YOUR 2025 BRAIN BRAWN • MINI RESOLUTION THE GUT MICROBIOME • WEEK 3

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Did you know that microbial changes in the GMB have been observed to influence brain physiology and cognitive function, and are further associated with cognitive aging and neuroinflammation? As mentioned in Week 1, specific GMB strains have been associated with MCI, and dysbiosis has been observed in Alzheimer’s Disease patients.
 
So, what can we do to protect against neurodegeneration of this caliber?
 
Interestingly, we each have a unique microbiome that is fully formed by the age of 3 but it is mutable, and variable based on environmental and lifestyle factors. In theory, this means each of us has the ability to alter our gut flora in a positive or negative direction.
 
Today, we’ll look at all our past mini resolutions focused on modifiable lifestyle factors and how we can apply them to positively alter our GMB to prevent cognitive decline.


Track Your Progress!
  
We urge you to stick with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track all your progress!
  
Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected]

Applying Our Past Mini Resolutions to Positively Alter Our GMB

We’ll start with exercise, sleep, diet and stress, which are, inarguably, four fundamental pillars of health in any area of study. Remember, you can always check out our Motivated Mondays blog to revisit any of these mini past resolutions!

 
Exercise and Your GMB
 
Exercise promotes a lot of good stuff in the GMB, and it is one of the few things we can study in humans because it is ethical to randomly assign people to exercise or not to! The information we have is not strictly observational, but interventional. Exercise has been shown to benefit the GMB and the gut-brain axis by reducing intestinal inflammatory biomarkers, enhancing gut motility, increasing diversity and increasing SCFAs. SCFAs are thought to enhance vagus nerve stimulation, assist with maintenance of the blood-brain barrier integrity and facilitate the communication in the bi-directional communication between the gut and brain. Exercise is so important to the GMB that a new term has been coined: the “muscle-gut-brain axis.”
 
It should be noted high exertion (think HIIT workouts, CrossFit, Hyrox), endurance exercise (running a marathon or cycling a century) or exercising in extreme heat transiently reduces the integrity of epithelial lining of the gut barrier.
So, let’s make sure we haven’t fallen off the exercise horse. If you don’t exercise currently, start with something as simple as 30 minutes of walking. If you already exercise, make sure that intensity is high enough to make you a little breathless. As always, consult your concierge physician before starting any exercise regimen.

Sleep and Your GMB
 
An observation has been noted between specific GMB flora and total sleep time, sleep efficiency (time asleep vs. time in bed), sleep quality (completion of sleep stages in our sleep architecture) and awakenings. Poor sleep may reduce GMB diversity and high-quality sleep may increase diversity. In some cases, the direction of the relationship is the GMB impacting sleep and, in other cases, the direction of the relationship is sleep impacting the GMB. In all likelihood, this will ultimately be confirmed as a bi-directional relationship.

Stress and Your GMB
 
Stress, whether acute or chronic, has been shown in both human and animal studies to reduce GI motility, weaken the integrity of the epithelial lining of the gut, alter the balance of bacterial species to dysbiosis and low diversity. All of which have been observed to increase systemic inflammation and impact neurological function and cognitive health. Manipulation of the gut to moderate the impact of stress and induce a sense of well-being is a growing area of research.
 
As previously discussed, the oral cavity is the gateway to the gut microbiome, so it should come as no surprise what you consume impacts the GMB! Let’s take a look at the past mini resolutions to eat more FnVs, avoid added sugar and stay hydrated.

FNVs and Your GMB
 
With regard to the GMB, fruit and vegetables (FnVs) exert their neuro-boosting power via their fiber, antioxidants, enzymes and phenols. These compounds favor production of beneficial bacteria and inhibit pathogenic bacteria. The metabolites produced by the beneficial bacteria serve multiple neuro-endocrine immune-metabolic functions, including providing energy for colon cells, driving GMB flora diversity to crowd out pathogens, acting as systemic chemical messengers and activating molecular pathways to the liver, brain, lung, pancreas and bones. Importantly, these compounds also help the body neutralize toxins and toxicants.

Sugar and Your GMB
 
What is the impact of sugar on the GMB? Sugar alters the diversity in the GMB towards dysbiosis - it increases the flora responsible for obesity and diabetes and reduces the flora responsible for immune function. Overall, this disrupts the integrity of the epithelial lining of the gut and promotes inflammation. So, let’s continue removing added sugar from as many meals as possible. Remember- the biggest bang for the no-added sugar buck is breakfast which, in America, is more like dessert than a health supportive meal. Let us know if you want that content, which includes the recipes, again. Keep in mind, “no-added sugar” does not entail using artificial sweeteners which might be worse than sugar for the GMB!

Hydration and Your GMB
 
An episodic reduction in total body water (TBW) hydration by just 1-2% results in impaired cognitive performance. Dehydration is also thought to accelerate Alzheimer’s disease. With regard to the GMB, there is limited research on hydration status. Early research by the American Gut Project has shown that hydration status is associated with increased diversity of beneficial bacteria in the GMB.
 
However, this may simply be that water consumption is a proxy for other health supportive behaviors with positive GMB outcomes. Keep in mind, the impact of water on the GMB can be impacted by the source of the water itself (tap, bottled, well,) and if it has been treated (filtered, chlorinated, fluoridated).

See you next week as we dive into the relationship between past micro resolutions, the GMB and cognitive health!