If you have chronic gut problems, you could have a brain problem. This is especially true if you’ve had a head injury or if you also suffer from worsening memory, brain fog, cognitive decline, or other symptoms of poor brain function.

Chronic digestive complaints — indigestion, acid reflux, constipation, burping, gas, bloating, diarrhea, pain, or irritable bowel disorders — are common complaints of a brain that is not functioning well.

The brain gives orders to the gut through the vagus nerve, which then tells the gut to digest food, repair and regenerate the gut lining, push food through the intestines (motility), and many other functions.

When brain function declines, the brain doesn’t give the vagus nerve enough input. As a result, constipation, leaky gut, food sensitivities, irritable bowel disorders, and other problems can arise.

This is one reason why people with a head injury or dementia have chronic gut complaints.

Exercise the vagus nerve to address gut problems

In functional neurology, we conduct a neurological exam to evaluate areas of the brain that are not functioning well. We then provide activities to activate or dampen different areas of the brain, depending on your needs, to improve function. This in turn can improve communication between the vagus nerve and the gut.

However, sometimes you can activate the vagus nerve yourself at home with some very simple daily activities.

Vagus nerve exercises

A few simple tests can tell you if your vagus nerve may not be sufficiently active:

• You don’t have much of a gag reflex; when you say, “ahhh” the uvula (the little punching bag at the back of your throat) does not rise much
• When you listen to your abdomen with a stethoscope, you hear virtually no rumbling noises — a healthy gut makes intermittent rumbling noises.

Here are some simple exercises to activate the vagus nerve:

Gargle vigorously several times a day. Gargling contracts the back of the throat, which activates the vagus nerve. Gargle each drink of a glass of water several times a day. Gargle vigorously and for a good length of time, ideally until your eyes tear (it may take a while to build up to that.)

Sing loudly. If you are alone at home or in the car, spend some time singing as loudly as you can. This also activates the back of the throat and hence the vagus.

Gag. Using a tongue depressor, which you can buy from Amazon, gently press on the back of your tongue to make yourself gag. Please do not poke the back of your throat. Do this several times a day, again, ideally until your eyes tear. Gargling and singing are like sprints for the vagus nerve, whereas gagging is strength training.

Coffee enemas. Please Google instructions for doing a coffee enema (or email me for a How-To guide). Hold the enema solution as long as you can. That, together with compounds in coffee that stimulate nerve receptors, will help activate the vagus nerve.

This is a simple overview of how to improve gut function by activating the brain. For more customized advice, please contact my office, 704-895-2240

You’ve probably heard it over and over: Stress raises the risk of disease. But how do you know if your stress is the disease-causing kind? It’s helpful to know some signs and tests to let you know.

Severe stress can either cause you to be fatigued all the time, wired all the time, or a mix of both. Or maybe stress manifests as sleep issues.

It’s not uncommon for people to become so used to being stressed out they fail to realize it’s an issue.

Symptoms of fatigue-based stress

• Fatigue
• Slow to get going in the morning
• Energy crash in the afternoon
• Craving sweets, caffeine, or nicotine
• Unstable behavior; moodiness
• Shaky, light-headed, or irritable if meals are delayed
• Inability to stay asleep
• Dizziness when moving from sitting to standing

Symptoms of wired stress

• Excess belly fat
• Insulin resistance (high blood sugar)
• Insomnia
• Not feeling rested in the morning
• Women grow facial hair; men grow breasts
• PCOS in women (polycystic ovarian syndrome).

How to do a lab test for stress

You can also do a lab test to measure stress levels using your saliva; it’s called an adrenal salivary panel. Your adrenal glands are two small glands that sit atop each kidney that secrete stress hormones.

The best way to use the adrenal salivary panel is do the test a second time after following a health protocol. This shows you whether your health is improving.

This is because stress is always caused by something else, such as low or high blood sugar, an infection, or autoimmune disease.

Adrenal health should improve as you manage these conditions. If things do not improve, it means you must keep searching to find out what is taxing the body.

Measuring your sleep-wake cycle

Another way to gauge stress is to look at your sleep-wake cycle, or circadian rhythm.

Are you alert in the morning and sleepy at night? An abnormal circadian rhythm is one symptom of adrenal stress.

Your primary stress hormone, cortisol, should be high in the morning and low at night. Many people have a backwards rhythm causing fatigue in the morning and insomnia at night. Or, instead of a gradual decline of cortisol during the day, it may suddenly drop in the afternoon, causing an energy crash.

Where are you on the stress scale?

By measuring several markers, the adrenal saliva test can tell you whether you are in:

• The “alarm reaction” of high adrenal hormones
• Adrenal exhaustion and chronic tiredness
• Somewhere in between

You do not necessarily have to progress from alarm reaction to adrenal fatigue. It’s possible to jump between phases, or stay in one phase for years.

The adrenal saliva test also measures immune cells called total SIgA. This measures how stress is impacting your immune system. If SIgA is low, it can mean you are more susceptible to food intolerances, infections, and weakened immunity.

Start with blood sugar stability to manage stress

Although diet and lifestyle factors are important in managing stress, the most common cause of chronic stress is a blood sugar imbalance. Addressing high or low blood sugar are vital to addressing chronic stress.

Additionally, various herbal and nutritional compounds can profoundly influence adrenal function. For instance, herbs called adrenal adaptogens are very beneficial regardless which stage you are in.

Ask my office how you can support your adrenal health, 704-895-2240.

Gut health is a massive topic.  There is no way to cover it in 1 episode, or 10.  This episode lays the groundwork by covering gut anatomy and physiology.  It then forays into the microbiota, food sensitivities, GERD, and your stools.  This is a nice 10,000 foot view to get you started.