Gut Health, the Vagus Nerve - and Why They Matter for Leaders
Gut and Brain Health is an incredibly complex subject. And yet understanding the connection between gut and brain health, and its impact on how we function as leaders, is critical.
Looking after our Gut Health improves how we handle stress, and can affect our weight, broader health issues and the functioning of our immune system, too. As leaders, it’s essential to our wellbeing that we understand this important part of our physiology.
How The Gut And Brain Are Linked
Communication between the gut and the brain is controlled by the immune system, the endocrine (hormone) system and the central nervous system (CNS), all of which are under the influence of gut bacteria.
The brain and gut have a bidirectional relationship. Think of butterflies in your stomach when your brain perceives a threat, or even excitement.
And stress in the gut can be directed up to the brain via the vagus nerve (VN), derived from the Latin term ‘vagus’ meaning wandering. The VN is also involved with controlling heart rate and digestion and plays a major role in managing the inflammatory response system in the body.
Gut bacteria influence three primary areas that impact brain function:
How food is digested and thus how available it is for absorption and utilization.
Which, and how effectively, vitamins and neurotransmitters are synthesized. For example, 80%+ of serotonin (peripheral) is synthesized in the gut.
How permeable the gut/blood stream interface is which impacts gut health overall, including digestion, absorption, inflammation and immunity.
How Stress Undermines A Healthy Gut
When the brain is triggered into believing that our survival is at stake, it triggers the release of hormones that tell the body to be prepared to run, hide or fight.
Cortisol is released, which leads to the release of glucose with which to address the stressor. The body goes on the defence and an immune response is triggered.
In addition, chronic cortisol release causes the tight junctions between intestinal cells to become compromised so they can’t do their job effectively.
This allows the pathogenic substances it was designed to prevent from entering the bloodstream, to enter.
Furthermore, stress impacts sleep because cortisol is intimately linked to circadian rhythm and gut bacteria. And sleep challenges impact gut bacteria in ways not yet fully understood.
So, What To Do?
Step 1, focus on adding delicious fibre filled foods to your diet versus removing processed ones.
Step 2, aim to purchase organic or pesticide free fresh produce as much as possible and work on ways to reduce the use of OTC medication.
Step 3, find ways to lessen your stress burden, which will increase the quality of your sleep directly, and also the health of your gut indirectly via a reduction in stress hormone production.
The intricate and intimate link between the gut and the brain is fascinating and there’s still a vast amount we don't know about this relationship. What we do know, is that it doesn't take very long for the gut to respond to these strategies. And the benefit to our wellbeing as leaders, and the ripple effect this has on those around us, is plentiful.
This article is based on a blog post by our guest expert this week, Dr Delia McCabe. Delia is a powerful spokeswoman for enhancing mental well-being via targeted life-style shifts, including brain nutrition, using the latest evidence from the field of nutritional neuroscience.
Using her psychology background, combined with her neurological and nutritional knowledge, Delia provides a unique perspective to improve cognitive function, focus, concentration, learning capacity, shift mood, enhance our ability to become stress resilient and create new habits with ease.
Watch a live Human Leaders expert session replay with Dr Delia McCabe as she deep dives into stress, nutrition and neuroscience.
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