Trust your gut!
2020 has certainly been quite a year. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t felt stressed by global events over the past year. Whether it’s due to work, finances, family, health or other causes, stress has had a significant impact on our lives. Stress management is important for our overall health and can involve many things: doing yoga and meditation, getting enough sleep, eating healthy, exercising, turning off the TV and social media or taking probiotics designed to help moderate feelings of anxiety.
Stress has been recognized as a causal factor in as many as 90% of illnesses, including cancer and heart disease. It does this by triggering chemical reactions and flooding the body with cortisol, which, among other things, decreases inflammation (cortisol works to reduce inflammation in the body, which is good, but over time also suppresses the immune system). Cortisol also decreases white blood cells and NK cells (special cancer-killing cells), increases tumor development and growth, and increases the rate of infection and tissue damage.1
Prolonged or chronic stress also leads to a drop in serotonin, the feel-good hormone that contributes to well-being and happiness. This is where good gut health can help, since 90% of the body’s serotonin is actually made in the digestive tract. Your gut is home to the enteric nervous system, which contains 100 million nerve cells lining the gastrointestinal tract that communicate with your brain. Altered levels of peripheral serotonin have been linked to conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis. Research conducted at Caltech, published in 2015, demonstrates that certain bacteria in the gut are essential for the production of peripheral serotonin.2
For most people, one of the first signs of stress is gastrointestinal discomfort, including abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and loose stools. Renew Life® Ultimate Flora Probiotic Plus Mood & Stress is formulated not only to promote good digestive health, but it contains two clinically studied probiotic strains, Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 and Bifidobacterium longum R0175, to help moderate feelings of anxiety and reduce GI discomfort associated with mild to moderate stress from life events. It also includes four other beneficial strains to provide 30 billion active cultures in a convenient once-daily dose, so there is no need to take another probiotic supplement.
According to Dr. Andrew Goliszek, Ph.D., “Mind over matter is not simply a slogan. It’s a truth based on what we know to be fact: the brain, with the right set of directions, the right environment and the right stimuli, will always choose healing over illness.” So, do yourself a favour and turn off the TV and social media that are full of fear and negativity. Try calming activities, including meditation, yoga, deep breathing, knitting or crocheting, a walk, hugging a tree, a funny movie, reading a good book and other activities to help you reduce your stress – your body will thank you for it.