Listen to Your Body for a Healthy Gut

Let’s talk about altitude, stress, and gut health. In the past few weeks, I traveled to Colorado and Florida. When I was in Colorado, I experienced gut discomfort more often than normal, especially after dinner and when I was sleeping. Since my diet didn’t change, I wondered if altitude had something to do with it.

The town that I visited sits at 9,000 feet above sea level, and of course, this time of year is cold and the air is thin. By doing quick research, I found a lot of studies and articles that affirmed the effects of high altitude and gut discomfort. Basically, low oxygen conditions create an acidic energy depleted environment that can irritate or damage intestinal barrier cells. Inflammation can increase due to hypoxia and can also damage the intestinal barrier.

When I’m visiting Colorado, I tend to do a lot of exercise, whether it be winter skiing or summer hiking. Exercise can make gut conditions worse, and since I’m always a short-term visitor, my body never really adjusts to the altitude.

So, what can we do about it? Evidently curcumin can help. Curcumin helps reduce inflammation and promotes nitric oxide (NO). NO helps maintain healthy blood vessels, which can be compromised at higher altitudes. So, get some Turmeric where curcumin hides, exercise less, and hydrate with herbal teas and water. Hopefully your gut will feel better.

When I’m at sea level and especially at home, my gut can act up due to stressful situations. Stress, which I wrote about in an earlier blog, can do wonders on your body. In this case I looked at some research and found that the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the fight or flight that’s triggered by mental stress, can reshape the gut microbiome. This raises levels of IAA (indole-3-acetate) that prevents intestinal cells from becoming protector cells.

These findings were in mice studies; however, as the gut is closely associated with everything in the body, it would make sense that stress would have the same affect in human gut health. All of us have had a “nervous” stomach when anxiety and stress reach certain levels, and of course, since every body is different, the affects will be different as well.

Other than drinking our destress tea, you can alter your diet during stressful times, avoiding foods that may taste great but are gut irritants. Avoid alcohol and drink water and tea, and simply pray or find quiet time to calm yourself. For me, I do all of these and exercise for stress relief.

To sum up, listen to your body and keep your gut happy. Buy our Teatox and Detox and eat healthy and well. Until next time.