Surprising Tips for Digestive Health: Heal Your Brain / Heal Your Gut

You’ve been hearing again and again, that the health of your gut is important. Maybe even the most important piece of your health puzzle!

And it’s true. Gut health is crucial to overall health.

Following is a Whole New Mom‘s discussion on a rarely discussed but SUPER important aspect of your health!

In short – digestion affects your brain.

But did you know that your brain affects your digestion?

It’s true.

Datis Kharrazian is one of the world’s foremost experts in adrenal health and digestion health and he says that poor digestion is actually one of the earliest signs of a poorly functioning brain.

How can this be?

Well, our brains control everything, right? From breathing to reflexes to voluntary and involuntary movements. As such, the brain also controls the digestive system by activating the autonomic functions.

If your brain isn’t working right then it can throw your digestion off. It just makes common sense, but here’s how it works.

It is impossible for a person to become healthy mentally or physiologically without a healthy brain.” – Datis Kharrazian, DC, M.S

The direct connection between the brain and the digestive system is the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is large and stretches from the brainstem to all the major organs in the body including the digestive tract. If the connection isn’t working properly, or there isn’t enough stimulation, then other organs and systems are affected-including your digestive system.

Peristalsis might not work properly (that is the muscular movement that moves food through your digestive system)

You might not release enough enzymes, or in the correct proportions

Not enough stomach acid (HCl) might be released

You might experience:

• bloating
• reflux
• constipation
• diarrhea
• gallstones
• indigestion
• and more

So many of our bodily functions operate on the “use it or lose it” principle. If you neglect physical exercise, your muscles atrophy. Stop using your brain and your thought processes become less sharp. Women do kegels and other exercises to maintain pelvic floor health, and your abdominal muscles can atrophy, giving you a “mummy tummy” if you don’t exercise them properly.

Similarly, if you don’t reinforce the Gut Brain Axis, your digestion can suffer.

3 Ways to Improve Digestion By Stimulating Your Gut Brain Axis

1. Gargling

Try gargling water for 3-4 seconds at first. Ultimately, you want to work up to gargling for several minutes. If you start tearing, you basically are doing it right.

Typically this will be quite difficult for those with a weak gut brain axis to accomplish at first.

2. Gag Reflex

But a box of tongue depressors like these and use them to activate your gag reflex, of course, being careful not to put the depressor back too far in your throat.

Again, if your eyes start to tear up, you are firing the pathway correctly.

3. Sing Out Loud

Whether you have a good voice or not, do sing loudly for good gut health. If you’re a bit tone deaf, then I recommend doing this in private :).

You could sing in the car, the shower, or anywhere you feel you can.

You can hear Dr. Kharazzian talk about the gut brain axis and about these tips in more detail here. He doesn’t talk about the singing tip in this clip, however.

Do you want to learn more about how to love your guts?

There’s lots of discussion about gut health.

• Are you wondering what all the fuss is about?
• How does your gut work?
• How can you improve your digestive function?
• What throws out the balance?
• How do we restore our digestive health?