Anxiety and probiotics

Most of us these days will have had some experience with anxiety. Whether it was triggered by the pandemic for the first time, or you’ve struggled with it all of your life, it’s very common, and there has been a lot of research time focused on it of late.

While there can be many reasons for anxiety (hormones, trauma, sleep problems, drug reactions and much more), many of these things affect or are affected by gut health.

There are so many (often confusing) options to consider when wanting relief from anxiety: medicines, counselling, supplements, physical therapies, herbal medicines and more that it’s no wonder even selecting a path forward for yourself or someone you care about can be anxiety-inducing in itself!

This article isn’t about adding to that list, but rather acknowledging that most of our brain biochemistry is affected by what goes on in our guts, so it makes sense that a programme for easing anxiety should include a look at what is going on down there.

A scientific review published in May 2019 in General Psychiatry suggests that the gut microbiome regulate brain function by way of the gut-brain axis (a communication network through which the brain and gut influence each other).

A lot of this communication is via the Vagus nerve, which connects the gut and brain. It communicates using neurotransmitters (such as serotonin and glutamate) and gut hormones, all of which play a vital role in sleep, mood, pain, stress and hunger.

Most of the evidence for treating anxiety by rectifying a microbiome (bacteria) imbalance in the gut is in favour of the rhamnosus strain of Lactobaccillus, with studies showing that it could significantly reduce this debilitating condition.

As always, there are considerations to be made before popping another pill, even a probiotic, e.g. what dose, how often, how long for, and what to expect/watch for. Getting your gut microbiome tested is generally a good idea before starting to take isolated probiotics, as there may be more to it than this for you, and you may wish to understand if you have any infections in your gut at the same time.

For the latest gut function testing, and advice on probiotics for anxiety, we’re here to help.