The Ultimate Guide to the Gut-Brain Axis

What is the Gut Brain Connection?

To comprehend the intricacies of the gut-brain axis, it’s essential to understand the levity of poor gut health. Let's discuss the connection between the Western Diet and mental illness. 

Standard American Diet (SAD) and Mental Health

Everything you consume, whether it’s a beverage, food, or medicine, goes down to the gut. Either these consumed items get broken down for nutrients and energy (gut healing foods) or flushed out with toxins (processed foods).

With a McDonald’s on every corner, it’s safe to say that the average person isn’t always eating diets rich with micronutrients. Fatty foods, GMOs, and pesticides have done a number on the Standard American Diet.

These inorganic options are confusing for your body to process during the digestion of food. Overconsumption of foods containing artificial ingredients and unhealthy fat content causes backups in the system.

Anytime there is a backup, it spurs the growth of harmful bacteria. These bacteria feast on sugars and fats within your body. In turn, they destroy healthy cells and tissues in the gut lining. This creates forts of dead cells that serve as shelter for inflammation.

What is The Gut-Brain Axis?

Your gut-brain axis is a bit more complicated than getting hangry after a couple of hours without eating. Our body has a built-in alarm company that allows your system to know there are invaders onboard. These are neural tissues. They live on the ends of cells and nerves.

Neural tissues act as barometers for what is going on inside your body. When all is well, they don’t react much. However, when inflammation is present, the neural tissues get on the case!

Inflammations alter the pH balance in their surrounding environment *. Overly acidic environments release vapors that negatively stimulate the neural tissues. These neural tissues send messages back to the brain. The brain reacts accordingly, triggering pain sensations and other tactics to draw our attention to the inflammation within *.

Vagus Nerve and the Gut Biome

Some of the most influential neural tissues in the system lie at the end of the vagus nerve *. The vagus nerve attaches to the brainstem.

Like a turkey thermometer, the base of the nerve sits at the top of our gut. Neural tissues at the tip of the nerve gauge the activity going on in the stomach. Based on their reaction, the neurons will send electric impulses across their axons. This critical role makes the vagus nerve is the backbone of the gut-brain axis.

Gut Biome and Mood Disorders

Different types of microbes include:

• Archaea
• Bacteria
• Fungi
• Yeast
• Virus

Microbes were your first introduction to life. They were beside you in your mother’s womb and helped formulate the immune system you have today. These tiny life forms have been with you since day one, coexisting with over a trillion other microbes in what is known as your microbiome.

Unbeknownst to you, there’s a battle for supremacy going on inside of you. While it’s happening at all times, you feel the most when the harmful bacteria are winning. These are the moments where mental health issues may arise.

What Causes Mental Health Issues?

Mental Health covers a number of issues that can be moderate to life-threatening. When we talk about mental health, we mean conditions that can have a negative impact on your brain and/or thought process.

So, we’re also covering issues such as:

• Anxiety
• Autism
• Depression
• Cognitive Abilities
• Memory
• Stress
• Mood Swings
• Insomnia
• Fatigue

While many life occurrences may trigger these episodes, there always seems to be one culprit always in the thick of things. We’re talking about the hormone, cortisol *.

Cortisol and Mental Health

Cortisol is essential for your body. It’s the system’s built-in instinct. When you encounter a stressful situation, it triggers the adrenal glands to pump out cortisol. As this hormone hits the bloodstream, your brain makes a split decision–fight or flight.

When cortisol is secreted by the adrenal glands, it causes us to approach the current situation with a sense of urgency. Based on the interaction, your body will supplement with a follow-up hormone.

In the case of getting through a public speaking assignment or walking down the aisle for your wedding, cortisol will succumb to dopamine (calming neurotransmitters) or adrenaline (energy-bursting hormone). These are signs that the situation is going to be all right. Now, cortisol production can cease.

If the situation we face is continuous stress (like a bad marriage or harsh working conditions), more cortisol will pump into our bloodstream. These are the moments where you can’t handle going to work, don’t want to get out of bed, or refuse to get together with loved ones. Inevitably, stress breeds more stress.

While each mental health condition is unique, they are usually tied to too much cortisol. Think of filling your gas tank. Whether you use unleaded or premium, a 10-gallon tank holds 10-gallons. Anything more will spill out. So, if you pour in 9 gallons of unleaded, it’s impossible to add 2 gallons of premium as well.

Hormones Affected by Cortisol

Under chronic stress, the flood gates for cortisol are wide open. Therefore, your body doesn’t have the time or room to create other beneficial neurotransmitters and hormones such as:

• GABA – Calming Neurotransmitter
• Dopamine – Reward Hormone
• Serotonin – Joy Neurotransmitter
• Melatonin – Sleep Cycle Regulating Hormone
• Testosterone/Estrogen – Reproductive Hormones

We need a variety of hormones and neurotransmitters produced to keep our systems in check. Let’s take a look at how these hormones contribute to our mental well-being.

Hormones and Mental Health

Our bodies are a delicate machine. The sum of the parts keeps the whole together. When there is a lack of any hormone being produced, it will throw your entire system out of whack. As a result, you may suffer from bouts of mental health issues.

Testosterone and Estrogen

Signs of low testosterone/estrogen include:

• Disinterest in Sex/Too Much Interest in Sex
• Erectile Dysfunction/Premature Ejaculation
• Mood Swings
• Lack of Sleep
• Weight Gain
• Excess Weight in Breasts/Gynecomastia

Coming to terms with these life-changing situations can cause anything from a fleeting bout of anxiety to maturing into full-blown Major Depressive Disorder.

Another hormone that cortisol overload disrupts is melatonin production. Due to our circadian rhythm, our body has figured out when the sun sets and rises. On cue, you should get tired around two hours prior to bedtime and start to stir awake moments before your alarm goes off *.

With too much cortisol in the system, there is no room for melatonin. Therefore, you stay awake all night. Insomnia is further exasperated by cortisol as you fidget in your sleep. The cortisol in your body draws extra attention to the fact you can’t sleep, making it even harder for you to get some rest.

As you know, your body needs rest. The waking hours don’t lend itself to your body repairing itself from the damage we cause daily. During our rest period, the body is not fighting off the germs of others, dealing with the stresses of co-workers, or using energy to function as it does during the day. Most of your hormones are created while you are asleep *. Therefore, no sleep? No hormones.

Dopamine, Serotonin, and GABA

The most effective way to fight off cortisol is by generating “reward” neurotransmitters and hormones such as dopamine, GABA, and serotonin. When your mind receives messages from these hormones, it feels sensations such as calmness or elation.

As a result, your adrenal glands don’t get the signal to push out more cortisol. By having dopamine and serotonin on hand, all the other hormones can be created, restoring balance in the system.

Further proving the connection between the gut and brain, research has found that 90% of the serotonin in our system comes from our gut *. Therefore, if you have poor gut health, a majority of the serotonin that your body needs to fight off mental illness is destroyed before hitting the bloodstream.