Support Your Gut Health For Increased Mental, Physical + Sexual Energy | By Sarah Jane Sandy
We’ve all heard the phrase “You are what you eat,” but it’s really better said, “You are what you absorb” — and that comes down to the health of your gut. Your gut is often referred to as your “second brain” because of its deep connections with the brain and the enteric nervous system that resides in your digestive tract. The good and bad bacteria of your gut can communicate with your brain — via the vagus nerve that connects your gut to your brain stem — and can deeply affect your mood, energy and overall vitality.
Your gut houses 75% of your immune system, helps create 90% of your serotonin and is your first line of defense against bacteria, toxins and inflammation that can negatively affect your health and wellness.
Your Gut Microbiome
Your gut houses trillions of microbes, collectively referred to as the “microbiome.” Your microbiome houses between 300 to 500 different strains of bacteria; some negatively impact your body and some are crucial to maintaining essential physiological operations.
When the balance between the negative and essential bacteria is out of balance — often referred to as leaky gut — your body will communicate this imbalance through various symptoms: upset stomach (gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea and heartburn), unintentional weight fluctuations, disrupted sleep patterns or constant fatigue, skin irritation (eczema, acne and redness), autoimmune conditions and food intolerances.
Mental Health
On a daily basis, a healthy gut microbiome produces about 50% of the dopamine found in your body and up to 90% of the neurotransmitter serotonin. These two neurochemicals are responsible for your mood, happiness levels, pleasure and joy.
The happy bacteria in your gut also influence your appetite to make sure you’re eating things that keep them healthy. The food you consume dictates which microbes live and die and, as a result, the bacteria that survive send signals to your brain telling you to eat the food that they like most.
See the connection? People who take care of their microbiomes have an easier time dealing with mental and emotional health, as people with a rich and diverse microbiome have more good microbes working to build up your serotonin and dopamine levels.
On a daily basis, a healthy gut microbiome produces about 50% of the dopamine found in your body and up to 90% of the neurotransmitter serotonin. These two neurochemicals are responsible for your mood, happiness levels, pleasure and joy.
Physical Energy
A balanced, healthy gut produces serotonin (happy hormone) which is the precursor to melatonin (sleepy hormone) so when the bacteria balance in your gut is out of whack, you’re more likely to see a negative shift in mood AND sleep.
An unstable gut microbiome negatively impacts energy levels in a few ways:
Decreased Nutrient Absorption
With too few beneficial bacteria, your digestive tract isn’t able to absorb all of the vitamins and minerals found in the foods you eat. Poor nutrient absorption not only lowers your immune system’s ability to fight off colds, but it’s incapable of producing vitamins K and B — two nutrients that play a vital role in a cell’s ability to produce energy. Without a stable gut environment, you could be lacking in crucial levels of energizing vitamins.
Disrupted Sleep Patterns
Serotonin (happy hormone), melatonin (sleepy hormone) and cortisol (stress hormone) are all directly linked. In a perfectly balanced world, your cortisol levels should be highest in the morning, helping you wake up, and then continue to lower throughout the day. Once you’ve hit bedtime, cortisol levels should be at their lowest, just when melatonin kicks in and helps you relax and drift off into a peaceful slumber. If your gut isn’t creating enough serotonin, it’s unable to produce adequate levels of melatonin, therefore creating unhealthy levels of cortisol. And, what’s worse, cortisol encourages the growth of certain microbes which then thrive in a high-cortisol environment, which can heighten stress and anxiety even more.
The Blood Sugar Roller Coaster
We’ve all experienced the unpleasant effects of soaring and crashing blood sugar — eat a donut and all those refined carbohydrates give you an instant boost of energy as your blood sugar rises, making you feel — temporarily — better. Then comes the crash, as your body responds to the sugar spike and sends your blood sugar and energy levels into the ground. These extreme highs and lows leave you feeling sluggish and fatigued, as many of your body’s resources are being used to rescue your blood sugar all day long.
Sexual Energy
By now, we know that serotonin has major impacts on all aspects of your body. It determines your mood, your physical energy levels, your ability to sleep restoratively … all of which directly impacts your libido!
Decreased energy, unstable blood sugar and lack of sleep will not put you in the mood. Serotonin is also involved in controlling and enhancing blood flow to various parts of your body — including your genital region — which further explains its role in your sexual energy levels.
The bottom line? A gut that’s producing varying levels of serotonin may be the driving force behind any unexplained libido changes, shifting your sexual landscape.
So, how do we support a healthy gut for increased mental, physical and sexual energy?
Healthy Gut Habits
For some, these may feel like huge lifestyle changes, and in that case, I recommend baby steps. Don’t make these changes all at once, as that’s often overwhelming and you’ll be more likely to throw in the towel.
Balance Your Blood Sugar
When you’re exhausted, it’s easy to reach for ready-made, pre-processed foods that are generally high in sugar, causing the blood sugar roller coaster. To avoid those highs and lows, I recommend eating three to four substantial meals per day. If you’re hungry one to two hours after eating, you most likely didn’t eat enough food or didn’t include the right types of food.
Aim to eat real, whole, fresh foods that you cook yourself. Pick a rainbow of colors of vegetables and eat a lot of them. Eat good fats from raw nuts and seeds, avocados, pastured egg yolks, coconut oil, grass- fed butter or ghee and extra virgin olive oil. Include high quality, clean, pasture-raised animal protein (if you eat it); as well as plant- based protein from beans, legumes and quinoa. Enjoy brightly colored fresh fruit, a variety of spices, and high-fiber, unrefined, unprocessed carbohydrates like sweet potatoes, yams and squash.
Supplement Your Micronutrients
Eating a diverse selection of nutrient-dense whole foods is the first step in getting enough of the key micronutrients that support a healthy microbiome. In many cases, and for a variety of reasons beyond our control (like the depletion of micronutrients from the soil in which our food is grown), supplementation is important. Some of the nutrients you should prioritize if optimizing your gut health and boosting energy is your goal are: B vitamins, magnesium, probiotics, omega 3s and vitamin D.
Stay Hydrated
Dehydration can affect your brain function, mood, and … you got it, energy levels. How much water are you actually drinking per day? If it’s less than half of your body weight in ounces of clean filtered water, you need to dramatically increase your water consumption. But here’s the catch: coffee doesn’t count as water intake. Coffee raises cortisol levels, stresses the adrenals and depletes essential micronutrients that are critical for battling fatigue.
Get Better Quality Sleep
Try winding down from your day with relaxing behaviors before bed. This could be taking the time to have a bath, reading a book or getting into bed half an hour earlier than usual. When possible, skip screens of any kind within two hours of bed. If you’re trying to get more sleep but are struggling due to worries and stress keeping you awake at night, try meditation or mindfulness practices to calm your busy mind.
Another tip to improve the quality of your sleep? Dim the lights around you when the sun goes down. This encourages our body to start producing melatonin when it naturally would in response to the sun setting and natural darkness outside.
Move More To Boost Your Metabolism
Exercise almost guarantees that you’ll sleep more soundly. It also gives your cells more energy to burn and circulates oxygen. And exercising can lead to higher brain dopamine levels, which helps elevate mood. This may seem counterintuitive — when you’re feeling tired, getting up and moving your body can feel like the last thing you want to do — but moving your body for even just 60 minutes a day will help increase your energy levels.
And while you’re moving your body, make sure you’re doing it outside so you’re being hit with a double whammy— sweat AND Vitamin D. Getting even 10 or 15 minutes of sunlight before or around noon helps regulate your circadian cycle and promote healthy melatonin production at night.
Your gut microbiome is, quite literally, the foundation for your overall health and vitality. A happy, healthy and balanced gut is capable of boosting energy levels where you need it most — mentally, physically and sexually.
Photo by Ava Sol.
Originally published in the Summer + Fall 2021 issue.
Sarah Jane Sandy is a functional nutritionist, women’s health expert and hormone imbalance survivor. She works remotely with clients all over the world and through her innovative online program, The Fertility Code. With a master’s level certification in nutrition therapy, Sarah has notable success designing dietary and lifestyle programs to strengthen fertility, pregnancy and postpartum vibrance.
Naturally caffeine-free and filled with adaptogens superfoods, the Turmeric Milk Mix will nourish your whole self. It [...]
Subscribe to Our Tribe
Stay up to date with Y+L News, Events and special announcements.
