SARAH DI LORENZO:  Gut feelings? These belly boosts will help with your anxiety, stress and happiness

It is called the gut-brain axis, a communication system that goes between the brain and the enteric nervous system in the lining of the gastrointestinal tract.

This communication system means our gut certainly can influence our mental state.

The link between anxiety and gut health is very real and the research just keeps growing, it’s really fascinating.

The gut’s incredible microbiome is home to trillions of bacteria that have a huge impact on our wellbeing.

With 70 per cent of our immune system located there, any gut inflammation will impact our mood as it sends a message to the brain via the vagus nerve.

The hormones serotonin and dopamine are also known as neurotransmitters. Serotonin affects mood, mental health, anxiety levels and sleep, while dopamine is linked to reward, motivation and pleasure.

Ninety per cent of our body’s serotonin is produced in our gut, with the levels influencing the brain to produce dopamine.

Therefore if gut health is impacted, so are our levels of serotonin and dopamine, which are key to our mental health.

When it comes to just anxiety and gut health, where there is an imbalance in the microbiome also known as dysbiosis, then there is an increased risk of ‘leaky gut’ syndrome.

This means the gut barrier is inflamed when particles from the gut can enter the blood stream, leading to anxious and depressed feelings.

Many people who have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) complain of anxiety.

IBS can be a mix of constipation, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, discomfort and flatulence.

When it is untreated it is linked to higher anxiety.

Stress itself (and I am talking about both acute and chronic stress) it is a major driver of anxiety. It affects how the gut functions.

Everyone is different when it comes to stress but it can cause constipation, slow digestion, constant diarrhoea, cramps and an alteration in the gut microbiome.

Some bacteria were linked to wellbeing and a reduction in stress, influencing the gut-brain axis affecting neurotransmitters and stress.

Supplementing with these bacteria — Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus — has been shown to reduce anxiety and stress.

There is some research on specific strains like Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 and Bifidobacterium longum R0175 that have specifically shown to have a positive effect.

Taking these as probiotics can affect the gut-brain axis by influencing immunity, cortisol and the production of neurotransmitters.

Psychobiotics are both probiotics and prebiotics that influence the gut-brain axis and have a positive impact on our mental health including anxiety.

They interact with our gut microbiota, manipulating it to improve our mental health.

Psychobiotics can also regulate inflammation which is linked to mental health disorders.

Some of the best things you can do to reduce anxiety is to support your gut.

Making dietary changes is the first place to start by removing everything sugary, refined, artificial and processed and eating more fermented foods like sauerkraut, pictured below, and yogurt.

Plus start to enjoy lots of fibre in your diet with whole grains and vegetables.

Take a daily probiotic, but look for a good quality one, specifically with the strains Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus.

Manage stress well by exercising daily or meditation and focus on good quality sleep.

Keep yourself hydrated with 30ml per kilogram of your own body weight in water daily and ideally avoid or minimise alcohol.

Our gut health is very closely connected to anxiety, they go back and forth impacting each other.

Make sure when you are addressing this you are looking at yourself comprehensively with dietary changes, lifestyle with a holistic approach.

Many people I see with anxiety who start to treat their gut can really experience positive changes in their mood, quality of life, energy and anxiety.