Can gut bacteria make us happy or unhappy?
Yes. Bacteria produce many substances that connect directly with the activity of the nervous system.
Do we have a nervous system in our guts?
Yes, with nerve cells, neurons, the same as brain cells and which, in contact with bacteria, produce the neurotransmitters that make us feel in one way or another.
Does the microbiota affect my feelings?
Yes, the microbiota-gut-brain axis conditions our feelings, the perception of things that happen to us, the ability to reason, process information and solve problems, memory, attention, sleep or our tolerance to the stress
In the intestine we have small creatures.
Billions of microorganisms, many more than cells in the entire body. If we put them one after the other they would go around the world two and a half times. We feed them, and thanks to the substances they produce we live.
Are these gut bacteria affecting my thoughts?
Yes, the continuous communication between the microbiota and the brain affects your mental health, your feelings, thoughts, and even your personality.
My personality?
Neurotransmitters, chemicals that neurons use to communicate, tell our brain neurons what and how to activate and make us feel and think. It’s a two-way relationship.
The brain communicates with the gut and the gut with the brain.
Indeed, the substances produced by the microbiota make us feel one way or another and vice versa: negative thoughts generate substances that cause inflammation in the intestines.
What we think affects the body?
The head thinks and our body obeys without complaint. Cells are always attentive, listening and obeying our every thought.
Any interesting studies?
An American study with thousands of healthy people who were given a personality questionnaire and had a microbiota study done.
And the data was crossed.
The result was shocking: people with a more cheerful, generous, empathic and caring personality had a richer and more diverse microbiota than people who were selfish and spiteful, and each group had different predominant bacteria.
What produced different substances?
Yes, and that generated in the personality a tendency to be in one way or another.
How can those tiny creatures make him think one way or another?
By several paths. Something direct like the vagus nerve, the longest in our body, and which connects the brain and the gut. This nerve is 20 percent motor and 80 percent sensitive.
What other pathway does the microbiota use?
Neurotransmitters that are produced in both the brain and the gut and travel through the bloodstream from the bottom up and from the top down.
Is serotonin, the happy hormone, also produced in the gut?
In 90 percent. There is evidence that the gut is permanently storing information, remembering, feeling and thinking for itself.
If I adjust my microbiota will it change my character?
Yes, and it will feel much better.
What does the microbiota ask of my brain?
Let us not be inflamed. Inflammation, which occurs when the microbiota is out of order, is the worst thing that can happen to the body, including the brain.
How do I know if I’m inflamed?
A clear symptom: mental fog, when one is not able to make decisions, or when the mind does not go at the pace it should, a large part depends on the microbiota.
Does the gut store information?
Yes, there are as many neurons in the gut as in the spinal cord and with the same functional capacity as the brain. In other words, everything the brain can do, the intestinal neurons can do: think, feel, remember…
How can we keep the creatures happy?
Eating well, monitoring the quality of sleep, controlling stress and what we think, avoiding sedentary lifestyles and exercising.
What type of exercise?
Strength, and to control stress meditate. The most pro-inflammatory foods are refined sugar, wheat, dairy products, especially cow’s milk, additives, preservatives, dyes… And the microbiota loves fermented foods, fiber and polyphenols: red fruits, pomegranate, olive oil, coffee, tea, mushrooms, turmeric…
