Your gut health is crucial to your overall health. Up to 80% of your immune system derives from your gut, so it is fair to say that your gut health is one of the biggest determinators of your overall health.
At JUVIA we are passionate about all things gut-health related and we make it our primary objective to both educate and support you to improve the well-being of your gut and indeed your general health.
Improving your gut requires that you understand what is good or bad for it, and it starts by listening to that gut feeling. In this article, we will share some of the signs that your gut is not feeling very happy and what you can do to ameliorate it from discomfort.
Signs that your gut is unhealthy
Just as it is with other parts of your body, if your gut is unhealthy there are always signs. Some of the most common signs include the following:
- Discomfort in your tummy
- Toilet related issues
- Trouble sleeping
- Trouble concentrating
- Skin related issues
- Immune system problems
- Unexplainable poor mood
Discomfort in your tummy
Abdominal pain is one of the most common symptoms of an unhealthy gut. It usually arises from a sensitivity to certain food types called FODMAPs.
FODMAP is a system that measures the fermentable starches in different ingredients. Food items with the highest scores tend to be the most problematic and cause the most severe symptoms.
Symptoms can include cramps, bloating, gas, and even nausea. Doctors often recommend a diet low in FODMAP ingredients, but if that is too difficult you can always try JUVIA, which breaks down the starches before they reach your gut. JUVIA helps to reset the gut microbiome for most people that take it for 6-8 weeks.
If you frequently experience discomfort after eating then you may likely have an unhealthy gut.
Toilet related issues
An unhealthy gut can really impact your toilet habits. For some people, it means not being able to go very frequently at all because their bodies just cannot digest certain foods properly. For others, it spells out an urgent and often frequent need to use the toilet, and it usually means diarrhoea.
This can be quite debilitating, especially when it comes to social situations. A lot of people who experience these kinds of symptoms feel anxious about going out to dinner.
Again, toilet issues are one of the most common symptoms of those suffering from an unhealthy gut. If this sounds familiar, it’s time to take action.
Trouble sleeping
There are lots of reasons why you may find it difficult to sleep at night, stress being an obvious one, but few people consider their gut health as a cause for sleep disturbance.
It is not easy to conclude that your gut health is a reason for your rough nights, but if you are experiencing other symptoms associated with an unhealthy gut, it is worth acknowledging. This is because science has established a link between the microbiome composition of people that suffer from insomnia and discovered similarities between them. Moreover, these studies have indicated that microorganisms that are living inside you are able to interact and communicate with circadian genes, which influence vital bodily processes like metabolism, mood, and sleep and wake cycles.
This might be why some of JUVIA’s users report better sleeping habits after taking it for 6 weeks.
Trouble concentrating
Again, concentration issues do not immediately present as an obvious sign of gut health problems, but considering the discovery between gut health and the link to poor sleep, it is hardly surprising, especially when sleep is so vital to good concentration.
More specifically, however, a new field of science is emerging that observes the communication between the gut and the brain through what scientists refer to as the gut-brain axis. Scientists look at how the gut microbiome influences and interacts with the brain to shape our mood, cognitive ability, and behaviour.
This may be ahead of our understanding at present, but one thing is clear - we cannot overlook the value of preserving and improving our gut health.
Skin related issues
Studies have determined a communicative link between the microbes living in our gut and our skin through what is called the gut-skin axis. It is believed that through this communication channel, the gut influences and regulates the skin and its immune response to pathogens and trauma. By understanding this, scientists hope to be able to intercept this communication channel to control and treat skin conditions like psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis and acne.
Again, if you have a skin condition that is either brought on or exacerbated by certain food items, this too can be a sign of an unhealthy gut. It’s time to start paying attention to these subtle signs.
Immune system problems
If you recall, earlier in this article we highlighted that up to 80% of your immune system is regulated by your gut. It, therefore, stands to reason that if you are experiencing challenges with your immunity, then your gut health is likely to be in disarray.
Conditions related to the immune system are often measured by observing the level of inflammatory markers found in the body. This is because inflammation occurs when your body generates an immune response to pathogens and viruses.
The problem with immune disorders is that they make your body believe there is always something wrong and it continuously attacks itself. This weakens the body and the immune system, leaving you feeling unwell all the time.
Science has established a link between poor gut health and immune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis. It normally occurs when there is dysbiosis (an unbalanced gut). Scientists believe that they can treat autoimmune conditions by manipulating the gut microbiome.
Unexplainable poor mood
Your mood is not only characterised by your immediate experience but a host of complex internal processes within your body and mind. A growing body of evidence establishes a link between depressive disorders and poor gut health through the brain-gut axis. It is common for people suffering from poor gut health to have similar gut microbiota composition.
Up to 90% of your serotonin (the feel-good neurotransmitter) is produced in your gut. Scientists believe that long-term depression can be treated through diet and faecal transplants, but more research is required to fully understand this process.
Final thoughts on gut health
Science’s investigation into the gut and its influence over other areas of the body is still in its infancy, but it is clear that the gut is a focal point for human health, and perhaps one of the most overlooked areas of human health, but this is changing because science now recognises its importance.
If there is one area of human health you can focus on and make a real difference, it is your gut health and it happens to be JUVIA’s biggest passion. Focusing on your gut health will improve your overall health, longevity, and the quality of your daily life.