How your Digestive Health may affect your Brain Health

How your Digestive Health may affect your Brain Health & Why?

When people say they’re going with their gut instincts, they usually mean they’re going to do something they

feel is the right thing to do, not that they are literally thinking with their stomach. But recent medical research shows that is exactly what is happening. Your gut has a brain, called the Enteric Nervous System (ENS), and it communicates with the brain in your head in ways that affect your thinking.

What your gut’s brain thinks about

Your ENS thinks about your digestive processes; everything that happens from the moment you put food in your mouth, and all the way to when you expel it as waste. The ENS controls your digestion, it decides when to release enzymes, and what enzymes to release. It controls the flow of blood to your intestines and regulates nutrient absorption. But the reason the ENS is getting a lot of attention right now from scientists is that it communicates with the brain and influences what people think and feel.

The best example of brain-ENS communication is what happens to people with Lupus. People who suffer from Lupus are known to have a much higher risk of suffering from depression, and may develop reversible dementia-like symptoms. They also commonly suffer from “Lupus brain fog” which is a combination of forgetfulness, difficulty in concentrating, and memory loss. Until the brain-gut connection was discovered, the cause of Lupus brain fog was a mystery. Now scientists are suggesting that it is caused by “communication” from the ENS. Learn More

People with Lupus have found that alkaline water helps them improve their digestive health, and  fight the symptoms of Lupus. For example, Marisa Zeppieri-Canura is a director on the board of the Lupus Foundation of America. She endorses Life Ionizers because the alkaline water from her Life Ionizer has helped her in her fight against Lupus, and because the alkaline water from her machine enables her to detoxify her fruits and vegetables of toxins such as pesticide residues.

How alkaline water can influence the ENS to think “good” thoughts

Your ENS can trigger thoughts of anxiety and depression from simple digestive upsets such as constipation and diarrhea. Many bowel problems are the result of harmful aerobes flourishing in the gut. Research shows that alkaline water with high antioxidant potential suppresses the growth of harmful aerobes, and it supports the growth of beneficial probiotics.

The reason alkaline water has a beneficial effect on probiotics is that probiotic bacteria are anaerobes, they thrive in low oxidation environments. On the other hand, the harmful aerobes love oxidative environments. Alkaline water has a high negative Oxidation Reduction Potential, so drinking it creates a low oxidation environment in your gut. The healthy probiotic anaerobes thrive, and the harmful aerobes get suppressed. The beneficial effect of alkaline water on digestive health was the reason that Japan certified water ionizers as medical devices.

The microbes in your gut have a huge, but currently not well-understood effect on what your ENS thinks when it talks to your brain. When your gut is happy and healthy, your ENS will think good thoughts. Some health experts suggest that our health – good or bad – begins in the gut. Research on the ENS suggests that they may be right.

Could alkaline water make a difference in your digestive health? Call us for a free no obligation alkaline health consultation

References

Vorobjeva, N.V. “Selective stimulation of the growth of anaerobic microflora in the human intestinal tract by electrolyzed reducing water.” Medical Hypotheses. Elsevier, 14 Jun 2004. Web. 5 Jul 2013. <http://www.medical-hypotheses.com/article/S0306-9877(04)00489-X/abstract>.

Johns-Hopkins Medicine “The Brain-Gut Connection” Johns-Hopkins Healthy Aging. Johns-Hopkins N.D Retrieved from the web 16 May 2016 http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/healthy_aging/healthy_body/the-brain-gut-connection