00:00Gut health is defined as the overall health of your digestive system,
00:04including the balance of microorganisms that live in your gut,
00:08known as the gut microbiome.
00:10It's crucial for digestion, nutrient absorption and immune function,
00:15and an unhealthy gut can affect your mental health and contribute to chronic diseases.
00:20Some other tips the NHS recommends for good gut health include beating stress to ease tummy troubles
00:26and stopping smoking in order to prevent reflux.
00:30You know, before we started on this journey, we thought our guts were just our stomachs.
00:35It turns out it's a pretty big piece of kit.
00:38It's basically everything from mouth to bottom, and there's lots of different organs involved.
00:45And your digestive system is, as we say, a huge part of it.
00:50But actually, a lot of what we're talking about when it comes to gut health is the microbiome,
00:54which feels like a big word for early evening.
00:58But it's essentially the bacteria, fungi and viruses that live in, around and on us.
01:03And the reason we associate a lot of them with gut health is because most of them live within our large intestine.
01:08And they're super important to our health.
01:10Essentially, we couldn't live without them.
01:12And a lot of us don't know.
01:13I think we've all understood when we've seen the person we fancy,
01:16we get butterflies in our tummy or we have to do public speaking and you feel like you need to run to the toilet.
01:20I think, you know, anecdotally, we've always sort of said words like gut instinct and trust your gut.
01:25You know, you just have to watch a couple of hours of TV on any program and you see it.
01:30But I think, you know, so we've always sort of known that that direction went down the way.
01:34But actually, what science is showing us now is that it's bidirectional.
01:37So the signals actually go up the way as well.
01:40So our gut and brain are actually physically connected by something called the vagus nerve.
01:45Unfortunately, nothing to do with Las Vegas.
01:46But there we go.
01:47So there is actually a physical, we like to see that at the gut stuff, we call it the phone line.
01:51And then they're actually connected chemically as well.
01:53So that's almost like your WhatsApp.
01:55So your gut and your brain are actually talking to each other all day, every day.
01:59And I think, you know, we were quite fascinated that how did we live, you know, 10 years ago when we were 25, 25 years of our life not knowing that.
02:07And I think just actually knowing that is such an amazing tool to have in your armory when it comes to things like stress and anxiety.
02:14The difference between correlation and causation.
02:17So am I experiencing gut issues because I'm stressed or am I stressed, is my stress causing gut issues?
02:24And I think that for a lot of people, that's, you know, the crux of what we're trying to uncover.
Comments