In our fast paced, modern lives we are all bound to experience stress at some time, but recurrent stress can chip away at the foundation of your health and affect your long-term wellness. Stress is a physical, mental, or emotional response to events that make you feel threatened. When you sense danger your body’s defenses kick into gear in a rapid, automatic process, known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction or the stress response. The harmful effects of the stress response has a direct response on your microbiome and can weaken your gut’s intestinal lining, making you more susceptible to illness, exhaustion and nutritional deficiencies.

The gut-brain axis is a bidirectional communication system between the gut microbiome and your brain. The brain has a direct effect on the stomach and gastrointestinal (GI) system where it can link anxiety to stomach problems and vice versa. Stress can literally make you feel sick to your stomach with a symptom being stomach aches. Because the brain and the gastrointestinal (GI) system are intimately connected, a person’s stomach or intestinal distress can be the cause or the product of anxiety, stress or depression. The gastrointestinal tract is sensitive to emotion. Anger, anxiety, sadness, elation can all trigger symptoms in the gut. Stress can affect movement and contractions of the GI tract, make inflammation worse, make you more susceptible to infection and can also make the existing pain seem even worse.

Your gut is home to trillions of microbes that all work in harmony with your body’s cells to keep you functioning at your best. A healthy gut contains a balance of 85% good bacteria and 15% bad bacteria. Without even being aware, your good bacteria could be being depleted by aspects of everyday life such as antibiotics, processed food and ongoing stress, to name a few. Your gut bacteria produce important mood-regulating neurotransmitters like serotonin (the “happiness” chemical) and help to lower cortisol (the “stress” hormone). Recent studies have shown that consistent stress negatively affects the amount and diversity of your good gut flora and that a microbiome influenced by stress can lead to the type of inflammation that is linked to depression or anxiety. When your good bacteria are weakened or damaged due to stress, the integrity of your gut lining can become compromised and this could manifest in a whole host of health issues.  Specific Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains, key ingredients in MiBiotix Stress, are now being referred to as “psychobiotics” for their potential therapeutic benefits. Psychobiotics work on the brain-gut axis to produce health benefits for people suffering from anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses.