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You may already know that the gut and brain are connected. They work together and influence each other. While you might know about the connection, you may not know how to improve the connection to work in your favor toward better health. How to improve the gut-brain connection

What is the gut-brain connection, and how does it work?

The gut and brain are two different organs in the body. However, they are connected and communicate with each other in multiple ways.

The first and most straightforward way to see their connection is via the nervous system, specifically the enteric nervous system and the vagus nerve.

The enteric nervous system (ENS) runs throughout the GI tract and a few other organs and sends signals to the brain based on the feedback the neurons in the ENS obtain. The vagus nerve is one of the biggest nerves that provides feedback from the brain to the ENS and from the ENS back to the brain. The ENS and the vagus nerve are being explored as therapeutic targets for GI disturbances and conditions.

In addition to neurons and nerves, the gut-brain axis (GBA) communicates through neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters were initially thought only to be produced by the brain but also by the gut. Serotonin is a great example because while it is created in the brain, most serotonin (the happy neurotransmitter) comes from the gut.

Since the gut microbiome is part of the digestive system, it helps break down foods into easier-to-use molecules. These molecules are useful for brain function, health, and cognition. These molecules include short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), amino acids, and bile acids. The molecules that the gut microbes give off are able to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB).

Since the gut helps manage the immune system, it can help reduce inflammation in the brain as well. Inflammation can prevent the brain from functioning at its best, reduce cognitive abilities, and lead to disease progression. The gut being able to manage inflammation can prevent the development of diseases like Alzheimer’s. In this way, it can help with symptom management of conditions like ADHD and autism. The gut can also prevent other conditions from worsening.

How to Improve the Gut-Brain Connection

Now that you understand the connection better, it’s understandable that you may want to learn how to improve the gut-brain connection. So let’s look at some things you can incorporate into your daily life that can improve both your gut and brain.

Fasting

Fasting is something you should talk with your doctor about before beginning; however, it is a great way to reset your gut-brain connection. The way people eat in the Western world — especially those following the standard American diet (SAD) — doesn’t give the digestive system enough time to tap into the parasympathetic nervous system (i.e. the rest and digest).

When you fast, it allows your body enough time to relax and remove any stagnant foods that it wouldn’t have been able to clear out. Depending on how long you fast, your body begins to clear out dead or damaged cells which reduces inflammation.

Daily Exercise

Exercising is great for our overall health, but that’s because it affects each individual area of our body in such drastically important ways. It’s great for the muscles, heart, and lungs. But it’s also great for your gut-brain axis!

Multiple studies have shown how great exercise is for improving the health of the gut microbiome. Exercising for 30 minutes per day is enough to keep your gut in a healthy condition. This helps to boost neurotransmitters, SCFA production, and the quantity of healthy microbial species. All of these things help to improve your brain health as well.

Eating a well-balanced diet

A well-balanced diet is one of the quickest ways to improve the balance of your gut microbiome. Having enough of the right nutrients helps to support every cell in the body and therefore every system they work on.

Make sure your diet is high in the following nutrients so you’re boosting the healthy gut microbes.

Fiber
Protein
Prebiotics
Probiotics
Polyphenols
Healthy fats

That means get your healthy meats, fats, and lots of fruits and vegetables.

Another great way to support your gut-brain connection is by limiting the amount of highly processed, sugary, and sodium-rich foods you eat.

Sleeping enough

If you’ve ever been without adequate sleep, you may know the negative effects it’s had on your gut and brain health. New moms can attest to the disruption to their mental and physical health when a baby is keeping them up all night. Or if you have older kids who come home after a sleepover and they’re more grouchy or nauseous because of the lack of sleep.

As an adult with a fairly normal sleep cycle, you may not notice this, but those who struggle with sleep probably notice these common disturbances to their health. Getting on a good sleep cycle has been proven to help improve gut health since the microbes work with your circadian rhythms. This in turn helps your brain health. So stick to a good sleep cycle — and if you don’t currently have one, work towards it — for a better gut-brain connection.

Deal with traumas

Normally we associate trauma only with the brain. However, our gut can experience traumas that can disrupt the gut-brain connection. Having a trauma in either area can negatively impact the other. So dealing with these traumas should be one of the first steps to repairing the disconnection.

There are a lot of different therapy options that address the vagus nerve, ENS, and the gut-brain connection as a whole. Some options that you can look into are:

Gut-directed hypnotherapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (directed at the gut)
Medication (if you have SIBO or another infection, they may need medication to help eradicate this issue before any other treatments will help)
Vagal nerve toning
Guided meditations (make sure these are done by medical professionals and not just internet gurus with no real training or understanding of the intricacies of the human body)

Manage stress levels

In addition to addressing traumas, you’ll want to address any stress you may have. This can look like taking some responsibilities off of your plate or adding in practices that help you deal with things that cause you stress that you may not be able to let go of (i.e., parenting, taking care of aging parents, job-related stress, etc.).

Try adding some self-care to your routine that may help you reduce stress, like:

Reading
Hobbies (embroidery, gardening, artwork, recreational sports, etc.)
Get massages
Acupuncture
Yoga or other relaxing exercises like walking

Take Atrantil

Sometimes you need to address the gut itself to receive the rest of the benefits. Atrantil is a great way to do that without feeling like you need to rework your normal routines.

Atrantil is a natural supplement that was created to help rebalance your gut microbiome. It uses peppermint, horse chestnut, and quebracho colorado to remove bacteria from the small intestine and get it to go back into the colon where it belongs. While it removes these bacterial species, it also reduces inflammation and helps boost healthy bacterial species in the colon to restore your gut microbiome.

Atrantil functions both as a prebiotic and postbiotic. It feeds your healthy microbes so they can give off the healthy neurotransmitters and molecules that positively influence the gut-brain connection.

Let us know which of these things you’re excited to try first to improve the health of your gut-brain connection in the comments below!

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