Is mental health on your mind? You aren’t the only one. Even though we don’t often talk about it, more people than ever are struggling with emotional and mental health issues.
But the key to mental health might not be completely in your mind. There is a deep relationship between your brain and your gut, and our mental state can be altered by the health of our microbiome.
It’s time to start listening to your gut — it might be trying to tell you something!
Understanding the Gut-Brain Connection
Have you ever heard of the second brain? Your enteric nervous system, which lives within your digestive tract, has a form of intelligence that keeps your body and mind in good health. The gut microbiome, which is made up of bacteria, fungi, bacteriophages, archaea, and protists, exhibits a lot of complex interactions that affect how we feel.
These microbes communicate with our brain through the gut-brain axis and can generate positive emotions, helping us to feel uplifted and mentally balanced.
A balanced microbiome can help with;
♦ Balanced moods
♦ Vibrant energy levels
♦ Reduced tension
♦ Maintaining a positive outlook
♦ A healthy response to stress
♦ Common mental health struggles
Our gut microbes can make us feel great or terrible, depending on what kind of internal environment we have. Many beneficial bacteria are responsible for producing neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, which uplift our mood and impact our overall health.
Neurotransmitters created in the gut microbiome include:
♦ Serotonin
♦ Dopamine
♦ Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)
♦ Acetylcholine
♦ Glutamate
♦ Norepinephrine
♦ Phenylethylamine
Our digestive bacteria can also emit other compounds that negatively affect our brains. These can make us feel sluggish, tank our mood, or lead to various health concerns. While this is often from improper digestion or poor food choices, it could also be because there is not enough diversity of beneficial bacteria in the gut.
Enhancing Your Gut Health for Better Mental Wellness
A lot of people think they can just pop a probiotic, and boom, instant gut health. Unfortunately, it just isn’t that simple. Probiotics need the right environment and the right food sources to make a difference. Plus, there are other aspects of our lifestyle that affect how our microbes behave.
Gut health and mental balance rely on a holistic approach focused on daily, supportive habits.
Diet
Choosing the right foods is one of the most important ways to maintain digestive and mental health.
♦ Eat plenty of high-fiber, prebiotic foods such as oats, sweet potatoes, onions, asparagus, artichokes, and legumes to give your gut microbes a healthy food source.
♦ Try fermented foods and drinks such as sauerkraut, yogurt, kombucha, and kefir to introduce microbial diversity.
♦ Reduce your sugar intake to promote the health of beneficial bacteria and discourage less friendly microbes.
♦ Make sure you are getting a variety of colorful plant foods to get plenty of polyphenols in your diet, which promotes a healthy microbiome.
♦ Chew your food well to ensure important enzymes get mixed with your food to encourage healthy digestion.
Supplements
Dietary supplements can help you fill in any gaps in your diet and can have soothing effects that help the lining of the gut stay healthy.
♦ L-glutamine: This important amino acid is made by our bodies, but supplementation can be beneficial for soothing the intestinal wall and keeping the microbiome healthy.
♦ Colostrum: Colostrum is packed with immunoglobulins and other compounds that support gut health, promoting healthy interactions between the immune system and gut microbes. It also provides nutrients and prebiotics that beneficial bacteria within the digestive system thrive on.
♦ Magnesium: Magnesium keeps digestive functions moving along smoothly and is vital to enzyme activity, which helps us break food down properly. Magnesium is also extremely important for mental health, so it works on several levels at once to promote mental resilience.
♦ Digestive enzymes: To assist with inner balance, a digestive enzyme supplement can help ease digestive processes and promote nutrient absorption. If you have common complaints, such as gas or bloating, try a high-quality enzyme supplement to balance gut microbiome health.
Herbs
Having herbs in your life can help improve digestive health and keep microbe populations balanced.
♦ Cook with herbs and spices such as sage, oregano, cinnamon, ginger, and thyme to bring their powerful benefits to your gut. Herbal plants are packed with polyphenols, volatile oils, and other compounds that influence the health of the digestive system and gut microbes.
♦ Calm your mind while supporting your gut with herbal teas such as chamomile, catnip, and lemon balm. These gentle plants help to reduce gas and bloating, soothe the gut lining, and promote digestive function.
♦ Try turmeric. Just like its cousin ginger, turmeric has potent benefits for gut health (as well as mental health). You can cook with it, but most people find that taking a daily extract is a simplified way to get an effective dose. We’ve formulated CurcuWell® to be highly bioavailable for efficient absorption, and it offers a 1,000 mg dosage of curcuminoids in every serving.
Functional Mushrooms
Functional mushrooms, filled with prebiotic fibers and other compounds that keep your microbiome in good health, impact your mental wellness through the gut-brain axis. Keep your microbes happy with a daily mushroom supplement that gives you high-powered support for your body and mind.
♦ Lion’s mane: This strange and beautiful mushroom supports the life cycle of beneficial bacteria and promotes a healthy gastric wall lining.
♦ Reishi: By promoting the presence of beneficial microbes with its powerful triterpenoids, reishi helps to keep the digestive tract’s environment healthy. Plus, it has calming effects on the mind, making it a great addition to a mental health protocol.
♦ Turkey tail: Turkey tail mushrooms have special compounds that support healthy microbial diversity. Packed with prebiotic fibers, they also nourish immune cells within the digestive tract.
♦ Chaga: Chaga is exceptionally powerful for immune support, which helps to keep the microbiome and the intestinal walls healthy and free from environmental threats. The polysaccharides in chaga promote beneficial bacteria that produce short-chained fatty acids and protect against oxidative stress within the gut.
Unlock your mind’s potential and give your gut a potent dose of functional mushrooms in our Lion’s Mane + Mushroom Blend or Beyond Brew. Empower yourself through nature's gifts so you can live life uplifted.
Psychobiotics: The Emerging Realm of Brain and Gut Harmony
The study of the gut microbiome has opened up an entirely new way of looking at our physical and mental health. Certain probiotics have been termed psychobiotics because they show beneficial effects on the gut and our mental well-being.
While there is still much to be discovered in this realm of research, it may be possible someday to match specific strains of probiotics to common issues that disrupt our mental health.
Psychobiotic species that have been identified include;
♦ Bifidobacterium longum
♦ Bifidobacterium infantis
♦ Bifidobacterium breve
♦ Bifidobacterium bifidum
♦ Lactobacillus acidophilus
♦ Lactobacillus delbrueckii (bulgaricus)
♦ Lactobacillus rhamnosus
♦ Lactobacillus plantarum
♦ Lactobacillus casei
You can find many of these probiotic species in Pro-45, our high-quality probiotic supplement that provides 11 robust strains along with prebiotics in a delayed-release capsule. This, paired with a healthy diet, can improve your gut microbiome diversity and promote mental health at the same time.
Daily Habits for Gut Health & Mental Well-Being
While what you put into your body is incredibly important for gut health, our daily activities also contribute to health within the digestive tract. Do yourself a favor and develop habits that will keep you well mentally and physically.
♦ Practice mindfulness: Find a method of mindfulness that can help you reduce daily stress levels, which can impact your microbiome. Try breathwork, meditation, grounding, yoga, mindful walking, or other mind-body techniques to improve digestive function and calm your mind.
♦ Take time for self-care. This can look different for everyone, so find what makes you feel rejuvenated and puts your mind at ease.
♦ Get moderate exercise. This not only helps with stress levels but also assists with digestion and benefits circulation in the gut.
♦ Prioritize sleep. Your sleep cycles affect your gut microbes and your mental health, so make extra effort to maximize your sleep quality.
♦ Eat in a serene environment. Make your meals into a mindful moment whenever possible. Put on some soothing music, lower the lighting, and let yourself fully enjoy every bite.
♦ Find support. Life is not always easy, but you don’t have to go it alone. Lean on family and friends and embrace therapy when needed so you have a strong foundation for vibrant mental health.
♦ Let go of expectations. It’s okay if you don’t live up to all of your own expectations. Practice self-love and inner kindness, and you will move forward. Release guilt and shame and find acceptance for wherever you are on your journey.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes, we are so focused on other areas of life that we forget to care for our mental well-being. Make your mind and gut a part of your wellness routine so you can move through life with purpose and face life’s challenges with strength and resilience. Whether it’s a daily probiotic, functional mushroom supplement, or enhancing your diet, daily habits can improve overall health in a holistic way that will bring you closer to a balanced body and mind.
