The Second Brain: How Your Gut Microbes Control Your Mind

People often perceive their emotions and thoughts as being completely contained within their heads, but a significant breakthrough in microbiology is uncovering the reality that your digestive system works as another “brain” with great power to affect your mood and anxiety levels as well as many of your daily choices.

The gut-brain axis is where the communication between your mind and gut takes place. It is a two-way means of communication between the central nervous system and the enteric nervous system (in the gut).

Some of the biological mechanisms that complete this internal communication process are:

Neurotransmitter Factories: The gut produces more than 90% of the serotonin (the chemical responsible for maintaining happiness and balance) found within the body.

The Vagus Highway: Gut microbes are directly contacting your brain through the Vagus nerve (the nerve connecting the body to the brain) and sending biochemical signals constantly altering neural activity.

Immune Modulation: When the microbiome is compromised it creates systemic inflammation, and there are numerous clinical studies linking chronic stress and depression to systemic inflammation.

Mental illness is no longer considered a problem only of psychology; it is a biological issue as well. Achieving cognitive optimization does not simply start with your brain's thinking process; rather it begins with what you feed the microscopic ecosystem within.