Patients suffering from mental health problems are often encouraged to process and ‘think’ their way out of their current mental state and to use the power of thought coupled with talking therapies to alleviate their depression and anxiety. What isn’t considered in such an approach is the physical aspect of mental health problems, for example a compromised microbiome or a low vitamin D level.
In this blog, we take a look at how what your mental and physical health are inextricably linked and how RYH can help with your overall mental health.
Combine therapy with nutrition
When your brain is in a healthy state you can enjoy life to the fullest, it means your amazing sensory capabilities can be fully enjoyed. Your sense of taste, ability to smell, see and hear all rely on you having a healthy nervous system, through which electrical signals are transmitted to your brain. When your brain function is compromised by your physiology, brought on by bad nutrition, poor exercise and stressful environments, mental health problems such as burning out and fatigue can occur. Mental and physical health are inextricably linked, and a pill for one will not cure the other!
Your delicate brain
The brain is hugely vulnerable to negative nutritional input; it requires balanced nutritional input to help clear out waste products from the normal metabolic processes in the brain. If your diet is deficient in key micronutrients, your brain cannot function in a normal way.
Reset Your Health is designed to help heal a leaky gut by introducing gut-healing foods, and with the figures above showing the incidence of IBS is up to 15% higher in people with mental health conditions, this approach must be crucial in aiding recovery.
Whilst the research in this area is developing, the evidence on the ‘rock face’ of therapy is compelling: unhealthy eating is fuelling a spiral of depression and anxiety. Researchers are looking for which bacteria affects your mental health with the aim of either “modifying those bacteria, putting in more beneficial bacteria or reducing harmful bacteria” in the hope “that this might be a way to see improved behaviour.”
Depression
This research is exciting as it may lead to a reduction in the inappropriate use of traditional antidepressants. However, researchers are still looking for a drug-based solution. I would suggest doctors and patients look at non-drug methods to reduce inflammation first like the RYH programme. Of course, for the patient, this will take more effort as it is not a simple pill but a lifestyle change that could include:
- Walk or run for 30 minutes a day
- Cut out sugar and sweeteners
- Eat fresh, natural, inflammation-fighting food
- Drink coffee in moderation and less alcohol
- Get seven hours sleep a night
- Practise meditation and mindfulness
- Surround yourself with family and friends
- Get a sense of purpose
- And of course do the Reset Your Health programme, which is rich in all the minerals and vitamins and other nutritional requirements for good mental health
Anxiety
A study from the University of Oxford has recently shown in healthy volunteers that a prebiotic intervention can increase one’s attention to positive stimuli, a proxy marker for optimism, clearly implicating that our gut impacts our mood. The same groups have also shown that the same prebiotic substance can decrease anxiety and improve cognitive function, based on trials in rats. In mice, research has shown a gut-brain connection and that the ingestion of probiotics affects the balance of the microbiome and plays an important role in regulating emotional behaviour. The RYH programme includes both pre- and probiotics for humans.
Eating disorder
Anyone can be affected by an eating disorder at any age, and it’s not always linked to body image. Disordered eating can be a way of asserting control, and anorexia or bulimia may develop because of stressful life events. Genetics do play a role in some cases, as people with a certain gene are more likely to develop the condition depending on environmental factors.
Stress
Burnout is a relatively new term, used to describe physical and emotional exhaustion, apathy and loss of motivation. It is both a cause of stress and a consequence of it. Luckily the warning signs creep up slowly, and may include the following symptoms:
- Fatigue and insomnia
- Lack of energy
- Loss of appetite
- Forgetfulness
- Symptoms of anxiety and depression
Before you get to this stage, there are things you can do to keep exhaustion at bay. Try at least one of the strategies below and see what effect it has on your wellbeing:
- Learn to say no and to delegate
- Make a journal to track your stress triggers
- Spend more time on hobbies and fun activities
- Meditate or attend a mindfulness workshop
- Cut back from devices and social media
All information contained in this blog is from Catherine’s book Gut Well Soon.