Psychobiomes

It Takes Guts!

-  ASHMITA BOOPATHY MOTURI

Human Stool samples are being poked and dug deep into, by leading researchers, to make futuristic drugs for depression and anxiety. Shit! Quite literally...no kidding.. in the gut, houses more microbes than our own body's cells? Collectively our gut microbes weigh about 2 kgs (in comparison...our human brain weighs only 1.4kgs). Did you even realize that these can influence our thoughts and bodies a lot more than any other organ (including our brain)? In fact long before microbes were discovered, some philosophers and physicians argued that the brain and gut were partners in shaping human behavior. The ancient Greeks, for example, believed mental disorders arose when the digestive tract produced too much black bile.

Psychobiomes are the bacteria thriving in your gut (Gut Microbes), which can control how you think...what you think and all that you think...

Gut microbes secrete messenger molecules that hop into your blood and take a ride to the brain. Some trigger the vagus nerve, (runs from the brain to abdomen) quite like keys in a remote control... these are the moments when you feel that sudden tug and crunch in your tummy...and you thought they were butterflies in your tummy?!!!