The Gut Microbiome: A Microscopic Powerhouse for Health and Longevity

At Foodguides.com, we devote much attention to discussing the gut microbiome. And that attention is well-deserved! As a quick recap: The gut microbiome is a colony of bacteria that weighs about 4.5 pounds and lives in our GI tract. The health of this bacterial colony greatly impacts our overall well-being, as a healthy gut relates to a healthy mind, a lower risk of disease, and a greater quality of life. The simplest way to describe what a healthy gut microbiome looks like is: a greater diversity of bacterial species.

Exercise & Your Gut Bugs: How Movement Promotes a Diverse Microbiome

Centuries of research have linked exercise to greater health and vitality. One of the benefits of exercise that has been more recently understood is how it impacts the gut microbiome. Regular exercisers display a more diverse (healthier) gut microbiome than that of sedentary people. However, there appears to be an upper ceiling on how much exercise can benefit gut health. High-intensity exercise regimens, like those of endurance athletes, can produce some negative changes in gut microflora.

Starting an exercise program (3d/wk) has been shown to increase gut microflora diversity within a period of as little as six weeks. Also, these changes are reversed within a few weeks of cessation of regular exercise. So, the best plan for gut health appears to be conducting regular, moderate-intensity (~60% VO2 max, or a pace you could sustain for 20-30 continuous minutes) exercise in a sustainable way! As I often say, find a way to move you enjoy so you can stick with it.

Beyond Digestion: The Gut-Brain Connection and Exercise

The healthy gut microbiome communicates better with other physiological systems, particularly the neuroendocrine and immune systems. This communication is accomplished chiefly through chemicals called short-chain fatty acids. Gut bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids as they digest dietary fiber in our intestines. These short-chain fatty acids then serve as chemical messengers to improve crosstalk between our gut and other systems and directly activate cellular pathways in metabolism in ways that tend to improve metabolic function.

Move Your Body, Move Your Microbes: Longevity, Exercise Strategies for Gut Health

While there are many studies on how the gut microbiome relates to health, direct data linking a healthy gut microbiome to overall longevity are unclear. Extremely old (100+y) people do tend to some specifically identifiable trends in their gut microbiota, specifically greater amounts of bacteria from the Ruminococcaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Bacteroidaceae families. However, studies attempting to link specific gut microbiota to longevity have only found weak associations, associations that are eliminated if you factor in body mass index and alcohol intake.

Living better is just as important as living longer, and a healthy gut microbiome is strongly related to digestive health, cognitive health, and maintaining muscle mass as we age. Further, we know regular exercise is good for the gut microbiome and is solidly linked to greater longevity.

Regular exercise, a varied diet containing pre-and probiotic foods, and good sleep habits are the three behaviors we can actively pursue to help our gut microbiome, and consequently ourselves, thrive. The key to success for all behaviors is sustainability. During your life, you are experimenting on yourself, finding out the best way to move, eat, and sleep regularly that brings you optimal health and happiness. Improving the health of your gut microbiome is one of the ways in which the right balance of these habits will improve your life.

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