Oftentimes we hear the phrase “your gut is your second brain”, but what exactly does this mean and why is it important? This saying refers to the gut-brain axis—the complex, bidirectional communication network between the gut and the brain. Recognizing how the brain not only impacts the gut, but the gut also impacts the brain is so important in optimizing health and overall quality of life. 

How is the Gut Connected to the Brain? 

The brain is connected to the gut through a nerve called the vagus nerve, which is responsible for the bidirectional communication between the central nervous system (CNS), which includes the brain, and the enteric nervous system (ENS), which includes the gut. This nerve relies on information such as emotions and thoughts from the brain to send messages to the gut, impacting things like digestion and gut lining permeability. 

Examples of the Gut-Brain Axis in Action

    1. Vagus Nerve and Mental Health: Stress inhibits signals sent by the vagus nerve, increasing mental health issues such as depression (Okonogi et al., 2024), (Tan et al., 2022). 
    2. Gut Health and Learning: Increased gut permeability and inflammation is shown to decrease an individual’s ability to learn most effectively (Gustafson, 2016)
    3. Brain signaling impacts gut permeability: Stress was seen to decrease intestinal tract lining strength, leading to what is often referred to as “leaky gut”, which impacts absorption and digestion of food (Carabotti et al., 2015)
    4. Neurotransmitter Production: About 90% of the serotonin in the body is produced by the gut: this serotonin production has an impact on mood, inflammation, regulating immune response and nutrient absorption (Akram et al., 2024) 
    5. Nutrition and Mental Health: Studies have shown that certain imbalances in gut microbiota composition were associated with mental health disorders like anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder (Xiong et al., 2023), (Firth et al., 2019)

Not only does the brain impact the gut, but the gut also impacts the brain so focusing on both is important. In so many instances of brain health such as memory, learning ability, mood, and mental health, there is a bidirectional relationship with gut health. This communication can impact functions such as immune function, IBS symptoms, digestion, hormone production and metabolism. 

Tips to Improve Gut Health 

Recognizing how gut health plays a role in brain health and function, you might be wondering what some tangible ways to support your gut are. Here’s some simple daily habits that can make a big difference in your gut health so that your brain can start to receive signals that are more adaptive to healing. 

1. Increase fiber intake  

Foods like whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables and another high fiber foods contain prebiotics that can help reduce stress (Schmidt et al., 2015) 

2. Focus on Vagus Nerve Stimulation 

By stimulating the vagus nerve, you can activate more of the parasympathetic nervous system responses which is often referred to as our “rest and digest” state. Some ways to stimulate the vagus nerve are by humming, singing, taking deep breathes with an extended exhale, and gargling.  

3. Prioritize Stress Management 

While stress management is often advised and you may be sick of hearing it, it truly does make a difference when considering brain and gut health. Meditation, journaling, spending time in nature, slowing down throughout the day, taking time to connect with your body and prioritizing a good nighttime routine are all helpful ways to mitigate stress.

4. Eat a Diverse Range of Vegetables 

This is often not talked about enough, but by prioritizing a diverse range of vegetables, you can increase the different kinds of good bacteria you have in your gut. The more you feed the good gut bacteria, the less the bad gut bacteria have to feed off of. 

5. Be Mindful of Processed Food Intake 

We don’t need to demonize foods with less nutrients, but there’s a time and a place. Stressing out about foods, cutting foods out, creating harsh rules isn’t healthy either. However, being mindful of the amount of these foods you eat is helpful for many reasons including providing anti-inflammatory effects, decreasing gut permeability, and increasing beneficial gut bacteria.

Neurofeedback: A Treatment Modality That Has Been Shown To Improve Brain Health to then Address Gut Issues

What Is Neurofeedback?

Neurofeedback is a form of biofeedback that uses real-time brainwave monitoring to train your brain to function more efficiently. As your brain becomes more regulated, your nervous system shifts into a calmer, more balanced state—setting the stage for healing through the gut-brain axis.

How Does Neurofeedback Improve Healing Through the Gut-Brain Connection? 

  • By Increasing Self-Regulation (de Ridder and de Witt, 2006)
    By increasing regulation, an individual is better able to manage their thoughts, feelings and behaviors. With increased ability to self-regulate, individuals can address their gut issues with the capacity to handle them, without getting overwhelmed. 
  • By Decreasing an Individual’s Level of Perceived Threat                   
  •  Neurofeedback has been shown to decrease the level of perceived threat from the environment. Perceived threat increases an individual’s hypervigilance and could look like a sensitivity to other people’s tone, constant anxiety, overwhelm and so on. With decreased perceived threat, there is a decrease in inflammation which creates a positive feedback loop between the gut and the brain (Marzbani et al., 2016).
  • By Improving Mental Health Overall
    Stress has been shown to increase and trigger intestinal bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms. With brain training, by reducing stress, these symptoms also have been shown to decrease (Emmanual and  Kamm, 2001) (Coss-Adame & Rao, 2014).

If you deal with gut issues and/or your mental health, neurofeedback could be highly beneficial. By addressing the brain, the gut issues can be addressed and work towards full body healing. We urge you to schedule a free consultation with us at MyBrainDr to see if this is something you want to explore further. 

Takeaways

Prioritizing gut health as well as mental health is incredibly helpful in improving quality of life. Whether it be anxiety, sleep issues, depression, lack of motivation, and so on, the benefits of taking care of your gut and your mind can’t be ignored. Neurofeedback can be helpful in regulating emotions and mental distress, which then can improve gut health and work in a bidirectional manner.

 

References

Akram, N., Faisal, Z., Irfan, R., Shah, Y. A., Batool, S. A., Zahid, T., Zulfiqar, A., Fatima, A., Jahan, Q., Tariq, H., Saeed, F., Ahmed, A., Asghar, A., Ateeq, H., Afzaal, M., & Khan, M. R. (2024). Exploring the serotonin-probiotics-gut health axis: A review of current evidence and potential mechanisms. Food Science & Nutrition, 12, 694–706. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.3826

Carabotti, M., Scirocco, A., Maselli, M. A., & Severi, C. (2015). The gut-brain axis: interactions between enteric microbiota, central and enteric nervous systems. Annals of gastroenterology, 28(2), 203–209.

Coss-Adame, E., & Rao, S. S. (2014). Brain and gut interactions in irritable bowel syndrome: new paradigms and new understandings. Current gastroenterology reports, 16(4), 379. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11894-014-0379-z

de Ridder D.T.D., de Wit J.B.F. Self-regulation in health behavior. Wiley; Chichester, West Sussex, UK: 2006. Self-regulation in health behavior: concepts, theories, and central issues; pp. 1–23.

Emmanuel AV, Kamm MA. Response to a behavioural treatment, biofeedback, in constipated patients is associated with improved gut transit and autonomic innervation. Gut 2001;49:214-9. 10.1136/gut.49.2.214 

Gustafson C. (2016). David Haase,md: Healing the Gut and Brain Through Electrophysiology. Integrative medicine (Encinitas, Calif.), 15(5), 26–29.

Key ways to support healthy vagus nerve function. Food for the Brain. (2020, November 5). https://foodforthebrain.org/supporting-vagus-nerve-function-is-this-the-missing-link-to-improving-mental-health/

Marzbani, H., Marateb, H. R., & Mansourian, M. (2016). Neurofeedback: A Comprehensive Review on System Design, Methodology and Clinical Applications. Basic and clinical neuroscience, 7(2), 143–158. https://doi.org/10.15412/J.BCN.03070208

Mirifar, A., Keil, A., & Ehrlenspiel, F. (2022). Neurofeedback and neural self-regulation: a new perspective based on allostasis. Reviews in the neurosciences, 33(6), 607–629. https://doi.org/10.1515/revneuro-2021-0133

Okonogi, T., Kuga, N., Yamakawa, M., Kayama, T., Ikegaya, Y., & Sasaki, T. (2024). Stress-induced vagal activity influences anxiety-relevant prefrontal and amygdala neuronal oscillations in male mice. Nature communications, 15(1), 183. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44205-y

Schmidt, K., Cowen, P. J., Harmer, C. J., Tzortzis, G., Errington, S., & Burnet, P. W. (2015). Prebiotic intake reduces the waking cortisol response and alters emotional bias in healthy volunteers. Psychopharmacology, 232(10), 1793–1801. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-014-3810-0

Schroth, H. (2023, September 14). 5 simple vagus nerve exercises for digestion. The Fulfilled Fork. https://thefulfilledfork.com/5-vagus-nerve-exercises-digestion/

Tan, C., Yan, Q., Ma, Y., Fang, J., & Yang, Y. (2022). Recognizing the role of the vagus nerve in depression from microbiota-gut brain axis. Frontiers in neurology, 13, 1015175. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2022.1015175

Vitetta L. (2020). Mind body medicine: a tangible link between the gut and the brain. Annals of translational medicine, 8(4), 64. https://doi.org/10.21037/atm.2019.12.80