How Your Gut Affects Your Mental Health

I always saw physical and mental health as being separate until my anxiety got really bad and I noticed that I was getting sick more often. I’ve always had a lot of health anxiety, so in therapy, I identified a cycle: I would have anxiety about my stomach hurting, which would cause my stomach to hurt, and my stomach actually hurting would cause increased health anxiety.  

The link between physical and mental health may seem obvious, but it is much more prevalent than people realize. It’s a chicken or the egg situation – having depression puts you at a higher risk for physical illness while having a physical illness puts you at a higher risk for depression.

However, there are ways to help prevent mental issues from affecting you physically. You’ve probably heard them before, but you may not know why or how they work. Regular physical exercise is important to mental health because exercising releases endorphins, or “happy chemicals.” There are four types of happy chemicals: endorphins, serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin. Balanced levels of these hormones are critical to our emotional well-being. Endorphins help us deal with feelings of stress or pain, physically and mentally. Serotonin stabilizes our mood, and dopamine is for pleasurable or rewarding experiences. Those last two are the most commonly targeted by medications like serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Oxytocin is known as the “cuddle hormone” and is released when bonding with others (Four Happy Hormones).

Besides exercising and doing activities that may make your brain happy, what we eat plays a massive role in our well-being. Obviously, a balanced diet of proteins, vitamins, and limited processed foods will give us more energy and make us less susceptible to diseases, but it’s a little more complex than that. The health of your gastrointestinal (GI) tract can explicitly affect your mood and brain chemistry. The gut-brain connection is evident even when you’re not thinking about it; for example, you get butterflies in your stomach when you’re nervous. Depression and anxiety are viewed as chemical imbalances in the brain, but those chemicals actually originate in the gut. Neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers sent between brain cells called neurons, regulate functions such as movement, motivation, and emotions. These neurotransmitters, along with hormones and metabolites, are produced by gut microbes (“The Surprising Link between Your Microbiome and Mental Health”).

The gut microbiome and the brain are constantly connected through the “gut-brain axis.” The gut is even called the “second brain” because of the complexity and amount of neurons it holds. Happy chemicals and other neurotransmitters like hormones live in the gut and travel to the brain through the vagus nerve, the longest vein in the body (Shetty). It’s also a two-way street – things like meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy that help the brain also positively impact the microbiome.

The simplest way to aid the diversity of our microbiome is through our diet. There are “good” microbes that help our systems run smoothly and “bad” microbes that cause inflammation, which can lead to mental health issues. Inflammatory foods are highly processed items like sodas, candies, and fast food. The key is limiting inflammatory foods and focusing on foods high in probiotics (yogurt and fermented foods) and prebiotics (garlic and oats), which offer lots of good bugs for our gut. Plants are rich in prebiotics, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory chemicals. A 2018 study from the American Gut Project found that participants who consumed 30+ different types of plants weekly had vastly more diverse microbiomes than those who consumed only 10. That includes fruits, vegetables, legumes, spices, herbs, grains, nuts, seeds, coffee, dark chocolate, and popcorn (Jones)! 

Health issues of any kind can make you feel helpless. Regular exercise, a well-balanced diet, therapy, and anxiety medication helped me take some control back in my lifestyle. Doing things that helped my brain and the rest of my body cope with pain has brought me a lot of relief, and I hope it does the same for you.

Works Cited

“Four Happy Hormones | Parkinsons NSW.” Parkinson’s NSM, 5 Apr. 2021, parkinsonsnsw.org.au/four-happy-hormones/#:~:text=Endorphins%20Primarily%20helps%20one%20deal.

Jones, Paul. “Eating 30 Plants per Week: How to Do It and Why.” Zoe.com, 4 July 2024, zoe.com/learn/30-plants-per-week.

Shetty, Maya. “More than a Gut Feeling: How Your Microbiome Affects Your Mood | Gut Health.” Lifestyle Medicine, 8 Apr. 2024, longevity.stanford.edu/lifestyle/2024/04/08/more-than-a-gut-feeling-how-your-microbiome-affects-your-mood/.

“The Surprising Link between Your Microbiome and Mental Health.” Www.optum.com, 2024, optum.com/en/health-articles.html/healthy-mind/surprising-link-between-your-microbiome-and-mental-health. Accessed 14 July 2024.