[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Hitting the gym—or the home gym—may be as good for your gut as it is for the rest of your body. Existing research shows a link between physical fitness and better gut health, and emerging science suggests your microbiome may even influence how motivated you feel to tackle your next workout.
How exercise affects the gut microbiome
What makes exercise so powerful for gut health?
Increasing your fitness level also increases the number of bacteria in your gut that produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs).
SCFAs perform many crucial functions in your gut and throughout your body. As a major source of energy for colonic cells, these fatty acids strengthen your gut lining and help prevent
leaky gut. They also reduce inflammation, which may lower your risk for conditions like
irritable bowel disease (IBD) and colon cancer. Some research suggests that SCFAs may even
regulate the gut hormones that control appetite.
SCFAs also appear to affect metabolism. Studies show a connection between high SCFA levels and a boost in
mitochondrial capacity: the amount of energy your body can produce. Your sympathetic nervous system—which activates in response to the strain of exercise—interacts with SCFAs, too: the fatty acids activate receptors that prompt your body to release norepinephrine. This hormone
increases your heart rate and helps your body burn fat for fuel. Together, these effects could help you perform better during workouts.
Exercise intensity and gut microbiome benefits
When it comes to reaping these benefits, the type of exercise you do matters. Moderate-intensity activity, such as brisk walking or light cycling, is associated with an increase in SCFA-producing bacteria, but excessive intense exercise can have the opposite effect. Short term high-intensity workouts, however, appear to positively impact
microbial diversity, which is associated with better overall health.
But there's a catch: the gut health benefits of exercise only last as long as you
keep up with your workouts. To boost SCFAs long term, you need to follow a consistent regimen.
†
How the gut microbiome affects exercise
Being consistent isn't always easy. Life gets busy, and some days you just plain don't want to work out. Or maybe you want to start a workout program, but you hate to exercise. According to
recent study published in Nature, gut microbes could be the culprit behind your lack of motivation.
In the study, mice that spent more time voluntarily running on their wheels had higher levels of two specific gut microbes:
Eubacterium rectale and
Coprococcus eutactus. These microbes produce metabolites called fatty acid amines (FAAs). The FAAs stimulated endocannabinoid receptors on
sensory nerves in the mice's guts, which caused dopamine levels to rise in a key area of the brain associated with motivation and reward.
This effect suggests that the active mice exercised more than their less-active counterparts because it gave them a greater sense of reward. The researchers suspected that the FFA-producing gut microbes elicited an "exercise high" that motivated increased activity.
To test whether gut microbes were indeed responsible for the dopamine boost, researchers used broad-spectrum antibiotics to wipe out gut bacteria in the active mice. As a result, the mice showed about a 50% decrease in running performance. The process also worked in reverse: when the study's authors transplanted microbiomes from active mice into mice with no gut microbes—known as "germ-free" mice—the recipient mice
became more active.
Earlier research also shows that gut microbiome composition may influence muscle growth as well as performance. In one study, researchers observed that germ-free mice had lower levels of the growth hormone IGF-1 and experienced more muscle atrophy than mice with microbiomes. The neurotransmitters that control signals between nerves and muscles were also less active in germ-free mice. Giving the mice SCFA supplements offered some improvement, but full microbiome transplants produced better results. This led researchers to conclude that numerous
microbiome functions and metabolic pathways are involved in the interplay between the gut and exercise.
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Your exercise regimen for better gut health
Unfortunately, you might not be able to rely on your gut microbes to make you feel happy about exercising. The authors of the
Nature paper caution against assuming that humans have the same pathway that caused elevated dopamine in the active mine.
However, you
can make changes to take advantage of the potential performance boost that SCFAs appear to offer. Seeing improvements in your workouts is in itself a great motivation to stay active.
Diet changes to improve exercise
To feed the SCFA-producing bacteria in your gut, load up on prebiotic-rich foods like whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables, and cut out sugary ultra-processed foods like cookies, pastries, candy, and soda. Consider
taking a probiotic if you have symptoms of dysbiosis or recently finished a course of antibiotics. The good bacteria in these supplements can protect your gut from pathogens and encourage a healthy microbial balance.
Exercising for your microbiome
Mixing up your workouts to include a combination of
strength training, HIIT and moderate cardio throughout the week can prevent the negative effects that excessive high-intensity training may have on your microbiome.
Varying your workouts can also help you get enough exercise to enjoy maximum benefits for health and longevity. Although the CDC recommends a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week, some studies suggest
doubling these amounts for best results. If this seems overwhelming,
start small, and work your way up to longer sessions as your strength and endurance improve.
Even if your microbiome can't make you a beast at the gym, maintaining a consistent, diverse exercise program and an SCFA-boosting diet will still support longstanding, vibrant gut health.
†These statements have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title="Featured Products" border_width="2"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title="Featured Products" border_width="2"][vc_row_inner equal_height="yes" content_placement="middle" gap="35"][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="164616" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1674917991921{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="https://www.vitacost.com/renew-life-ultimate-flora-ultimate-care-probiotic"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="164618" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1674918009273{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="https://www.vitacost.com/terra-origin-healthy-gut-mint"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="164617" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1674918031477{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="https://www.vitacost.com/vitacost-probiotic-15-35-15-strains-35-billion-cfu-per-serving-60-vegetarian-capsules"][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]
