Can Exercise Improve My Intestinal Health?

Can Exercise Improve My Intestinal Health?

Inside our gut is our gut microbiome, home to billions of tiny insects, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other organisms. Researchers say that they are beginning to understand all the ways in which our natural gut affects our health. To date, evidence suggests that microorganisms in our gut, when diverse and healthy, can help digest, regulate our immune system, help protect against certain diseases, and strengthen our immune system.

A lot of data suggests that exercise is part of the equation, too.

There is a lot that happens when we exercise - we allow more oxygen to reach our brain and bloodstream, our basic body temperature rises, and our blood flow resumes. Researchers suspect that these conditions are too good for the germs found in our microbiomes to thrive, even though the exact mechanisms are still unknown, said Taylor Valentino, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where he studied the relationship between muscle development. and microbiome.

"Exercise causes important changes that help the gut bacteria to thrive and change, and, accordingly, we find molecules that our bodies can use," said Drs. Valentino.

That means regular exercise can help support healthy gut ⎯ and further research suggests that healthy gut may be linked to improved function.

Science Says Exercise Makes Healthy Intestines

In short, many germs in our gut have a symbiotic relationship with our bodies, which means they support the body's functioning and our bodies support the health and growth of these microorganisms. They produce vitamins, fatty acids, and amino acids used for such things as immune function, digestion, mood control, and more.

Regular exercise speeds up the process, increases the diversity of microbes in the gut, and encourages bacteria to thrive, says Jacob Allen, PhD, assistant professor of physical therapy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

And there is a growing body of research suggesting that exercise actually stimulates the digestive gut microbiome.

In a study published in 2018 in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Dr. Allen's team recruited 32 adults who were not regular exercises at the beginning of the study; half of the group was fat, and half were of normal weight.

Both groups were assigned a six-week vigorous exercise routine, starting with a 30-minute fast-paced workout and up to a throw-in class three times a week. (The researchers did not adjust participants' diets or eating habits.) Then both groups were asked to stop exercising for the next six weeks.

Blood and fecal samples, as well as aerobic fitness measurements, were recorded at the beginning of the study, after six weeks of exercise, and after six weeks of inactivity. On all boards, participants had high levels of short-chain fatty acids (the key to reducing inflammation and controlling blood sugar levels) and intestinal bacteria that produced after six weeks of exercise. After the next six weeks without exercise, their bowels returned to normal, as they had been before the study.

The microbiome is active and responsive, not only to the food you put in it, but also to how you walk all day, Allen says. "Through this study, we saw how exercise changes that biological system," he explains, as well as the effect of those changes (meaning increased or decreased healthy production of fatty chain acid).

A study published in 2017 on PLoS One that followed 40 women aged 18 to 40 also showed that exercise helps improve gut microbiota formation. Half of the group exercises for at least three hours over a period of seven days; the other half was exercising less than 1.5 hours a week. Wild specimens and genetic DNA sequences reveal significant differences in the levels of 11 species of bacteria. Women who exercised had higher levels of viruses that promote health (such as Roseburia hominis and Akkermansia muciniphila).

In a mouse study published in 2016 in Immunology and Cell Biology, Marc Cook, PhD, an assistant professor at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensville, and the American College of Sports Medicine-certified gymnastics, and his team found that could increase numbers of Lactobacillus (a bacterium linked to low cholesterol and helping with the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and reducing diarrhea and loose loosening) in the colon.

"This may be one way that exercise strengthens the intestinal barrier function and reduces inflammation in order to improve health," said Dr. Cook.

Does A Healthy Gut Help Improve Your Performance?

Valentino points to a study published in 2019 in Nature Medicine (PDF) that found samples of high-level marathon runners for another virus, called Veillonella, compared to non-runners. The concentration of this microbe was high after exercise and increased significantly after finishing the race.

Veillonella is a lactate-eating microbe - produced by our bodies during strenuous exercise - and converts it into propionate, a short-chain fatty acid that increases our energy levels. Scientists at Harvard Medical School after the study suggested that exercise causes Veillonella bacteria to multiply in the gut to gain the extra energy needed for endurance work.

5 Ways to Make Your Exercise Routine Ready for the Intestines

Are certain types of exercise good for the intestines? Here's what the experts say:

1. Focus on Cardio

At present, research linking exercise with improved intestinal health is focused on aerobic exercise, and is progressively more resistant to training such as weight lifting. That doesn't mean pumping iron will not help the health of your gut, just that the scientific community has not yet explored the area, Allen said.

Allen had participants in the above study who did aerobic or cardiovascular exercise (such as running or cycling) three days a week for 30 to 60 minutes with a target heart rate of 60 percent of their maximum heart rate, working up to 5 percent 75. At 60 percent, you should be able to speak comfortably and maintain normal breathing, while 75 percent is classified as "vigorous exercise," where you can break a sweat and breathe faster, Cook said.

Other exercises, such as rowing, swimming, or jumping, are ways to indulge your cardio, too, says Cook.

2. Do not change

In order to keep the production of good bacteria in your gut constant, you will need to keep exercising, making it part of your whole lifestyle.

"Consistency is the first thing because you can lose good results if you don't keep exercising," Cook said. Note: in Allen's study, participants' intestinal microbiomes changed within six weeks of exercise, but recurred within six weeks when they stopped working, too.

Just as you will lose your energy if you stop running for a few weeks, your gut microbiome will lose the production of good bacteria if you stop exercising, Cook warns.

3. Start small

If you start in the first square and are not used to exercising, feel free to come in, says Valentino. "Don't move from the sofa to the marathon," he warns. First, you don’t want to get hurt, and you want to build a lasting habit.

He says: “The goal is to give your microbiome a regular source of fat through exercise.

4. Get Outdoors

Exposure to the environment increases our exposure to various ecosystems, as well as to viruses within them. "When we are outdoors, running in a park, or near the ocean, we breathe in the very diverse communities of airborne pathogens," said Christopher Lowry, PhD, ethics specialist and assistant professor at the University of. Colorado in Boulder, where his research focuses on the gut microbiome and anxiety-related disorders.

He points out that a study in Finland found that children who play outside in the wild, in the dust and between plants and flowers, have a richer, more diverse gut microbiome and an immune system that does not swell when compared with their peers in an urban nursing home. setting.

5. Don't Forget Healthy Eating

What you put on your plate every day has a huge impact on your intestinal health like your exercise program, says Cook. Before you go shopping and order a meal, be careful: the gut microbiome prefers cooked foods, which are full of germs and yeast.

Natural probiotics include:

• Yogurt
• Kefir
• Kombucha
• Miso
• Sauerkraut
• Kimchi

Your gut microbiome thrives on a variety of plants, too. That means you have to load vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. A study published in the American Society for Microbiology in May 2018 sought to eat 30 different plants a week to strengthen the diversity of your microbiome and increase intestinal health.