Beyond Diet: Lifestyle Habits That Support the Gut-Brain Axis
Nurturing your gut-brain connection goes far beyond what’s on your plate. Your daily habits, from how you sleep to how you manage stress, send powerful signals to your digestive system. Integrating supportive lifestyle practices can amplify the benefits of a gut-friendly diet and create a holistic foundation for mental wellness.
Prioritize Restorative Sleep
Sleep is when your body and brain perform essential maintenance and repair. A lack of quality sleep can disrupt your gut microbiome, increase inflammation, and raise levels of the stress hormone cortisol. It’s a vicious cycle: poor sleep can harm your gut, and an unhappy gut can interfere with your ability to sleep well.
Creating a relaxing “wind-down” routine can signal to your body that it’s time to prepare for rest. Consider this simple, one-hour plan:
60 minutes before bed: Turn off bright overhead lights and switch to a soft lamp. Finish any chores or stimulating tasks.
45 minutes before bed: Put away all screens—phones, tablets, and televisions. The blue light they emit can suppress melatonin, the hormone that helps you sleep.
30 minutes before bed: Engage in a calming activity. Read a physical book, listen to soothing music, do some gentle stretching, or take a warm bath.
15 minutes before bed: Practice a simple relaxation technique. This could be deep breathing, a short meditation, or simply reflecting on one or two things you’re grateful for from the day.
Trying to go to bed and wake up around the same time each day, even on weekends, also helps regulate your body’s internal clock, which benefits both sleep quality and digestive regularity.
Incorporate Gentle Movement
You don’t need to run a marathon to reap the benefits of exercise. Regular, moderate movement is fantastic for both your gut and your mind. Physical activity can increase the diversity of your gut microbiome, improve digestion, and is a proven mood booster that releases endorphins.
Focus on finding a form of movement you genuinely enjoy, which makes it easier to stick with. Some accessible ideas include:
A brisk 15-20 minute walk each day, perhaps after a meal.
Chair yoga or gentle stretching, which can be done at home with online videos.
Gardening, which combines light physical activity with time in nature.
The key is consistency. A short walk every day is more beneficial than one intense workout once a week.
Manage Stress with Mindfulness Techniques
As we’ve discussed, your gut is incredibly sensitive to psychological stress. Developing a toolkit of stress-management skills is therefore a direct way to support your gut health. Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to the present moment without judgment, and it can be a powerful antidote to the chronic worry that keeps our stress response activated.
Here are two practical techniques to try:
Worked Mini-Example 1: The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique
When you feel anxiety rising, it can pull you into a spiral of worried thoughts. This technique brings you back to the present moment using your senses. Pause and gently notice:
5 things you can see: Look around you and name five objects, like “my blue coffee mug,” “the green plant on the sill,” “a crack in the ceiling,” “my shoelace,” “a dust bunny.”
4 things you can feel: Notice the physical sensations. “The soft fabric of my sweater,” “the solid chair beneath me,” “my feet flat on the floor,” “the cool air on my skin.”
3 things you can hear: Listen closely. “The hum of the refrigerator,” “a bird chirping outside,” “the sound of my own breathing.”
2 things you can smell: “The faint scent of soap,” “the dusty smell of an old book.” If you can’t smell anything, just imagine two smells you enjoy.
1 thing you can taste: “The lingering taste of my morning tea.” Or, you can take a sip of water and notice its taste.
This simple exercise interrupts the cycle of anxiety and anchors you in the safety of the present moment, sending a calming signal through the gut-brain axis.
Worked Mini-Example 2: A “Worry Time” Routine
Constant, low-level worry can be exhausting and disruptive to your gut. Instead of letting worries pop up all day, try scheduling a specific time to deal with them. Set aside 15 minutes each day, perhaps in the late afternoon. During this “Worry Time,” sit down with a pen and paper and write down everything that’s on your mind. If a solution comes to you, write it down. If not, just getting it on paper can help. When the 15 minutes are up, fold the paper and put it away. If a worry pops up outside of this time, gently tell yourself, “Thank you for the reminder, I will think about that during my scheduled Worry Time.” This practice can help contain anxiety, reducing its constant impact on your system.
