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Stressed mouse brain sends gut messages that reduce beneficial bacteria levels
- morninglight 2y agoHans Selye for the win!
- card_zero 2y agoWhy though? Am under stress! Quickly, contract inflammatory bowel disease! How will that help?
- datameta 2y agoMaybe it isn't a beneficial adaptation of our system but rather a direct response of the microbiota to environmental change.
- GuB-42 2y agoStress puts the body into emergency mode, boosting strength, awareness, etc... to prepare for a fight or flight response. Less urgent processes like digestion can wait, and they are effectively put on halt to save energy for more pressing matters. Of course, it is not good for the guts, but the consequences can be dealt with later, if we survived the stressful encounter. It totally makes sense, but it can become a problem if fight or flight is not the appropriate response and stress lingers for longer than necessary, as it is all too common in modern human society.
- cynicalsecurity 2y agoStress suppresses digestive system. Roughly speaking, it redirect energy from stomach into muscles. Instead of becoming sleepy and relaxed to digest food, the animal becomes focused and ready to run from a threat. This is an evolutionary mechanism to let the animal escape from a predator. However, if the stress is permanent and never goes away, the digestive system become suppressed for way too long and gets damaged.
- spondylosaurus 2y agoYep, the sympathetic nervous system is your "fight or flight" response, and then your parasympathetic nervous system is "rest and digest."
- napierzaza 2y ago[dead]
- FjordWarden 2y agoWhy do your lungs and stomach share the same passage? It's a product of evolution by natural selection. During an asthma attack, cortisone is administered to suppress the immune system. Interestingly, cortisone closely resembles cortisol, the body's natural stress hormone.
- m3kw9 2y agoMaybe less blood flow gets directed there when stressed
- robincsl 2y agoI’ve just finished reading "The Immune Mind" by Dr Monty Lyman, and I can recommend it if you’d like to dive deeper into how our mind, body and gut are all different parts of the same defense system. One imbalance in one area can affect the immune system overall. Very enlightening and made me took my chronic stress a lot more seriously.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- spondylosaurus 2y agoThis isn't mentioned in TFA, but a relevant tip for anyone interested: there are two "good bacteria" probiotics I know of that have been studied in people with IBS and IBD: VSL-3 and Visibiome. However, the formula currently sold as Visibiome is the same formula that used to be sold as VSL-3, whereas VSL-3 was forced to change their formula after a legal dispute. So most of the studies, because most of them predate this name/formula split, talk about VSL-3 but are referring to the active ingredient in Visibiome. Some people report success with one or the other, but I definitely prefer Visibiome overall.
- imtringued 2y agoWhy would they refer to a specific brand instead of the bacterial strains?
- spondylosaurus 2y agoIt's a combo of a half-dozen strains, so I assume it's just easier to use the short brand name instead of listing them all over and over throughout the paper.
- keernan 2y agoINA Scientist but it seems to me that the fight or flight response is so primitive that it might be more harmful than helpful to the modern human. Aggression too.
- mantas 2y agoAggression is like nuclear weapons. If nobody has it, all is good. But if somebody acquires it… playing field is tilted badly and everybody else needs it too. Fight or flight still has many uses. People still bump into legit critical situations over and over again. The bigger problem is that modern environment is not exactly built for well being of general population.
- Findecanor 2y agoThat does make me think if perhaps the same mechanism occurs in humans. I have had bowel cancer twice. Both times, it has occurred during particularly stressful times in my life.
- leobg 2y agoIn the Steve Jobs biography, the author notes that Steve believed his cancer to have been caused by a particularly stressful time in his life, even though a scientific link between stress and cancer had never been found. I’m quoting from memory here, but basically the same sentiment as the one you’re sharing it seems.