5 Warning Signs That Your Gut Bacteria Are Imbalanced
If you haven’t heard by now, gut health may be connected to many other aspects of our health.
Your gut bacteria can be your best friend or your worst enemy, depending on how much and what types of bacteria are flourishing.
We have over 100 trillion cells that make up our gut bacteria.
But these cells are not created equal and they can be altered by what we eat and how we live our lives.
The friendly bacteria can help with digestion, immune support, reducing inflammation, improving skin and even our moods (among many other things).
The bad bacteria can lead to a host of problems such as wrecking havoc on our digestive systems, mental issues, and skin problems.
The point isn’t to rid our body of all bacteria but to balance out each side and make sure healthy bacteria can flourish and limit the amount of bad bacteria.
To start, we need to know when our gut bacteria are out of balance.
Let’s take a look at 5 common warning signs to watch out for.
Sign 1: Digestive Issues
One of the first and potentially most prominent signs to look for is digestive issues and disorders.
These are big giveaways that your gut bacteria are out of whack — so don’t ignore them!
- Bloating
- Gas
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
- Heartburn / acid reflux
- Irritable Bowel Disease (including Crohn’s and Ulcerative colitis)
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Sign 2: Mental Issues
Research has and continues to show that your gut health affects the health of your brain.
Studies have shown that the bacteria in your gut produce neurotransmitters.
Another important topic is that individuals with certain mental disorders actually have disturbances in their gut bacteria.
Watch out for these mental issues that may be caused by imbalanced gut bacteria:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Autism
- Brain fog
Sign 3: Antibiotics
Antibiotics have been a great innovation of modern medicine.
However, if they’re used too often or incorrectly, it may cause major gut problems.
Antibiotics clear out bad bacteria from out systems, but in the process they also wipe out good bacteria that’s vital to our health.
Studies also show that the friendly bacteria lost while taking antibiotics don’t replenish themselves unless you assist the process such as by taking probiotic supplements.
Sign 4: Chronic Stress
We know that chronic, unmanaged stress is not good for our bodies.
It can lead to all kinds of bad health issues such as high blood pressure (and subsequently potential heart disease), suppression of the immune system, damage to muscle tissue, lowered tissue growth and mental issues.
On top of all that, chronic stress can wreck havoc on our digestive system.
When we experience high levels of stress for extended periods of time, it raises our cortisol levels to an unhealthy amount.
Too much cortisol in our systems can stop the gut from working properly.
Just image how imbalanced your bacteria could be from months or even years of chronic stress!
Sign 5: Skin Conditions
We are starting to discover the connection between the skin and the gut.
For a great number of skin conditions, the issue isn’t the skin itself but actually from an unhealthy gut.
If you have any of these skin conditions, you may have imbalanced gut bacteria:
- Acne
- Eczema
- Psoriasis
- Rosacea
In Conclusion…
It’s vital to be aware of the health of your gut, since it can greatly help or harm your overall health.
Be sure to look out for these warning signs that your gut bacteria are imbalanced.
Consult your doctor and do your best to live a healthy lifestyle such as getting regular exercise, eating nutritious foods, managing stress levels and getting adequate sleep.
Probiotics are also important for your health and are a great way to balance out the bacteria levels in the body.
If you need help finding the perfect probiotic, be sure to check the 10 best probiotic supplements!
