For this week’s session of the Men’s CNS group, Michael returned to the presenter’s hotseat and, after going through a little recap of concepts from the first session to make sure that everyone’s understanding was fresh, began to explore the interconnected nature between nutrition, gut health, and physical and mental health. To begin, Michael spoke about the myriad ways in which the gut and digestive track are connected to and act and act upon the brain and our nervous system. Central to this was describing the different ways the brain and gut communicate with one another and leverage these routes of communication to regulate mood, sleep, and activity. Once this framework of interconnectivity had been established, Michael began to outline how interference at the gut and digestive track can have cascading effects across multiple systems of our body including our immune system, sensitivity to pain and negative stimuli, and GI tract problems such as disrupted gut microbiomes, constipation, acid reflux, and diarrhoea. Yet one of the most enlightening facets of Michael’s presentation was how, even if we did everything we could to ensure that we’re eating right and have a balanced diet and nutrition, it will all go by the wayside if we don’t attend to and care for our mental faculties.
Building on these ideas, Michael continued with an exploration of the various different hormones that play a role in communication between the gut and the brain and some of the “key players” (including adrenaline, cortisol, Ghrelin, Leptin, Insulin, and several others) interact with various different processes throughout the body (such as digestion, satiation, hunger, blood sugar, emotion regulation, happiness, and several others). The key sticking point in this part of the conversation was that the degree of regulation or dysregulation in each of these processes can be used as a kind of “telemetry” or information that we can use to assess the health of one’s gut and digestive tract. Furthermore, this information can be applied to try and understand what we need to do in order to remedy any shortcomings that we may find. One last part of this that I personally appreciated was Michael’s handling of the discussion around the gut microbiome and how he approached the nuance of this facet of our bodies.
Finally, Michael’s talk ended off with explaining how a holistic approach is needed when trying to improve gut health and function. Michael explained how there are five different hierarchical levels that go into improving and maintaining gut health. In short, these levels were our ability to downshift and regulate our nervous system, maintaining good digestive mechanics (such as maintaining regular meals, eating at a stable pace and, believe it or not, making sure we chew properly!), ensuring that we’ve a balanced diet, gut microbiome health, and lastly, the role of supplements. One thing that I loved about this section was how Michael explained that each level of this process builds upon itself and how, in isolation, a pill or supplement will not be enough to improve our health holistically.
Overall, another informative session for the group and I’m looking forward to seeing how Payton rounds things out in next week’s seminar on sleep!
About Spencer Jones
Spencer is currently completing his master’s of Counselling Psychology with Yorkville University, on practicum with Impart Therapy. He works with teens and adults who are struggling with anxiety, depression, and stress. Please visit here to learn more about Spencer Jones.