Gut bacteria can make us happy or unhappy?
Yes. Bacteria produce many substances that directly connect with the activity of the nervous system.
Do we have a nervous system in the gut?
Yes, with nerve cells, neurons, the same as those in the brain and that, in contact with bacteria, produce the neurotransmitters that make us feel in one way or another.
Does the microbiota affect my feelings?
Clear. The microbiota-intestine-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 stress tolerance.
What we have in the intestine are small creatures.
Trillions of microorganisms, many more than cells in the entire body. If we put them in a row they would go around the world two and a half times. We feed them, and thanks to the substances they produce we live.
Does the microbiota affect my thoughts?
Yes, the continuous communication between the microbiota and the brain affects your mental health, your feelings, thoughts, and even your personality.
To my personality?
Neurotransmitters, chemicals that neurons use to communicate, tell our neurons in the brain what and how to fire and make us feel and think. It is a two-way relationship.
The brain communicates with the intestine and the intestine with the brain.
Indeed, and 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 gut.
Does what we think affect the body?
The head thinks and our body obeys without question. Cells are always attentive, listening and obeying our every thought.
Any curious study?
An American study with thousands of healthy people who were given a personality questionnaire and a microbiota study was done.
And the data was crossed.
The result was shocking: people with a more cheerful, generous, empathic and supportive 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 one way or another.
How can those tiny creatures get me to think one way or the other?
By various paths. Some are direct like the vagus nerve, the longest we have in the body, and which connects the brain and the intestine. That nerve is 20% motor and 80% sensitive.
What other path does the microbiota use?
The neurotransmitters that are produced both in the brain and in the intestine and go from the bottom up and from the top down.
Is serotonin, the happiness hormone, also produced in the intestine?
By 90%. There is evidence that the intestine is permanently storing information, remembering, feeling and thinking by itself.
If I tune up my microbiota, will my character change?
Yes, and you’re going to feel so much better.
What does the microbiota ask my brain?
That we are not inflamed. Inflammation, which occurs when the microbiota is in disarray, is the worst thing that can happen to the body, including the brain.
How can I know if I am 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 is dependent on the microbiota.
Does the intestine store information?
Of course, there are as many neurons in the intestine as in the spinal cord, and with the same functional capacity as the brain. In other words, everything the brain can do can be done by the intestinal neurons: think, feel, remember…
How to keep the creatures happy?
Eating well, watching the quality of sleep, controlling stress and what we think, avoiding a sedentary lifestyle and exercising.
What kind 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 good ones are fermented, fiber and polyphenols: red fruits, pomegranate, oil olive, coffee, tea, mushrooms, turmeric…
