Are you a gut person too? If not, you should urgently learn to listen to your gut. It has a lot to tell you! Because your gut is basically your second brain.

Despite the great visual distance, the gut and head are very closely connected. That's why it's also called the gut-brain axis. Along this axis, the two exchange information via hormones, nerves and the immune system. So they talk to each other. And sometimes you can tell. It's not for nothing that there are sayings such as "butterflies in the stomach" or "listen to your gut feeling".

Gut brain axis - Our gut brain

You might be thinking: "ok, I already know that my brain controls my gut." But did you know that your gut also gives instructions to your brain? And not too little! For example, there are no less than 100 million nerve cells in your gut. Together they form the enteric nervous system and send information from the gut to the brain via nerve fibers of the largest nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system. The vagus nerve (as this large nerve is called) therefore serves as a kind of data highway. The parasympathetic nervous system is in turn one of the most important control systems for your body to relax and calm down.

So the gut actually has a lot to do with coping with stress. However, especially in today's world, where stress dominates our everyday lives, recovery is often neglected. With various consequences, especially for the gut and our emotions...

For all those who prefer listening to reading, I am happy to recommend my popular Darmglück podcast. With lots of exciting health topics, tips and tricks for a healthy lifestyle in everyday life and a balanced diet. Listen to episode 6 What does the gut have to do with happiness:

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Alternatively, listen to episode 139 Gut-brain axis: What is it and how does knowing about it help me? - Interview with Dr. Florian Bilz

The effects of stress

Almost everyone has probably experienced this: you have an exam or another very important appointment. You are totally excited and tense and then, usually at the most inopportune moment, you have to go to the toilet. And then the result is anything but solid and accompanied by a lot of wind. But why is this actually the case?

The stress hormones that are released at such a time have a major impact on your bowels. In a moment of stress, which used to herald a flight or fight situation, all your senses and strength are required. Your heart, lungs and muscles need all the energy reserves you can muster. For this reason, the stomach and intestines, among others, are temporarily undersupplied. However, as food may still be lingering there, this leads to nausea. And if things go really badly, the body wants to get rid of the leftovers quickly "before the fight" and you vomit or have >Diarrhea.

Intestinal (brain) deficiency affects all areas of the body

Due to the negative influence of constant stress, but also due to inflammation (which is actually also a constant stress for your body and therefore leads to the same problems) and various intestinal disorders, fewer and fewer short-chain fatty acids are produced. These short-chain fatty acids, especially butyrate, normally protect your mucous membranes. They have an anti-inflammatory effect and supply your intestines as well as your brain with energy. A lack of these short-chain fatty acids leads to mucosal damage, inflammation and a lack of energy.

The supply of nutrients and vitamins required by the brain and neurotransmitters also depends on your gut. If your gut is not in order, the absorption of many substances is often restricted. This is not such a big problem in the short term, as you store most of them in smaller quantities so that you can survive such short "dry spells".

But these stores are only filled to a limited extent, so that if an intestinal problem persists for a longer period of time, more and more deficiencies occur. Your body then has to decide which metabolic processes are essential for survival and which are not.

Depressive gut-brain axis

Depression, chronic fatigue, burnout and similar conditions are relatively frequently associated with a disturbed gut flora. Unfortunately, however, very few people know this and usually don't even realize that they have a gut problem. But, as already mentioned, the building blocks for our neurotransmitters or catecholamines are absorbed in the gut.

For example, tryptophan, one of the very important amino acids, is absorbed here and converted to serotonin. Vitamin B6 and magnesium, among others, are essential for this conversion step. Serotonin, in turn, stimulates peristalsis, i.e. the movement of the intestine, and significantly controls the permeability of the mucous membrane and thus the absorption of nutrients.

Do you recognize the vicious circle here alone? If you have too little building material for serotonin, the absorption is reduced more and more and there are fewer and fewer building materials available.

Serotonin is also a very important substance for our emotional life. If you have too little serotonin, you will slip more and more into depression. Your feeling of hunger increases and your feeling of satiety decreases. You put on weight. You will also sleep less and less, because our sleep hormone melatonin is produced from serotonin. Other symptoms, such as anxiety disorders, migraines or fibromyalgia, can also be associated with a reduced serotonin level.

Continuous current - a big problem for your gut-brain axis

But it's not just serotonin that makes the connection between your head and your gut. Another substance is noradrenaline, for example. Of course, the building blocks for this are also absorbed in the gut and made available to the body. Alongside adrenaline, noradrenaline is a messenger substance that is part of the body's rapid stress response. If you are under a lot of stress, a large amount of these catecholamines and cortisol are released. This used to be good: the (nor-)adrenaline rush gave us humans "wings", we could chase, flee or fight. Depending on our needs. Afterwards, however, the increased output was immediately reduced again. If you had eaten well after the hunt, you became tired and digested and relaxed.

Today, office work, cars and far too little sport mean that we often don't have a sufficient reduction in stress hormones - we are under constant stress.

But too much stress, and therefore too much noradrenaline, causes the intestinal cells to swell up. This creates "holes" through which everything can naturally pass. This is also known as leaky gut syndrome. Substances enter the bloodstream that do not actually belong there. The immune system sounds the alarm, leading to allergies, inflammation and more.

In addition, the body releases a lot of cortisol during stress, especially long-term stress. Cortisol and cortisone sound very similar? Not without reason: it is your natural, self-produced cortisone. And, like the externally supplied cortisone, it has an immunosuppressive effect, among other things. In other words, you bring your immune system to its knees in the long term with your own substances. This costs huge amounts of energy. And building materials. Which, as you have just learned above, you probably don't have enough of (any more).

In addition, a continuous release of cortisol leads to reduced blood flow to the intestines, which in turn leads to digestive disorders. Another vicious circle.

Last but not least, our roommates in the gut, our gut bacteriaare incredibly important for your health and well-being. They are in constant contact with your intestinal mucosa and, among other things, produce important substances (including butyrate) that are vital for your body and are transmitted to your brain via the gut-brain axis. The bacteria therefore also have a direct influence on your feelings.

You can see how many connections there are between the gut and the brain and where the term gut-brain axis comes from. Therefore: start listening to your gut!!! And take good care of it. It's usually right and gets involved everywhere :-)