The benefits of a healthy balanced diet on physical health are well documented, but have you ever wondered if diet affects your mental health as well?
Back in the 1900s, this wild concept of the brain being connected to the gut arose. Now you are probably thinking, “What? No way!” But, this is actually true, and it has been proven that our gut and brain are interconnected and actually have considerable influence over one another. Because of this interconnection, the gut is now being considered the second brain! That is right, the second brain.
The reasoning behind why the gut is being considered the second brain is because gut bacteria both produce and respond to the same neurochemicals - GABA, serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, acetylcholine, and melatonin - that the brain uses to regulate basic physiological processes as well as mental processes such as learning, memory, and mood. If that does not already blow your mind, hang on because I have an additional fun fact for you. The gut produces about 95 percent of the body’s supply of serotonin and 50 percent of the body’s supply of dopamine. Dopamine is responsible for allowing you to feel pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation, while Serotonin is responsible for regulating mood, sleep, and digestion.
Okay…hold on. Just because the gut produces and responds to the same neurochemicals that the brain does, how does that impact mental health? Well, that is because the gut-brain connection is what we call bidirectional, meaning that the brain affects the gut, and the gut affects the brain. Therefore, if we are feeling any kind of emotional distress, this can actually send a signal to the gut that triggers the feelings of uneasiness and possibly cause stomach discomfort, which also means that when our guts are unhappy, they can send signals to the brain that might trigger mood changes. If an unhappy gut can send signals to the brain that might trigger mood changes, you are probably wondering what are some things that can make our guts unhappy. Well, one of the big things is stress. That’s right, stress can affect digestion and what nutrients the intestines absorb. Additionally, stress can lead to bloating, inflammation, stomach pains, food sensitivities, and changes to the gut microbiome.
Other things that can upset our guts include poor sleep, lack of physical activity, not nourishing our bodies, and antibiotics. You have probably gotten to this point and been like the title of this post is FOODS impact on mental health, so how exactly does food impact mental health? Great Question. Our body produces something known as oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants in your body… cool but what are those things? Let’s remember chemistry for a second. Free radicals are molecules with an uneven number of electrons. The uneven number allows them to easily react with other molecules – free radicals can cause chemical reactions in your body because they react so easily with other molecules, and these reactions are called oxidation. Antioxidants are substances that inhibit oxidation and remove potentially damaging oxidizing agents.
Remember that thing I said earlier… Oxidative stress is an unbalance in free radicals and antioxidants in the body, so essentially, when the number of free radicals outnumbers antioxidants, it can lead to oxidative stress. Here’s the wild thing about oxidative stress, it may play an important role in the development of various neuropsychiatric disorders. Individuals who consume more whole foods, which are foods that have been processed or refined as little as possible and are free from additives or other artificial substances, tend to have healthier mood states – less tension, anxiety, depression, anger, hostility, and fatigue. The reason this may be is because whole foods are super high in antioxidants and other great things. Taking us back to earlier when we were talking about the gut-brain connection… whole foods are also a great source of nutrients for a happy gut, and if we remember, a happy gut can lead to positive signals being sent to the brain. Therefore, the food we eat has a tremendous impact on our brains.
- Kailyn Helgeson, MA