Gut Bacteria and Anxiety

-

We always say “I had a gut feeling,” but does our gut really feel about something? Gut and feel? Weird right? To our surprise, it doesn’t only feel but takes care of our health too. 


The gut, often referred to as the second brain, is known to be connected to our brain through the gut-brain axis. Additionally, research also shows that this connection is influenced by gut microbiota (the microorganisms that reside along our gut, which are responsible for various functions namely, nutrition, drug metabolism, and protection from pathogens). 

 


Illustrated by Drishya Unnithan

Scientists have linked the influence of gut bacteria not only to our immunity but also to our mental health. Being anxious is a common term used nowadays, and this is characterized as an experience that is the body's response to stress, also termed the “psychological equivalent of physical pain.” A common form of anxiety called “situational anxiety” is often experienced in situations like job interviews, before exams, before results, etc. 


There have been studies on human and animal models to prove the bidirectional relationship between gut microbiota and neurological behavior. It has been seen that the use of probiotics (a mixture of live microorganisms, e.g. in yogurt) are beneficial for anxiety-related symptoms further proving how gut bacteria can be helpful in various anxiety-related treatments.

Hence, it's important to keep the gut microbiota healthy.


So, get enough sleep and eat healthy food,

For the good bacteria inside you!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mystery of memory

-
Image
Do you ever wonder why you remember certain things very clearly, some very faintly, and some things not at all? Some childhood or past experiences just stick with us whereas others just don’t bother to stay in our brains for long.  Illustrated by Drishya Unnithan In simple terms, anything to be stored in our brain as memory has to pass via “memory compartments” for the brain to judge if it is even important to keep for a long time or not. This judgment is mostly based on how important or effective the thing is or how it affected us, though many other reasons remain unknown. Memory is broadly classified as short-term and long-term. However, many more subtypes are known depending on the experience and category the memory belongs to. For example, things that you remember about yourself are referred to as “autobiographical memory, ” and “working memory”  comes into action when you are listening to a thriller story while trying to figure out who the killer is.  Illustrated by ...
Read more

Insomnia

-
Sleeping is a vital activity to keep our mental and physical being healthy. Not getting adequate sleep can lead to many chronic diseases, one of them characterized as insomnia. Although “insomnia” is a commonly used word, it’s clinically diagnosed using polysomnography, which is a series of tests to understand different parameters of sleep. It is a gold standard for diagnosing sleep-related disorders. Insomnia is identified with hyperarousal symptoms i.e., irritability, risky or destructive behavior, elevated flight-or-fight response, and difficulty concentrating and sleeping. They are often divided into day and night-time symptoms. Studies have shown that personality traits like being self-critical, and suppressing emotions – basically unhealthy emotion regulation – along with neurobiological and genetic dysfunction are considered predisposing factors of insomnia. Mostly, stressful life events along with predisposing factors can lead to insomnia. Majorly, most of us get acute insomnia...
Read more

Science vs Pseudoscience

-
Image
Remember those days, when the first question in the exam was,  “What is Science?” And we would just think and think, and write the definition we learned by rote. Most of us probably don’t even remember that definition now, but if someone asked you today what is science? Can you define it?  The term that is so commonly used but yet a bit tricky to explain, right? In simple terms, anything that you observe and can be proved by experiments becomes science. But the problem with this definition is the question: “so what you can’t observe or prove is not science then?” Because science does not have these clear defined limits, it creates a loophole, which gives rise to concepts like pseudoscience.  Illustrated by Drishya Unnithan Pseudoscience comprises beliefs, notions, practices that occur in the world in the name of science without actually being fact or evidence based. For example, a very popular trend that is coming up where anyone claims to have produced a “Covid-19 treati...
Read more