How Your Gut Can Contribute To Anxiety And Depression

Have you ever experienced a sudden stomach ache before an important meeting, or felt waves of nausea before making a life-changing decision? Do certain situations make you feel nervous or does travel affect your digestion? Your gut is often referred to as the second brain because it has a close connection to the actual brain through the 'gut-brain axis'. This pathway of nerves and chemicals can trigger digestive symptoms like nausea, heartburn, loss of appetite, constipation, or diarrhea, all stemming from a range of emotions such as fear, anger, or even excitement.

The Gut-Brain Connection

This pathway of information running between the gut and brain is bidirectional, meaning it can travel in both directions. When you sit down to eat a meal, the sight and smell of your food sends a signal to the brain to prepare to eat. This triggers the release of digestive enzymes, chemicals, and juices that help break down the food before it enters the mouth. Conversely, the gut can also send information to the brain. For example, when you have food poisoning or stomach flu, the overstimulation of the digestive tract can influence the brain, leading to anxiety and stress until the situation resolves.

This connection between the brain and digestive tract is especially important for people with gastrointestinal issues or chronic anxiety and depression not directly linked to a specific cause. This could also explain why a higher percentage of people with IBS also have issues with chronic depression or anxiety.

Mental Health and the Microbiome

Understanding the gut as an extension of the brain and nervous system opens up doorways to treatment options and supportive therapies. There are recurring studies showing that balancing gut bacteria can largely influence mood disorders and gastro-intestingal diagnoses.

Our bodies contain healthy bacteria that are a huge part of balancing our bodies own mini-ecosystem known as the microbiome. A huge part of this microbiome is found in the digestive tract where good bacteria reside to help fight off bad bacteria that may come into the digestive tract through foods we consume. These colonies can be affected by things like:

• Lifestyle factors

• Diet and nutrition

• Exercise

• Stress levels

• Antibiotic usage

• Corticosteroid usage

• If you were breastfed vs bottle-fed

Functional practitioners, such as myself, now recognize that many chronic illnesses and diseases have their origins in imbalances within the gut, brain, and inflammatory responses. When the body is continually subjected to stress from processed foods, heavy workloads, family and relationship stressors, and even chemical cleaners, it can cause dysregulation or imbalance in the nervous system, leading to the release of stress hormones that trigger inflammatory responses. While this is the body's way of trying to protect itself, if it persists for too long, it can further disrupt the nervous system and bacterial balance within the digestive tract. This can lead to an overgrowth of bad bacteria that kills off the good bacteria, causing increased inflammation and making it difficult for the body to digest food and absorb necessary nutrients.

Gut imbalances like SIBO, Candida, and Yeast Overgrowth, all examples of an overgrowth of the bad guys, are caused by stress on the brain and body. These often lead to inflammation that can harm the intestinal lining and result in triggering autoimmune conditions. To combat digestive disorders, chronic anxiety, and depression, adopting healthy lifestyle choices is the best starting point. A fascinating fact is that 90% of serotonin, one of the 'happy hormones' typically replaced with SSRIs for depression, is produced and found in the digestive tract. Your gut health is directly linked to your brain and mental well-being. Disrupted gut and bacterial balance can lead to over-stimulation of the nervous system, lower serotonin production, and increase anxiety and depression.

How do I know if my gut bacteria are imbalanced?

When your gut is being overrun by harmful bacteria or yeast, you will likely see signs like:

• Less than one bowel movement a day

• Undigested food in stools - not counting corn

• Foul smelling stools

• Frequent panic attacks

• autoimmune condition flare-ups

• Frequently waking or having trouble falling asleep

• Waking up exhausted 

• Feeling stressed without reason

• Feeling cold often

• Depressed or anxious

• Fast heart rate 20-30 minutes after eating

• Feeling better if you don’t eat

• Frequent bloating, burping, or passing gas

Many functional medicine providers, including myself, order gut health testing to identify any issues in your digestive tract. This type of testing is beneficial as it can indicate the location of bacterial overgrowth, whether it's in the stomach, small intestines, or large intestines. It can also detect specific parasites, yeast, bacteria, and dysbiosis. The test not only provides information about inflammation but also about your digestive and absorption functions. By knowing these details, a more targeted pathway for support can be created, with a higher success rate for recovery. So, if you're interested in having a personalized lifestyle plan to support your body and reduce gut inflammation, schedule an appointment with me here.

What Can I Do On My Own?

If you suspect that you have gut dysbiosis, one of the simplest ways to alleviate many of its symptoms is by adopting an auto-immune diet for a minimum of 4-6 weeks. If you cannot commit to an AIP diet entirely, try to eliminate the four primary inflammatory foods: corn, wheat, soy, and dairy. The duration of eliminating these foods from your diet depends on your situation and the type of dysbiosis you have, but it could be an excellent place to start.

The second step would be to take probiotics for at least 1 month after reducing gut inflammation. It is essential to note that this is not a cure-all solution and may not help in situations where dysbiosis is caused by parasites, particular types of SIBO, or severe candida cases. However, if it is a mild case, this could help you strengthen the good bacteria in your gut, which may result in less frequent or intense symptoms.

Access high-quality probiotics at a discount of 10%-20% by clicking here.