of it.
Sleep Can Affect Your Gut Biome
We all know that sleep is crucial to our health and well-being but did you know that sleep also plays an important role in keeping your gut on its game? As it turns out, sleep and your gut microbiome are interconnected. Some research shows that the proliferation of certain bacteria can lead to fragmented sleep and disrupted circadian rhythms while other studies show that fragmented sleep and a short sleep can disturb the delicate balance of your gut microbiome
How To Improve Your Gut Health
It should come as no surprise that your diet plays a vital role in maintaining a healthy gut microbiome. If you’re looking to make a change, you’ll be happy to know that you could see results in as little as three days when you change what you eat.
To improve your gut microbiome:
- Eat Fermented foods
- Try a plant-based diet
- Eat prebiotic foods
- Take a probiotic supplement
- Eat whole grains
- Use antibiotics only when necessary
Keeping your gut microbiome in balance is not a one-and-done kind of deal. To keep things working as they should, your approach needs to be multi-pronged. Minimizing stress, getting enough sleep, and sticking to a healthy diet are your best bets for keeping your gut in check.
