The gut microbiome plays many important roles in your body. The gut microbiome is responsible for regulating your metabolism, aiding in digestion, protecting you against dangerous bacteria, disposing of toxins, managing your hormones, and creating vitamins. With so many critical body functions, it makes sense that your gut health is intricately linked to your overall health.
If you have an unhealthy gut, it can impact your overall health in many ways. Here are some telltale signs of poor gut health that indicate you may benefit from seeing a gut health doctor online.
1. Gastrointestinal Discomfort
If you struggle with constant GI discomfort and stomach aches, you may have compromised gut health. This gastrointestinal discomfort could include abdominal pain, constipation, gas, bloating, nausea, diarrhea, and heartburn. While these types of stomach pains are common, they are not normal. Fortunately, determining which foods make your body feel bad and taking steps to improve your diet and your gut health can help relieve your pain and discomfort.
2. Trouble Sleeping
Struggling to get a good night’s sleep? Do you wake up feeling unrefreshed? Sleep disturbances and poor gut health are often connected. Your gut and brain communicate through your hormones, and certain bacteria can reduce your production of serotonin. In turn, this gut bacteria may interfere with your sleep, causing a vicious cycle, since poor sleep may also affect your gut!
3. Chronic Diarrhea, Headache, and Fatigue
If you have a specific combination of symptoms that includes chronic diarrhea, headache, and fatigue, you could be dealing with a mysterious medical condition known as leaky gut syndrome. This condition refers to an unhealthy gut lining that has gaps between cells. These gaps allow toxins, bad bacteria, and even partially digested food to penetrate into the tissues beneath it, triggering inflammation and damaging gut bacteria.
If you think you have the leaky gut syndrome, a gut health doctor can help you change your diet to remove the inflammatory foods that are damaging your gut, so you can rebuild the gut flora.
4. Mood Swings
Because the gut plays a role in hormone regulation, your gut health is also connected to your stress responses and mental health. For this reason, the foods you eat and the state of your digestive tract could potentially affect your mood. If you’re struggling with increased anxiety and unexplained mood swings, your gut may be part of the problem.
5. Frequent Illness or Infection
Your gut plays a role in your immunity. Lower levels of gut bacteria can lower your immune response and lead to a higher rate of illness and infection. If you feel like you’re always getting sick or dealing with a recurring infection that just won’t heal, consider talking to a gut health doctor. Normal gut bacteria may help stimulate your immune system and increase your resistance to sickness.
Your gut microbiome is incredibly complex and important to your overall health. Your gut health is linked to not only your digestive health but to your mental health, mood, immune system, endocrine system, and more. Take the first step to improving your gut health. Sign up with Heally to talk to a gut health doctor online.
