I I was two weeks into my journey to improve my overall health through meditation when my roommate texted me to say she saw me at my window, and I was fine. the one who “died a little”. These are not the Gwyneth Paltrow vibes I was expecting. But I had headphones, I told him. People can die with headphones in, he said.
In other words, I was quiet for a long time. In light of the amazing new research on how to think about good gut health – which is a predictor for good health outcomes – I’m trying to shed some light on the mind and the gut.
The most recent study, carried out by the Shanghai Mental Health Center and published by the British Medical Association, saw researchers collect tissue and blood samples from Tibetan monks who practiced a form of meditation. old – and worked between three and 30 years – and It was found that comparing with non-meditators their “intestinal microbiota composition” was related to a better metabolism, immunity function and decreased risk of anxiety and depression. In 2022, a Massachusetts study showed that people with a diagnosis of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) or IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) who enrolled in a course of meditation and yoga showed as well as a reduction in symptoms.
The human gut contains trillions of microorganisms: bacteria, fungi, archaea cells (similar to bacteria) – and harmful ones like viruses. The best thing is to have a balanced and healthy microbiome to keep things healthy. Its makeup is a combination of heredity and environment, meaning that there is a genetic component, but the environment also plays a role in shaping the microbiome.
The stomach, it is said, is the second brain. Or, more accurately, the enteric nervous system that regulates the gut is the second brain. It’s no news that the gut-brain axis is a thing: the phrase “my stomach dropped” when shaken or worried for some reason; people vomit when they are afraid. But the massive expansion of our digestive system by scientists, doctors, major pharmaceuticals and health advocates suggests that the gut is gone.
Lucie Hayter founded The Gut Feeling, a team of psychologists, neuroscientists and nutritionists, to help others achieve optimal balance through their health. He told me that “our brain and our heart talk to each other during the day. When our stomach is burning it sends signals to the brain; and when we are sad and anxious our brain sends it back to symptoms in the stomach. This leads to the development or worsening of bloating, constipation, diarrhea or stomach pain.
I have an interest in this topic, although, a few years ago, in the scenes I can explain the nature of the tension, I started to play. An unusual disease that leads to long-term symptoms. Understand the months of research trials for diseases with fun names like Helicobacter pylori; ultrasounds; an MRI; a CT scan; a colonoscopy (2/10, not recommended); skin tests (sweep my skin in a small container and then keep it overnight in my fridge, it goes without saying); breath test.
I learned about probiotics, then prebiotics. I have bought expensive juices and supplements from mail order companies. I mix a lot of powders and mix a lot of spices I’m Walter White. Then it changed, thanks to damaged nerves and muscles, I developed something called SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth); the “body bacteria” were running wild – my microbiome was not healthy. For me, the cure came with waiting for my stomach to heal.
Alexa Duff is a psychologist with a focus on the gut-brain axis. He tells me that “health is much broader than what you eat: sleep, work-life balance, exercise, nature, and time with loved ones. These are very important first step.” Duff suggested that I start with a simple mental request, the market for the main thing. (Gut Feeling has developed a program that offers a specific program, but there is currently a waiting list.) I looked at one of the most popular ones, Headspace, but I realized that I would forget to finish it. annual fee of £50 if I must decide. not to continue after the free trial, and seeing its easy user, I plump for something simple. I decided on the Mindfulness App because it is suitable for people over four.
The app asks me what I want to improve. There are options I can think of: lose weight, improve focus; but there is also “increasing love”, which is interesting. I allow the app to send me notifications at the scheduled time each day to remind me to complete a four-minute meeting. I choose noon. I put my phone in airplane mode, so as not to be disturbed with WhatsApp messages or catch other WhatsApp messages.
I was taught to live in a “respectful position”. I was trying not to think about the day before as I searched around the floor of a cafe for a reason to charge my laptop. On the one hand, breathing exercises show that, thanks to a deviated septum, the nostrils are very closed, but there is no doubt that watching the rise and fall of my chest makes me more happy.
I decided that I would measure the impact on my physical health by how hard I felt. I remember, with some trepidation, when I was sick, I looked as if I had a baseball bat under my shirt; I’m making poos like Maltesers (sorry); i’m late 24/7. After a week of using the Mindfulness App, I did as Hayter and Duff said and “checked in”.
I’m breaking it down, like a Bristol sketchbook, according to a hierarchy of style, shape and color. I remember Duff talking about the importance of getting outside in nature – the benefits of green and blue spaces are numerous and evidence-based – so I went to the walking I raise dogs. I’m trying to “prioritize sleep”, which I’ve been trying to do regardless, opting for decaf for a while now (although caffeine is actually thought to have a positive effect on the stomach, not least because it stimulates its movement).
Now I’ve developed a relationship with the narrator of the app, while describing my breath as my “friend”. Sometimes he has a dry mouth. My stomach continues to play tricks on itself, even when I eat a whole bag of KitKats for dinner, thinking I may have downplayed the whole project. But the next day, the app tells me I’m doing great, and I’m thinking that Kris Jenner meme: “You’re doing amazing, honey!” An option comes to share my progress on various social media, which I decline.
Soon after, the app blocks my participation in further exercises until I pay for its premium tier. Stymied, I clicked on a 10-question stress test. “How many times have you been upset about something unexpected?” the app is asking after blocking my progress in the name of making money. I choose “very often”, and shake my head. I continue to do the work I have. I recently read the 2015 bestseller by German author Giulia Enders, Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ.
During the last week of my experiment, I swallowed my tooth or, technically, half a veneer. I don’t know how this relates to the Bristol stool chart. I wonder about the bacteria in my stomach evaluating this porcelain interloper. I imagine the veneer being washed away with acid, floating like flotsam in the sea. I’m going to the emergency dentist and paying a lot of money for a temporary fix that threatens to undo every single one of the mental improvements I’ve made. Then I go home and watch ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) videos on YouTube, where relaxing sounds are played that relate to cutting hair or painting. The sound of cuts; the gentle patter of a paintbrush on a canvas.
In fact, these videos and walks in the park, cold showers (sorry for the cliche) I think will completely change the way I feel “within myself”. They are my preferred mental options. Alexa Duff told me that many people benefit from “Nerva gut-directed hypnotherapy” and, for diseases like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis (where parts of the digestive system are inflamed), he works long term with people in a rehabilitation setting.
There are many exercises and diets that have been proven to help with gastrointestinal problems, from the low-FODMAP diet (which cuts out certain foods, especially fructose, lactose and monosaccharides ) to vigorous procedures such as changing faecals, but it suits me. mind and body are united. After a month of daily meditation, I can’t say I’ve seen a huge improvement in gut health, but I haven’t had any moments where I’ve felt squiffy or leady. – and it had a great effect on my mood. . If, as Hyter says, our hearts and brains are always talking to each other, it is indeed a valid conversation.