What do probiotics have to do with a broken heart? Actually, a lot! We already know that probiotics support our immune and digestive health, but did you know that they can improve your mental health as well?
Probiotics are live bacteria and active yeast that can be found in our bodies as well as our food. People in developed countries don’t have as diverse gut bacteria, or microbiome, as we should. We have an obsession with cleanliness and often times consume antibiotics in our milk, meat, and even organic vegetables, which can absorb antibiotics if the soil is treated with manure from cows that were given antibiotics. The good bacteria help our immune system to decide what is good and what is bad for us. The more we kill the good bacteria in our bodies, the more susceptible we are to all sorts of health conditions, including depression and anxiety.
Thankfully, there are some really awesome probiotic supplements we can take, like Seed Daily Synbiotics, and food we can eat to improve our gut health. Some sources of probiotics include yogurt, kimchi, kombucha, sourdough, and sauerkraut.
Probiotics decrease negative thoughts and feelings.
The gut and the brain communicate with each other. The brain sends hormones and enzymes down to the gut to help with digestion and the probiotics in there thank it by producing neurotransmitters and sending them upwards to aid in mental health. When multistrain probiotics were taken every day for four weeks, researchers found less tendency for rumination, which heartbroken people are prone to. They make the parts of our brain that process negative emotions less active. Probiotics are being used to help people with depression and anxiety, but they are even more beneficial for people without a clinically diagnosed mood disorder.
Probiotics change our behavior!
So now we know that the gut and the brain communicate, and it would naturally make sense that as our mental health improves, our behaviors change. It’s been proven that probiotics change the behavior of mice. When researchers gave fearless mice the microbiome of more anxious mice, they became more timid, and vice versa. Researchers even found that healthy people and depressed people have different strains of bacteria in their guts.
While consuming tiny micro-organisms might not seem super appetizing, just know that if you stick with a daily intake of probiotics for at least a few weeks, your mending heart will thank you for the tiny bit of relief. You will ruminate less, be more active, and see an improvement in mood and behavior. Just make sure you’re getting various strains of bacteria, as the key to a healthy and happy gut is a diverse microbiome.
