Tag: gut

Vagus Nerve: The wellbeing stimulator 🙌

by drjurisharma, posted in life

Hello everyone! Have a wonderful day and stay safe 🙋🏻

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Vagus Nerve, is the body’s unique nerve which is by far the most important nerve to be stimulated in today’s time of crisis, threat, anxiety, innumerable stress, pain, tensions. Especially in times of crisis like this Coronavirus Pandemic where people are continuously under the anxiety and fear of falling sick, hospitalization, death.

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Anatomically, this is the 10th cranial nerve which starts in the brain and runs entirely throughout the body till the reproductive organs. Therefore the name ‘Vagus’ comes which means a wanderer which wander through every organ of the body. It is also the longest and most complex nerve. Just to simplify, it runs from the brain and branch as dorsal and ventral branches with numerous sub-branches running through both front and back of our body touching almost every organ.
But, why is this nerve so important when it comes to wellbeing ? The reason is that this particular nerve is the cynosure of Parasympathetic Nervous system, the ‘rest and digest’ stimulation or the relaxation of the body. It is this nerve which helps the body to self regulate and maintain the homeostasis. It is this nerve which maintains the brain-gut communication. The immune system is rejuvenated and work efficiently. There are the body’s recovery and healing.

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The Autonomic nervous system has 2 main areas:
Sympathetic Nervous system: This system is mainly responsible for mobilization, high energy state, vigilant state. So, the heart rate, blood pressure, alertness, breathing rate are increased. In such state, there is no energy left for growth, repair and regeneration.

Parasympathetic Nervous system: The vagus nerve is mainly responsible for this system. This is the ‘rest and digest’ state where the metabolism is optimized, heart rate lowers, breathing slows down, blood pressure lowers and the body is relaxed. There is a restoration of growth. repair and the immune system is regulated to it’s highest potential. The body is in recovery and the healing state from any damage that it went through.

Ideally, there is a balance of harmony between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Whenever, there is an alert state, a threat, there is an automatic switch-on of the sympathetic system. Once, the threat is gone, there is a switch-off of the sympathetic and parasympathetic system takes the centre-stage. But in today’s time, we, people are so caught up with the day to day stress, anxiety, fear, that throughout the day, the sympathetic system remains in action. There is hardly the switch off. As a result, there is less potential for growth, repair, regeneration, rejuvenation of the body. The immune system is compromised and we become susceptible to disease. Most of the time, or even during an entire lifetime, we remain stuck in the high tone state which is not good for the body at all. We, end up, suffering from various chronic conditions and diseases. Therefore, it’s high time that we realise this default habit in our system and start taking measures to activate the Vagus Nerve (parasympathetic) tone daily for our overall wellbeing.

There are various ways by which the Vagus Nerve get stimulated to maintain the calm relaxed state:

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1.Social connection: The ventral vagus branch is mainly stimulated by social connection and engagement. By keeping ourselves connected to loved ones, people around with positive emotions like love, gratitude, joy, empathy and compassion, there is the self-regulation of the body-mind connection and the homeostasis is maintained.

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2.Deep breathing: Baroreceptors present in the heart and upper body around the neck get stimulated by slow deep breathing. Therefore, regulating the breath with slow deep cycles of breaths can instantly stimulate the vagus and lowers the heart rate and blood pressure bringing the vitals to a relaxed state. There are different breathing exercises like the Pranayama in yoga, Win Hoff method and other helpful breathing techniques.If you want to learn more about diaphargmatic breathing, you can listen and understand from audio CD of Dr Andrew Weil

3.Meditation: Meditation and deep relaxation can naturally put our body in the parasympathetic tone. Chanting or humming words, mantras can directly stimulate the Vagus nerve. The singing and chanting in the chorus (like the choir in Church), can increase the heart variability rate and naturally causes relaxation waves in the body. Prayers are highly effective in increasing heart variability rate and maintaining calmness.

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4. Cold exposure: Exposing the body to cold like cold water shower, splashing cold water in the face, drinking ice cold water, sudden cold exposure can naturally stimulate the Vagus Nerve.
5.Message: Having messages like a foot, hand, neck messages along the carotid arteries can naturally stimulate the Vagus Nerve. It also lowers heart and blood pressure.
6.Gargling: This is a simple technique where the muscles of the pallet are stimulated by gargling which inturn stimulates Vagus nerve instantly.

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7.Exercises: Usually mild low-intensity exercises like stretching, Yoga, Tai Chi stimulate and improves the brain-gut axis and helps in relaxation. High intense training should always be done in short intervals followed by relaxation so that the body learns to fluctuate from sympathetic to parasympathetic tone in a quick recovery state.

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8. Food rich in omega 3 fatty acids and probiotics, fermented food can naturally stimulate the gut which in turn stimulate the gut-brain axis.

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9. Music: Relaxation and listening to the music of your choice can naturally increase the heart variability rate, gives your pleasure, joy which enhances immunity and stimulate the Vagus Nerve.
10. Intermittent Fasting: Intermittent fasting provide the much-needed break, the rest to the digestive process. The metabolism slows down and improves the vagus nerve activity.

Thanks for reading.

Blessings and much love to all 💐

Post : 7 immune boosting ways of Human, as holobiont: The secret world 🙌

by drjurisharma, posted in life

Hello everyone ! Have a wonderful week 🙋🏻

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The term “holobiont” literally means the host living along with other species of bionts as a single entity, in other words, the interaction of the host with the microbiome. Since the evolution of living species including the human being, there has been a continuous evolution of this co-dependency of the host and microbiome interaction. It has become an integral part of our biology. The human as a holobiont not only restrict its function as the body’s natural defence mechanism called the immune system but also maintain the physiological processes like the energy metabolism, blood pressure control, glucose haemostasis, clotting risk factors and also adiposity. It can even influence our everyday habits and behaviour.

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(Pic courtesy: digitallylearn.com)

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Microbiome (pic; Europa)

The human microbiome intimate interaction normally maintains stable homeostasis which gives us stable health and wellbeing. Researches have increasingly recognized the human gut microbiota as the key area which mainly is responsible for this homeostasis and plays a decisive role in our overall health. But when there is any kind of disruption which crosses the resilient limits of the equilibrium or the homeostasis, the body goes into an alternative state of susceptibility, a pre-disease state which can lead to the development of chronic or inflammatory conditions.

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Pic courtesy: mBio -ASM

Another interesting fact is that since the time of evolution, there has been a continuous co-evolution of the interdependency of both the host and the microbiome. The microbiome has been transferred through the generations of humans, the ancestral lineage. In the natural state, there has been a series of mutation on the microbiome phenotypes in their adaptation to the continuous changes of the human habitat. There has been a constant change in the environmental conditions, dietary changes, behaviours, lifestyle changes which directly affect the interaction and adaptation of the microbiome colonies. Initially, the adaptations were quite smooth, and the mutations were usually beneficial for both the host (human) as well as the microbiome. But as the time passed by, due to the various environmental changes like in diet, sunlight, pollution, toxins, cosmetics, sedentary lifestyle, inculcating harmful habits, have lead to certain harmful mutations on the microbiota daily which not only disrupt the normal homeostasis but can lead to many chronic inflammatory conditions like obesity, diabetes, inflammatory bowel conditions, drug-resistant infections and a wide range of diseases including cancers.

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Therefore, we, as human and as a holobiont need to take utmost measures to maintain this symbiotic relationship between us and the microbiome flora especially the gut microbiota. The better is the natural homeostasis, the equilibrium, the more is our stronger defence system and the better immune response of our body and lesser is the susceptibility to any diseases, chronic inflammation and infection including this present scare of a novel virus, Coronavirus.
Few simple measures that we can take on a day to day basis to maintain this normal homeostasis of the microbiota are :

1.Healthy nutrition.
2.The sleep of at least 8 hours a day.
3.Body movements like exercise, yoga, aerobics
4.Deep breathing exercises to calm down stress. (stress aggravates inflammation)
5.Meditation is important because it has immense benefits on both the mind and the body’s homeostasis.
6.Supplements from natural sources like aloe vera, turmeric (Curcumin), ginger, garlic, multivitamins so on.
7.Maintaining bodily hygiene.

Thanks for reading.

Take care. Blessings and much love to all 💐

Post: 4 interesting facts about gut feeling. Is it same as intuition? 💁🏻

by drjurisharma, posted in gut, intuition, thinking,thoughts, healing, health, mental health, Science, wellness

Why is the term ” gut “ attached to the word ” feeling”? Off course, there has to be a reason. More preferably, a scientifically researched fact.

1.Your gut is lined by a network of neurons. It is found that about 100 million neurons are lined across the gut ( alimentary canal ) which are even more than in the spinal cord or the peripheral nervous system but is less than the brain. This is called the enteric nervous system. So, gut feeling is also referred to as the ” second brain”. The brain and gut are connected through this network of neurons which is the gut-brain axis. Your gut, the enteric nervous system can act independently from the brain, the central nervous system. But, most of the time, it is overridden by the brain. That is the reason, most of the time, we ignore or consciously don’t acknowledge our gut feeling.

2.The most important aspect of gut feeling is quick and automatic, appear even before the brain starts thinking logically. The gut makes similar chemicals as the brain do while thinking. It makes a quick evaluation of the situation at hand and gives feedback. It cannot analyse and do logical thinking as the brain.

3.The huge microbiome flora in the gut not only influences the gut alone with what diet you eat but also has the perception of this world and can influence the mind and behaviour. They influence the body’s level of serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter that regulates the feelings of happiness. That is the reason a healthy diet, good sleep, good exercise can influence your mood and behaviour.

4.Your gut feeling is not intuition. Intuition is something to do with your highest level of consciousness, it is said to be the voice of the soul.
Whereas gut feeling is your very human instinct. This feeling comes collectively from the neuronal network in your gut which gives you feedback based on your past experiences with the intent to keep your body safe and protected. It concerns your fear and struggles for survival.

You don’t feel right when a particular person is around you, or you feel uncomfortable in a particular situation or when you feel something is not right for you to eat, are all your gut feelings. It centres around your struggle and fear-based on your past.

Intuition is your inner voice, which may tell you choose a particular career path, or follow a certain dream or choose to be with someone.

You can rely on your gut, and choose to remain safe and not take any risk. In most instances, you use your logical brain to choose depending on your past experiences what works for you safe and better.
Or you can hear your intuition and work beyond your reaches to something unknown in the past in your life experiences, or the ones which appear in your dreams.

So, you have a choice to make at every moment throughout your life.

Thanks for reading.

Take care. Much love to all 💐

Post: 7 basic advice 🙏 for gut health 🤗

by drjurisharma, posted in canned food, constipation, bowels, colon, bowel movements, bowel disease, dairy, curd, yogurt, deep fried food, Food, french fries, gut health, gut bacteria, hormones, Gastrointestinal, GI tract, healing, health, Science, wellness

Researches show Gut health accounts to almost 70% of the body’s immunity. It’s an ecosystem of about 40 trillion microorganisms, living inside your body plays a vital role in almost every biological functions in your body. Therefore, it goes to show, how important a role, gut health plays every day to keep you healthy and strong from any kinds of diseases and sickness.

Too many information, too many dietary advice floating on the internet, not only makes you confuse but sometimes even give wrong information or just misleading information.

7 basic science backed recommendations for gut health :

1.There is no such thing called “The healthy diet”. If one diet works for one person may not work for another person. Therefore, the only basic dietary advice can be you should eat enough of plant-based food. You should feed yourself with varieties of veggies and fruits, preferably fresh and locally available. Probiotic foods are also gut friendly. Remember, you have a huge colony of microbes in your gut. If some may prefer some kind of food, other microbes may like some other kind of food. This way, you can make them happy and they work together for your stronger health.

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2.Big “NO” to sugar: Just say, “NO” to sugar and all artificial sweeteners. The natural sweetness in fruits and veggies and also natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup is not that harmful. Otherwise, sugar alters the composition and functions of natural gut microbes and becomes the feast for harmful bacteria and fungus-like Candida.

3. Say “NO” to processed food and food with preservatives. Harmful preservatives (Like polysorbate 80, carboxymethylcellulose ) alter the composition of gut microbes. Genetically Modified food (bioengineered food) are also very harmful to gut health because they use some kind of pesticides while growing them. Common GMO food is corn, soy, some veggies like zucchini, squash. So, organic, or naturally grown veggies and fruits are best.

3. Avoid popping up pills: Say no to antibiotics and NSAIDs (aspirin, Advil ) as far as possible. Both these drugs alter the composition and function of the gut microbiome. Use it only when necessary.

4.Please quit smoking: Studies have shown that smoking causes alteration in the composition of the gut microbiome. Therefore, another reason added to the list to quit smoking.

5 Get out in Nature: People living the sedentary city lives, hardly come across varieties of microbiomes. So, the only way to expose yourself to varieties of microbes, a wider ecosystem is going out in nature, spending as much time, going hiking, biking and lot more of physical activities.

6.Have a pet at home, that also helps to increase your microbiome diversity.

7. Routine advice: Get plenty of quality sleep of 7-8 hours, exercise and eat in scheduled time preferably. All of them contribute to your gut health.

Thanks for reading.

Much love to all 💐