The Gut Brain Connection
Mental well-being and mental health are topical in the UK at present, with research showing that 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England alone. Something that isn’t as widely discussed is the impact of gut health on mental health…
How are the gut and the brain linked?
You may be aware that the gut and the brain are very closely linked. This can be evidenced by concussion. When you take a sudden jolt or knock to the head, it can cause feelings of nausea and even physical sickness. Medical research suggests that concussion causes inflammation of the lining of the intestines, which leads to permeability.
A large part of the nervous system is actually located around the gastrointestinal tract. Its role is to protect the body from the invasion of dangerous agents such as bacteria, viruses and antigens via the food. Remember we consume 40-100 tons of food in our lifetime!
There is revolutionary new research that proves the gut-brain connection. Anxiety and depression are widely treated with synthetic serotonin inhibitors, known as SSRI. The rate of prescribing those in the UK increases by 25% every year. Are those safe? Interestingly our natural serotonin, the hormone of happiness, is 80% secreted by the neuro-immune cells in the GI tract.
So how does the gut affect your mental health?
So are we missing something? Mental health isn’t just an imbalance in the brain but directly connected to gut permeability and inflammation.
It is greatly optimistic that medical research is looking deeper into the cause of these debilitating mental health conditions. Unfortunately the new findings take years to get into main-stream medicine. And more of our patients are enslaved to long term use of antidepressants and not without harm!
It is evident that healing gut dysbiosis and permeability (leaky) which affect 60% of the Western population, transforms mental health. The human body is a complex interconnected web and one part is malfunctioning, the rest is affected.
Functional Medicine practitioners look “upstream” to consider the complex web of interactions in the patient’s history, physiology, and lifestyle that can lead to illness. The unique genetic makeup of each patient is considered, along with both internal (mind, body and spirit) and external (physical and social environment) factors that affect total functioning.
Would you like to find out more about the Lantern Clinic? You can book a FREE discovery call with Dr Margarita below.
