The importance of gut health for your overall well-being wasn’t publicized so much in the past, but in recent years, scientists and medical professionals have certainly popularized the theory that the gut microbiome can have a significant and crucial impact on your long-term health. And this doesn’t just mean your physical well-being, as nowadays gut health is considered to be the key driver of many psychological processes as well, while some are even going so far as to say that gut health can have an influence on various chronic illnesses, like Parkinson’s or dementia.
While there is still much to be learned about the gut microbiome and its various effects, one thing is for certain – it is crucial for your overall health and well-being. That’s why today we’ll be taking a look at the five key reasons why you need to take care of your gut microbiome in order to elevate your long-term health.
Controlling and Boosting Your Immune System
There has been a lot of talk about boosting your immune system naturally during the coronavirus crisis, as many people are trying to avoid the severe consequences of getting infected with the virus by elevating their overall health and focusing on their immune system. Now, when we talk about the immune system, it’s important to note that there is no one primary organ that dictates how your body will react to pathogens, bacteria, viruses, and the like. Instead, your immune system is comprised of numerous organs and processes, including your gut and the healthy bacteria that reside within.
A big part of how your gut helps keep your immune system in check is through the development of healthy bacteria, which can absorb healthy nutrients more easily and thus support other healthy processes in the body. This helps your immune system develop the right antibodies, battle inflammation, and reroute the white blood cells to the affected areas to fight the disease.
Balancing Your Hormones
Chemical processes in our brains dictate pretty much everything from the way we feel throughout the day to the level of energy we have to work out, stay productive at work, or simply lead a healthy lifestyle. As you might have guessed, if you don’t support the secretion of healthy hormones like dopamine and serotonin and are instead under constant stress that produces cortisol, you are going to start feeling fatigued and your physical condition will deteriorate.
This is why keeping your hormones in check is paramount, and one of the best ways to do that is to eat healthy foods and adhere to healthy lifestyle habits that will boost the microbiome in your gut. On the other hand, your gut is also pretty good at auto-regulating, but not if you’re constantly underfeeding it or if you’re eating unhealthy foods. Be sure to stick to a rich and diverse diet in order to get all the nutrients you need to balance your hormones.
Battling Menopausal Disorders
During menopause, your body can go through many changes over a significant time period, typically lasting several years. During this transition, you can expect to experience many unknowns such as mood swings, loss of sexual desire, enhanced stress and anxiety, hot flashes and night sweats, and even sudden weight gain.
While there are many ways you can battle menopausal disorders, eliminating unwanted menopause weight gain and other issues are best done through proper nutrition and natural supplements that focus on growing and nurturing the microbiome in your gut. By consuming probiotics from supplements and foods, you can stay in control of your physical and psychological health when you step into this new chapter of your life.
Managing Your Emotional and Psychological Health
We live in a hectic world nowadays, and it’s safe to say that stress, anxiety, and even depression have become commonplace at work and at home. Now, there are many reasons why you’re feeling stressed, and while you should be focusing on eliminating the triggers, you should also focus on dealing with the symptoms. Given the fact that your gut microbiome transmits information to your brand and directly influences the secretion of certain hormones, it is imperative that you emphasize gut health in order to ward off the blues and minimize the chance of developing serious illnesses the likes of depression.
Minimizing Unwanted Weight Gain
Last but not least, unwanted weight gain can happen no matter the stage you’re at in your life’s journey, menopause being just one of the several crucial junctions. This is because studies have found that the microbiome in the gut can inhibit weight loss, and even support unhealthy processes that lead to weight gain and obesity.
To counteract this problem, you have to eat healthy on a daily basis, and run an annual checkup to analyze your gut microbiome and identify the bacteria that might be causing the problem. Once you have that information, you can combine conventional treatment with healthy lifestyle habits to minimize unwanted weight gain and bring the bacteria back into balance.
Wrapping Up
Achieving lifelong health is not just about the microbiome in your gut, but it’s definitely a big part of it. Now that you know the role it plays in your health, be sure to focus on boosting your gut health in order to build lifelong well-being and happiness.
Read More:
9 natural ways to balance your hormones
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Countering hormonal imbalance in women
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