Get Control of Your Happy Hormone!

Have you ever heard of the terms 'gut brain', 'second brain' and 'gut health'? What do they actually mean?

Your gut encompasses every organ required for digeson from your mouth through to your intesnes. Within the walls of your digesve system is a meshwork of nerve fibres which is called the enteric nervous system, this is 'your second brain'.

The main role of the digesve system is controlling digeson, swallowing, releasing of enzymes which break down food, absorpon of nutrients and eliminaon of waste produces. Your gut, however, plays a much bigger role in your overall health being the home to 70% of your immune system. It also controls your moods, as the gut produces 95% of your “happy hormone” called serotonin.

'Gut health' relies on the delicate balance of 39 trillion bacteria that live in your gut! Some of these bacteria are good and some bad but together they form the delicate microbiome which keeps your body running smoothly. Somemes the bacterial balance may be thrown off balance by an increase of bad bacteria, this can be due to many different environmental factors or lifestyle choices.

So how can you look aer your 'gut health'? Generally, a well-balanced lifestyle will result in a well balance microbiome. Good nutrion, staying well hydrated, taking regular exercise, good sleep quality and stress management, research has shown can help maintain and improve your gut health.

But more specifically a diet consisng of both prebioc's, which help to promote the growth of bacteria in the gut and pro-biocs which themselves contain bacteria will help to maintain the balance of bacteria in the gut.

Prebiocs are found in high fibre foods, vegetables, fruit, beans, and legumes. Probiocs are found in fermented foods including yoghurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha and tempeh.

Your digesve system contains muscles which smulate digeson, so when you move, this smulates the muscles in your digesve system helping to support your gut funcon. Just thirty minutes of moderate exercise three mes a week has been shown to be enough to improve overall 'gut health.'

The Amber Health Team