Hi Friends,
As we continue talking about our Gut Health, it is vital for us to understand how much power our microbiome has over our soul health. Just like our spirit and soul are intimately connected, even though they are two distinct parts of our human trinity, our gut and brain are interconnected too. They really are one and yet they can be thought of separately, just like our soul and spirit can be. Listen:
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Heb 4:12 NIV
The thoughts and attitudes of the heart. It is in the spirit that all our attitudes originate. Our soul is then effected by our spirit. If you are born again, then the union of our spirit with the Holy Spirit begins our transformation into the likeness of Jesus because we have placed our Faith in Him. As we mature spiritually, we lean on God more and more, which in turn, allows Him to mature our soul too. As we trust Him more, He grows our soul by renewing our minds, teaching us to control our emotions and aligning our will to His Holy Will. In other words, what is happening in our spirit directly affects what is going on in our soul- as one grows, so too does the other. This is the spirit-soul axis, if you will. The same is true with our physical bodies. There exists an intimate relationship between our gut and our brain that, if ignored, can effect our soul health for the negative. (Note: There is a big difference between mental, emotional and cognitive health, so when I say “soul health” I am referring to all three of these areas of the soul.) While we can look at each system, the gut and the brain, individually, it is a great mistake to dismiss the gut when we attempt to treat any issue of the soul.
The Gut-Brain Axis. Conventional medicine still thinks, if we have a mental/emotional/cognitive issue, then the problem must be exclusively in the brain’s chemistry. They say there must exist an imbalance of neurotransmitters (NT), for instance, so to help these conditions, they focus on ways to alter the substances and reactions in the brain. But science is starting to understand that the gut is intimately involved with all soul health challenges. For instance, when we consider emotional health issues like depression and anxiety, it is not helpful to center treatments that change NT in the brain. As a matter of fact, this new understanding has proved that most of our NT are produced in the gut, not the brain. They have found that 90-95% of our “happy NT,” serotonin, is made in the gut, as well as 50% of dopamine, our “reward NT.” This is important because, we may be “treating” the wrong area when trying to help people who suffer with these illnesses. This also may be a reason why medications that alter the brain’s chemistry do not help the majority of sufferers. They either 1- work poorly or 2- are very addictive, and as a result, do not work for long. Many pharmaceuticals end up causing more problems than they are thought to help, including further injuring our Gut Health. It becomes a vicious cycle where medications are given to help the brain, but they damage the gut, then the gut becomes more unhealthy causing the brain to have more problems, then the medications are increased, which cause more damage to the gut, and so on and so on…I hope you see where this is going! If we are sincerely interested in healing our soul health, then we have to start with the gut.
Interconnected. If our gut is not healthy, then our brain will not be healthy either. Our gut and brain are always in communication with one another. Through all these NT and other molecules, there are messages being sent from the gut to the brain and vice versa. With about 90% of the transmissions going from gut to brain, and only 10% from brain to gut, it has been found that the gut “talks” to the brain a lot more than the brain “talks” to the gut. This shows how much influence our Gut Health has over the brain and how it functions. Very often the gut is actually called our second brain, that’s how powerful it is in controlling our soul health. If we truly want to discover healing for mental illnesses like schizophrenia, emotional conditions like depression or anxiety and cognitive diseases like Alzheimers, we have to keep our Gut Health in mind.
If you or someone you love is afflicted with any type of soul health challenges, it is my hope that understanding this connection serves as an appetizer, getting you interested to do your own research. Next week we will talk about different things that affect our gut, which then affects our overall health, including our soul health. The more I understand how God has created our bodies to seamlessly interact between each system, each organ and even each cell, the more amazed I become with our physical anatomy. This awe helps me praise God more and more, which leads to more of that Abundant Life I desire. I know you want that too, so won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
God bless you Diane. Amen