Gut microbe health related to stress

Healthy gut helps maintain circadian rhythm that affects stress hormones production

A study has uncovered how microbes in one's gut helps manage stress by interacting with the body's circadian rhythms, or biological clock.

Researchers from the University College Cork, Ireland, found that the trillions of microorganisms in the gut—or the gut microbiome—control the hormones produced in response to stress in a time-dependent manner.

A healthy gut, thereby, helps in creating day-night rhythms in the production of stress hormones, whereas a reduced gut microbiome leads to a disrupted body clock and is related to altered rhythms in how stress hormones are produced, the team said.