No matter what stage of life we are in, our health always comes first. Our emotional well-being is just as important as our physical health. Whether it’s increased stress at work or within the family, isolation and fears about survival caused by a pandemic, or worries about family and friends—stress keeps us awake at night or causes restless sleep. But what exactly is stress? How does stress form in the body and how does it spread? And what do our gut feeling and digestive system have to do with it?
Whether we have butterflies in our stomach or something is weighing on our stomach: everyone knows situations where the gut feeling, or more precisely our gut brain, decides the way forward. For several years now, the connection between our brain and our gastrointestinal tract—the so-called gut-brain axis—has been intensively studied scientifically. It is becoming increasingly clear how much influence our digestive system has on our thinking, feeling, and behavior. The gastrointestinal tract and our brain communicate with each other very intensively and, above all, reciprocally! This means the gut not only receives instructions from the brain but also sends signals back. That’s why the gut is also called our second brain.
In this blog post, we explain how stress affects the body, what exactly the gut-brain axis is, and how you can support your mental health through your diet.
Stress – what exactly is it?
Stress is part of everyday life for most people in our fast-paced world. Interestingly, the individual, personal assessment plays a central role in whether a situation is experienced as stressful or not. Early stress research already distinguished between eustress, which is positive stress, and distress, the negative form. Eustress is associated with a mostly pleasant feeling of being able to master certain challenges and accomplish something. This type of stress can even be motivating and enhance performance! Distress, on the other hand, harms a person over time through constant overload—both psychologically and physically.
Often, it is one’s own personal thought patterns and attitudes that act as stress accelerators, for example, a perfectionist attitude that is only satisfied with the best results or the pursuit of faultlessness. In a social context, the desire for widespread popularity and recognition can become a stress accelerator. Likewise, the attitude that you must do everything yourself and are not allowed to delegate can greatly increase the experience of stress.
The Gut-Brain Axis – Listen to Your Gut Feeling
“Butterflies in the stomach,” “listen to your gut feeling,” or “it hit me in the stomach”—all these phrases are commonly used to describe the physical sensation of emotions when they manifest in our body, and they are perfect examples of the power of the gut-brain axis. Also known as the GBA, the gut-brain axis is the connection between your brain and the gut microorganisms. Its job is to keep both the gut and the brain informed about what is going on inside each of us, from emotions to digestive problems.
The gut-brain communication runs through the gut-brain axis, which operates bidirectionally via nerve pathways, hormones, or metabolic products of our gut bacteria. Especially important is the so-called vagus nerve, a kind of nerve highway that runs from the brainstem to the large intestine and sends signals back and forth between the central nervous system and the microorganisms in the gut. Surprisingly, 90% of the communication originates from the gut and only 10% from our brain. Due to the high number of nerve cells and the active exchange between gut and brain, the gut is also called the “gut brain” or “second brain.”
How Easily You Can Influence Your Gut-Brain Axis
Although the topic may sound very complicated, there are simple ways to improve the health of both your gut and brain. For this, you need to focus on your microbiome and keep your cortisol levels balanced. Here’s exactly how to do it:
The unique formulation of our Dailybacs® delivers 60 billion probiotic bacteria directly where they are needed. By using acid-resistant probiotic strains, it is ensured that the bacteria survive the journey through the gastrointestinal tract and arrive unharmed in the small intestine. Dailybacs also contain prebiotic inulin from natural chicory root, which acts as “fertilizer” for the probiotics and ensures that when activated in the gut, they can grow and thrive. Combined with vitamins, minerals, and the superfood pomegranate, they help keep your microbiome in balance.
Happy Gut, Happy You – What to Do?
It is important to pay attention to a healthy and balanced diet because it benefits not only your gut flora! When the gut is healthy, it sends positive signals to the brain, which benefits your psyche and overall well-being. Avoiding or reducing excessive stress through, for example, meditation or physical activity also does good for your gut and your mind. Since it can often be difficult to integrate these measures into everyday life, probiotics are also an excellent supplement to support our microbiome.
Nourishment for Your Nerves
In this blog post, we have already explained the important connection between our gut function and our experience of stress. There are some foods that can especially support your body in stressful situations. Here are our top 7 foods to help you cope with everyday stress:
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Nuts, Seeds, and Kernels: Imagine a bowl of walnuts, hazelnuts, and pistachios on your desk. Nuts are true stress killers and especially help balance your blood pressure. This is made possible by many components of vitamins E and B.
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Green Vegetables: Spinach, kale, broccoli, and chard provide not only plenty of magnesium but also numerous B vitamins, as well as calcium, potassium, vitamin C, and iron. Iron supports memory performance, allowing you to work more focused without showing signs of fatigue.
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Bananas: This is a true happy food because they contain not only nerve-strengthening nutrients like vitamin B6, magnesium, and potassium but also tryptophan. This amino acid is essential for the production of the “happiness hormone” serotonin.
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Cocoa or Dark Chocolate: Cocoa = chocolate? Not quite. Only dark chocolate with a high cocoa content or cocoa nibs are considered healthy nerve food. Why? Cocoa also contains a certain amount of tryptophan, which is needed for serotonin production.
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Oatmeal: With a serving of oatmeal for breakfast, you are perfectly prepared for a stressful day. The reason: these healthy flakes contain plenty of vitamins B1 and B3, as well as tryptophan, which is needed for serotonin production. Additionally, the long-chain carbs keep you full for a long time, so you won’t get stressed by hunger.
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Salmon: Your brain and nervous system are made up of almost half fat. Accordingly, (healthy) fats are very important for strong nerves. Fish varieties like salmon, tuna, or herring are known to contain many omega-3 fatty acids. These dampen the stress hormone adrenaline and thus have a calming effect.
- Legumes: A meal rich in legumes makes you resistant to stress. Lentils, chickpeas, or peas contain not only a large amount of potassium but also high levels of magnesium, iron, and zinc.
These 7 foods not only taste delicious but also do good for your gut and your mood! So, enjoy them!
Happy Gut, Happy You!
