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Listen to your gut

I have listened to Jim Kwik's book Limitless, it was fascinating. He started to speak around our guts.


Lovely.... ew. However what he said really caught my attention because I have recently started listening to my gut more (I will come back to this later).


First let's get to what is the definition of "gut feeling" The Oxford Dictionary of Psychiatry refers to gut feeling or intuition as “immediate understanding, knowledge, or awareness, derived neither from perception nor from reasoning.” In truth, this awareness is not something magical, but a function of your subconscious mind.


For example you may know something is about to go wrong before it happens, you have this niggling feeling in the bottom of your gut giving you a warning. I had this recently with a long term friendship and new I should distance myself, but I didn't listen and the result was a lot of discomfort. My understanding is that your brain is picking up lots of information all the time, and it processes it in the background but there is too much going on in the foreground for it to be conscious, so then you get this gut feeling. You are not sure why but your body knows and it is sending you a warning flag!


So if the brain is doing the work why do we feel it in our gut? In short Scientist have become more aware that there is an information path between the brain and the gut. The gut is full of microbes and these are what play a role in processing information stored in the subconscious. The gut responds quicker than the analytical brain. To bring it back to something we all feel, when we are anxious and are in fight or flight the body response via the gut can be to give you the poops or being backed up.


The gut .... "often notices patterns that are unavailable to your rational brain and sends up a quick signal so that you can take action. The science behind this is still not very clear, but the correlation is too strong to be disregarded."


Now I like this because it is science led, now let me take you on the woo woo path. Woo woo not being your ladies parts but instead referring to the mystical. I like to listen to Gabby Bernstein. She is 100% woo woo, you know a little magical, and filled with happiness and delight. Which considering I was raise with one big pessimist I struggle with sometimes. She tells you to listen to the universe, see what signals its sending you, listen to your angels. She tells you to talk to God, or to just listen to your intuition! Now due to this and not being a big God believer I have been listening more to my intuition and I would say that this is your gut really.


The National Association for Continence sent an email last year and they were mentioning the gut also. This peaked my interest immediately. It was saying when we talk about gut health, we are really talking about the balance of bacteria in the microbiome. Microbiome is mainly found in the intestines and it contains trillions of different types of microorganisms, both good and bad. These microorganisms typically co-exist peacefully in a healthy environment. However, things like illness, poor diet choices, or the use of antibiotics can disrupt this balance, leading to all sorts of reactions in the body and making us more vulnerable to disease. Poor gut health lead to illness, but it can also wreak havoc on everything from your immune system, skin, heart health, mood, sleep quality, brain health, and digestion.


Your gut may also have an effect on bladder health. Urine actually contains its own microbes. A study that looked at the urine samples of women with different types of urinary incontinence compared to control groups found that those with urinary incontinence contained a different make-up of bacteria in their urinary microbiome than those who did not have urinary incontinence. What’s more, that makeup varies by type of urinary incontinence.


So another study linked the gut to exercise. Researchers say they noticed changes in the gut microbiome after six weeks of exercise. Many had an increase in gut microbes that assist in the production of short-chain fatty acids. These fatty acids reduce the risk of inflammatory diseases as well as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. After the initial period of six weeks, the participants then returned to six weeks of their normal sedentary lifestyle. The gut makeup returned to normal after exercise was dropped. Which I think is a good encouragement to get out there and get exercising.


You are probably wondering what you can do to keep a healthy gut!

  1. eat well - reduce processed food, eat slowly, have probiotics (u can get this from food such as yoghurt, kimchi, sauerkraut), have prebiotics (high fiber foods, bananas, onions, leeks)

  2. get enough sleep

  3. exercise - yep do Pilates, and strength training

  4. don't take antibiotics unless your need them and under direction of a doctor

  5. drink water

When you are in an exercise class how can you listen to your gut? Always listen to your body. I am always telling the lovely people I teach this. If something doesn't feel right then it probably is not right. Never work into pain, ask for help, or for a modification.


So in short, your gut is important, feed it right, listen to it, and exercise for it. Pilates is fantastic way of low impact exercise that anyone can do which can make you feel great and get your gut sending you positive vibes!








 
 
 

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