Can Gut Bacteria Cause Anxiety?

Many people all over the world are suffering and struggling with anxiety and depression. Most people don’t know why they can’t shake the nerves or sadness. It’s a mystery. Hundreds of thousands are on prescription medication to control symptoms. Many people self medicate with things like alcohol, marijuana, or some other substance to temporarily pull them out of the rut. There are also those who go a holistic route, eating healthy, getting adequate rest at night, exercising is famous for relieving anxiety due to the release of endorphins after a hard workout, yoga trains to calm the mind, and then there are various forms of meditation to attempt to soothe the dis-ease. How to handle such an issue is different and personal for everyone. Why is even occurs could be different for each person as well.

Doctors and psychiatrists may say it’s all mental, a chemical imbalance in the brain causing these feelings, which manifest in the physical body. Then you have the religious and spiritual sects who may say the root cause is spiritual and someone suffering from these attacks need a form of deliverance from an entity or they need healing from a past trauma. Some counselors may also say someone needs healing from trauma. There are different therapies to aid in coping. What I don’t hear about much though, is a very simple possibility, which is specific strands of bacteria in the gut.

You’ve probably heard things like, “I had a gut feeling” or “I knew it in my gut”. The gut has been referred to many times as the “second brain”. In addition, it’s becoming more common knowledge that there is a distinct connection between the gut and the brain. The term “you are what you eat” may not be too far off. Everything we put in our bodies has an impact on our physical body and our brain. For instance, as we digest chocolate our brains release serotonin, putting us in a better mood. Sugar, on the other hand is extremely addicting and if we cut it off, we can become very irritable. Similar to caffeine, another thing we digest, release chemicals, and then crash when the chemical are dwindling. We go through withdrawal from simple things like sugar or caffeine.

You may or may not know that there are good and bad bacteria in the gut. The good helps your immune system and your body. The bad comes against the body system. Scientists are coming to find types of bacteria in the gut could also be the cause of anxiety and depression, along with other forms of mental illness. On the other hand, some bacteria can relieve symptoms of anxiety. Specifically, one gut bacteria you could implement into your diet is Lactobacillus Rhamnosus, which has been found through some studies to relieve anxiety and social stress. It was found that adding certain strands of bacteria through implementing probiotics reduced or eliminated the negative symptoms of anxiety and depression.

If you’re struggling with anxiety or depression and looking for alternatives, perhaps in place of medications, don't settle. If you’re interested in learning and understanding, you can look up the term psychobiotic, which is the term referring to bacteria you can put in your gut to produce positive mental health symptoms. You can also look up nutraceuticals, or bioceuticals, which refers to foods and additives you can add to your diet to improve mental and cognitive health.

In addition, here are some things you can find easily. I would recommend researching “gut bacteria and anxiety” and “the second brain”. There are documentaries you can easily find on the gut and the brain connection. There are also probiotics available that are specifically created as anxiety relieving probiotics or mood-boosting probiotics. In this article, I only touched on one strand of an anxiety relieving bacteria, but there are many. There are also multiple strands that have been found to cause anxiety. Be an active participant in healing your body and your brain. Don’t passively let your body happen to you. You happen to your body. Make a good life and a good body happen to you!