Ep 63 of The Living Life Well Show: Gut Brain Axis or Brain Gut Axis, Who is running the show?
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Living Life. Well show the intersection of God's word, today's science and healthy living with common sense application, all based on the truth of the word of God. I'm your host, Dr. Jon Skelton. Now let's get straight to the truth.
Audio Only - All Participants: Alright, welcome back to The Living Life. Well Show. So it's been a while. It's been about two months actually, since we last recorded a podcast and, and published it. And so I really wanted to take a little bit of a break regather my thoughts as to how I wanted the, the podcast to, progress and, and to get out to you guys.
And so with that being said, what we're gonna do is we're gonna have a little bit of a different schedule. We're [00:01:00] gonna go twice a month. So basically every other week we're gonna get a, a podcast out to you. Most likely it'll be the. First and third weekends of the month.
And we'll, we'll get that out to you covering different topics. Primarily we're gonna focus on autoimmune disease gut health and we're, we're really gonna focus on the differences between men and women
and so. We'll, we'll look at those things, but today is going to be a theme that is beneficial to both. Really what we're gonna talk about today is the gut brain axis, and if you will, the brain gut. Axis. So if you've been listening much to holistic medicine or just kind of in general in the news now, you've probably heard a lot about diet affecting mental health
we've seen already with many different [00:02:00] disease states, be it in the mental health and or physical health categories, that diet plays an important role. Well, well, why is that? Why is there this, this gut, brain axis connection. Well, so what we know is that when we get a disordered gut biome, that creates the opportunity for infection.
And so when we look at the gut brain axis, if you will there's a lot of connection and overlap. There. So it, it's essentially a communication system that involves the enteric nerve nervous system as well as the, the vagus nerve, our immune system, and all these metabolites that are made by the good and the bad bacteria within our gut.
So our vagus nerve is a nerve that really helps to be stimulated [00:03:00] by our beneficial bacteria in our gut biome. Those lactobacilli and the bifidobacteria, if you've heard me speak before about really looking for a good probiotic, those are the two that I primarily recommend with.
With a strong third being saccharomyces boulardii Well, part of that reason is, is because these two bacteria really affect the whole gut biome. They affect the amounts and the types of different bacteria that we have in our gut. Well, how does that tie in to the, the vagus nerve? Well. The vagus nerve can really react to, to stress,
so when our gut biome is out of balance, it sends abnormal impulses causing. Increased stress and or decreased parasympathetic tone, meaning you have less peace and calm and more fight or flight. In [00:04:00] addition when we have an imbalance of gut bacteria. It increases our inflammatory mediators specifically the cytokines because what , this dysbiotic gut or these overgrowth infections allow is leaky gut.
Which means that that lipopolysaccharides. Enter the bloodstream. These can be byproducts of the bacteria, the bad bacteria in our gut, getting into our bodies, creating an immune reaction that then leads to further inflammation, which can be brain fog mood disorders, including anxiety. And or depression.
And really it, it increases the release of factors like interleukin six and tumor OSI factor alpha and lots of others. And these, these lipopolysaccharides and, and these inflammatory cytokines in particular can cross that blood brainin barrier causing inflammation of the brain [00:05:00] leading to that quote, brain fog as well.
And then you look at the the HPA axis or the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis, and so. What this is looking at is, is again, that, that that brain, gut or gut brain connection, however you wanna look at that, but chronic inflammation generally mediated by either a poor gut biome or an infection, or most commonly the combination of the two activates.
Overdrive of this hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. This causes that increased cortisol release. This decreases the size of a hippocampus. It can impair memory, it can cause depression as well as. Increase sleep disturbance. When you have disordered cortisol release in amounts and timing, it is gonna affect your sleep.
It that in turn affects your blood sugar levels. That in [00:06:00] turn, can affect your blood pressure. It can affect your mood, your heart rate variability. All these different things and then. We talk about neurotransmitter production. Well, we know, and I've spoken many times that that 80 to 90% of our serotonin is made in the gut.
And the, the gut, the good gut biome, really produces some other neuro modulating neurotransmitters like gaba and precursors to dopamine. And really those, those fatty acids. That, that really help with neurologic support neuron protection. And so dysbiosis when it is present, it is typically gonna decrease the amount of serotonin produced as well as gaba, which can then lead to symptoms of depression and anxiety, altered dopamine response, and then fatigue and, and loss of mo motivation as well.
A healthy gut biome also helps to give us things that that [00:07:00] really nourish our enterocytes, things that, that will cross the, the blood-brain barrier. Things like brain derived, neurotrophic factor or, butyrate. And so when we have low levels of these, because our short chain fatty acids are low that butyrate and the the BDNF don't get produced in appropriate levels that really help us be able to create new memories, new thoughts allow us to have that neuroplasticity or that ability to.
To grow and change. And so when we see this, this this type of, of gut dysbiosis and or depressed microbiome, we're, we're gonna get these things as well. . In addition, the big thing overall is just going to be inflammation. Inflammation really causes lots and lots of problems, not just if it's in the gut, [00:08:00] but when you have the leaky gut, it allows those lipopolysaccharides and those other inflammatory cytokines to.
Potentiate across into the brain more readily which then creates irritation of the brain. Which again as we know, any, anytime there's inflammation you're gonna have issues. So in recent years, really where even a lot of mental health experts ha have started turning is really looking at the gut, really focusing on, hey.
How can we promote better gut health? Is gut is better? Gut health really helping my clients, I, I, is it really just all in their head or is it a combination? So many studies recently, especially in the mental health space, have really started looking at diet and gut health and how that really helps correlate.
With mental health, and there have been numerous, numerous studies [00:09:00] that really point out time and again that there is, there's this clear connection between a good gut biome, a healthy gut, and a healthy brain. Well, we've also seen in things like ADHD. Even with seizures, that different diets can also promote less symptoms of, and or behaviors expressed with A DHD as well as less seizure.
And when we look at this, the commonality of it all is a low inflammatory diet, a low inflammatory diet that helps promote a good gut biome. In addition, that gut biome then allows you to fight off any potential for infection or any infections that are currently present with overgrowth of bacteria.
So the most common bacteria that I see that are overgrown are gonna be h pylori, staph and Strep. Then [00:10:00] we start moving down the list, and it could be enterobacter, could be pseudomonas, could be Morgan Ella. Just really depends on the individual. But then we'll also see some parasites, things like blastocystis and then we'll also see occasionally c diff overgrowth a as well.
So when you have a depressed gut biome, it allows for the possibility of all these things to, to overgrow. So the thing that I want you to think about with this is. It isn't just a gut brain axis, it's a brain gut axis, so it also works in reverse. So when we choose to think positively, we decrease inflammation.
We decrease the environment that is allowing for these overgrowth infections. When we practice gratitude, we are going to see benefits within our gut biome. Now, [00:11:00] studies are coming with this now where we know that, that this may sense is. As we choose gratitude, as we choose resilience, we have seen that those that are considered highly resilient.
There was a recent study out outta U-U-C-L-A. It was a cohort study in which they defined resilient individuals as good emotional regulation. They, they. Are less likely to go to the worst case scenario. And they looked at their gut biomes and they saw that there was lower inflammation, that they had less incidents of leaky gut.
So a stronger gut barrier there. And so we know that as you create resilience, one of the hallmarks is to have a positive mental outlook, a mental outlook that says that you can get through a situation that you're faced with. People with low resilience go the other [00:12:00] extreme. They, they look at everything as going to be a catastrophe.
Failure and were not going to succeed. They also looked at individuals that had been in mindfulness or, or, or cognitive based therapy. Not, not just strictly gratitude per se but they looked at it with, with patients that had high anxiety and. After they then treated them with this cognitive behavioral type therapy, they measured their gut biome pre and post, and it showed that their gut biome.
Improved without any further intervention. Just purely how they were given new things, new strategies, new ways to cope and to think about their life and the situations that they're, that they're faced with. So. When we are able to work on [00:13:00] both, that's where we're gonna see the benefit. Because if you really look at the gut brain axis, these people were going for mental health.
So the idea is that if you're already going for mental health, you're already taking steps. In that direction to repair. So if you're someone that has had maybe difficulty with anxiety, with depression and, and things like this all your life it, it could be partly due to your gut. And the, the reverse can be true as well.
Just because you have a gut that isn't severely affected, that doesn't mean that your mind is going to be right. So we are still called to take those thoughts captive, to really make sure that we think about what we're thinking about. And so. With this new research, things [00:14:00] that you can do to help yourself.
Number one, you want to eat a, a clean diet. So start there. So, what is a clean diet? It means eating real food. It means eating things that have come off a tree directly out of the ground or out of a field or, or out of a body of water. So. Those are the things that, that we want to consume. Not, not something that comes prepackaged or anything like that.
So really again, what we're talking about is Whole Foods a diet that's rich in Whole Foods. Now, one person may do better on a closer to plant-based aspect. Somebody else may do much better toward a keto type aspect, but. It really goes to say that the number one thing that you need to do is you need to eat real food.
That's number one. Number two is we know that you want to make sure that you get those things that help support [00:15:00] the gut biome. So things like, like prebiotics, you want to eat a lot of good green leafy vegetables. You wanna look at fermented vegetables if you will. If you don't like sauerkraut you can even.
Look in the, in the store that has you know, little jars of, of fermented vegetables in there. And do those obviously you can go the the other route and get yourself on a, on a really good probiotic and really look at getting something that has 15 billion, at least any forming units primarily.
Filled with strains of lactobacillus and bifidobacterium because those are really going to be what helps to lift up that gut biome, which is then going to help you fight infections. Now, if you're doing all that, if you're really looking at your sleep, if you're, if you're really looking at the stress in your life and you aren't seeing benefit really practicing that gratitude, really making [00:16:00] it a, a rhythm that becomes a habit that you.
Are then changing that neurochemistry, you are changing that neurotransmitter cascade because we do know that when you really choose to focus on gratitude, it really helps yield higher and higher levels in a more balanced level of the dopamine, the serotonin, the oxytocin, the binding. Hormones, those endorphins and even the gaba that I mentioned.
And so when we are able to, to shift our thinking along with our eating and, and how we're choosing to go about our day, you will see that gut biome improve. You will see those thoughts improve. And so. It is a, a as all things are with us, it's complicated and it does take work. There is not a single thing that you can do [00:17:00] that will help this.
It's multifactorial. It's, it's learning to live a balanced life and what those individual things are. That really seem to help push you more towards that. I just mentioned the dietary differences. But for one person, what is restful and rejuvenating is not the same to somebody else. One person is gonna need six hours of sleep, another person's gonna need nine or 10 or 11.
And so it just really depends on where you are. So ~number one thing is~ give yourself grace when you're looking at this. ~Number two is.~ Expect to go slow and, and when I say so slow, if you implement these changes that I'm suggesting within 60 days, you can see a significant benefit within the gut biome, biodiversity as well as decreased levels of inflammation as, as well.
Which in turn will help to clear that brain fog the, the symptoms [00:18:00] of depression and or anxiety. And it, it can be long lasting as long as you are able to make this a lifestyle. And not a diet or a just a pill that you take. It really does have to be a lifestyle transformation in this regard. Now, if you're one of these individuals that has, has done these things, you've really started practicing gratitude.
You've gotten your sleep in order, you are eating good whole. Foods and you're still not seeing that improvement, then that's where really, you know, looking at doing some significant testing, testing the gut testing for other potential infections that could be going on, is going to be really important.
And so you want to take a comprehensive look at the gut. You wanna look at the at the gut biome, not just for infection. You want to look for, how the immune system of the gut and [00:19:00] how your liver, gallbladder, and pancreas are secreting those digestive enzymes. How well is it working in the gut?
And so that will be an important factor to help you in this journey as well. So, it's not a you know, gut brain axis and it's not a brain gut axis. The two are, inextricably linked together, and you really have to focus on both to be able to get the results that, that you're wanting to, to really alleve those symptoms of anxiety and depression.
And or those, those gut issues that when you feel stress, you feel abdominal pain more. And in this way, if you are able to really focus in. On how you're choosing to, to go about your day, from the time you wait to the time you go to bed and then what you're putting into your body. You'll find that those symptoms really [00:20:00] well will decrease and, and lift.
So I, I hope this has been beneficial. I hope that you guys have a, a great week, and if there's. Any particular topics that you would like us to cover? You can always email us at [email protected]. Thanks and God bless.
That's it for this episode of The Living Life. Well show if you like what you've heard and want to learn more or want to know how to put this into practice for yourself, go to live life well clinic.com. Until next time, this is Dr. Jon Skelton saying Go. And live the truth so you can live life Well, the preceding is for entertainment and educational purposes only.
It is not meant to be used to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure any condition. The information contained in this show does not substitute the need for a qualified medical professional, nor is it meant to [00:21:00] provide medical advice for services. If you feel information presented in this show may apply to you, we recommend you seek out the help of a qualified medical professional who can evaluate and treat your specific concerns.
