Latest news with #nervoussystem
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The dangerous consequences of taking a cold shower on a hot day
When the weather warms up, many of us use a nice cold shower to help us cool down. But while this might feel like relief, it might actually not be helping the body cool off at all. Our body's optimal temperature is around 37°C. This temperatures ensures our body systems can function properly. But when the core gets too hot the temperature regulating centre of the brain starts sending nervous signals out to the blood vessels and muscles in or near the skin – telling them to start activating their cooling mechanisms. If our core stays at high temperature for too long (around 39-40°C), this can lead to organ damage. So to ensure our temperature stays optimal, the body uses multiple techniques to cool itself down. For instance, the body radiates heat into the surrounding environment by electromagnetic (thermal) radiation. Approximately 60% of our body heat is lost this way. Sweating is another mechanism the body uses. Around 22% of our body heat is lost this way. But when the air temperature around us exceeds our body temperature, sweating becomes the dominant mechanism for reducing core temperature. Any remaining body heat is then lost through a mixture of convection into the air or liquid the body may be in contact with and conduction into solid objects that the body may be in contact with. To support these mechanisms, our blood vessels change diameter. The ones closest to the skin dilate (widen) to allow more blood into them so they can get close to the relatively cooler surface of the skin. The body then works to circulate the blood so that heat from inside the body can be moved to the periphery to cool off. Similarly on our skin, the hairs remain flat to allow air next to the body to cool and be replaced, helping to dissipate heat. Of course, when the weather gets really hot outside, these mechanisms just don't feel like they cut it. Although diving into a cold bath or shower straight after being out in the heat might feel nice on your skin, it isn't doing what is needed to reduce the core temperature of the body. It might also be risky for some people. When exposed to cold, the blood vessels near to the skin constrict – reducing the blood flow into these areas. So in the context of cooling the body down, jumping into a cold shower does the opposite of what needs to happen, as less blood is now flowing to the surface of the skin. This will hold the heat in and around your organs instead of getting rid of it. Basically, you're tricking your body that it doesn't need to cool down, but actually needs to conserve heat. And, depending on how cold your water is, sudden exposure could even trigger dangerous consequences for some people. Exposure to water that is 15°C can trigger the cold shock response. This causes the blood vessels in the skin (those in contact with the cold water) to constrict rapidly. This increases blood pressure as the heart is now pumping against increased resistance. This response can be particularly dangerous in people with underlying heart conditions, such as coronary artery disease. The cold shock response can also lead to an irregular heartbeat and even death when going from very hot to cold. Thankfully, these events are rare – and probably won't happen if you're just taking a cold shower or bath in your home. But you might want to skip the cold plunge or avoid taking an ice bath on a hot day for this reason. Hot showers are also a bad idea on a warm day. Although it's sometimes said that a hot shower helps the body cool down faster, this unfortunately isn't true. Water that is warmer than the body is going to transfer energy in the form of heat into the body. This again prevents the body getting rid of heat – potentially increasing its core temperature. On a hot day, a tepid or lukewarm bath or shower is the way to go, evidence suggests 26-27°C is most effective. This helps bring blood to the surface to cool, without being cold enough to cause the body to think it needs to conserve its heat. Another reason to skip a cold shower on a hot day is that it might not help you get clean. When we get hot, we sweat – and this sweat mixes with sebum, another skin product and the bacteria on our skin, which produces body odour. Cold water has been shown to be less effective at removing and breaking down sebum and other detritus on the skin, compared to warmer water, which means body odour will persist. Cold water also causes the skin to tighten. This might potentially trap sebum and dirt within the pores. This can lead to blackheads, whiteheads and acne. But warm or lukewarm water can help dissolve and loosen material in the pores. As you plan your escape and recovery from the heat this week, a lukewarm or cool shower or bath, rather than a cold shower, is a safer and more effective choice. This will allow your body to dissipate heat away from your core without harm. Equally, if you do feel the need to go cooler, do it gradually so you aren't shocking the body's automatic temperature regulation system into action. Turning the temperature down gradually if you want to go cold, or slowly placing a limb in at a time can help with this process. Adam Taylor is a Professor of Anatomy at Lancaster University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Khaleej Times
22-06-2025
- Health
- Khaleej Times
How to reverse your biological age? Somatic coach offers tips
After over a decade in corporate leadership, London-based Somatic & Nervous System Coach Estee Lantos found herself facing a wake-up call—her body was aging faster than it should, and chronic stress was taking a toll she could no longer ignore. What followed was a radical shift: she left her high-powered role, reversed her autoimmune condition, and began aligning her life with a more feminine, regulated, and sustainable rhythm. Today, she helps individuals and organisations reclaim vitality through nervous system regulation, somatic healing, and biohacking from the inside out. We sat down with Estee to explore her journey, the science behind stress, and what it really means to 'regulate' in a dysregulated world. Your personal wellness journey is deeply intertwined with your professional evolution. What was the defining moment that made you leave corporate leadership and fully commit to healing? You could say it was meant to be, timing-wise, as our company had just been acquired. After supporting the integration journey, it became a natural opportunity for me to take the leap and move closer to a more aligned path with deeper purpose. In parallel, I had measured my own biological age and realised that stress had caused me to age faster—I was eight years older than my chronological age. So I committed to reversing this, and after succeeding, I decided to turn that process into a programme to help others too. What does it truly mean to have a "regulated nervous system," and why is it such a game-changer in today's high-stress world? It means that you are flexible enough to return to calm states after facing challenges (whether that's emotional or physical). Having a regulated nervous system is transformative for different reasons, including better overall health (mental & physical), stronger relationships and more authentic connection with others, improved decision-making, creativity, and more resilience to further stress. You mention reversing your autoimmune condition and biological age—what were some of the core practices that helped you achieve that? It was a holistic approach—but the key strategy was to address factors where I do have influence. Because we all have certain genetic risks, but you can change a lot by working on other factors such as addressing the triggers coming from your lifestyle, improving your gut health, or improving your relationship with yourself. Plus continuing to focus on various health optimisation practices I have already been doing—including prioritising sleep and my circadian rhythm, cycle syncing—following the infradian rhythm of the female body, spending time in nature, etc. When I say addressing the triggers, in my case, that was stress and also gluten. And so I cut out gluten completely, transformed my stress through body-based and somatic modalities which were so powerful that they are now part of my programme as well, and I'm teaching it to my clients. But triggers can be unique for everybody—so it's always important to understand your unique situation rather than following a one-size-fits-all approach. (It may be hormonal changes, toxins, infections, etc.) For those unfamiliar, how would you describe the concept of nervous system regulation in simple terms? It's having more conscious control over when to speed up and when to slow down. Because stress is not good or bad—it's just mobilisation energy. It's needed and helpful, but we need to be able to turn it off. There is constant two-way communication between your brain and the body—so with nervous system regulation interventions, we find a way to influence how we signal safety to our system, so we can turn the stress response off when we don't need it anymore. Sadly, in today's high-stress world, many people are stuck in stress mode and sometimes not even aware of it, as it's so normalised. Can you explain how TRE (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises) works and what a typical session with you might look like? During a typical TRE (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises) session, we begin with seven simple exercises—gentle stretches and muscle activations—to prepare the body for release. While lying on a mat, natural involuntary tremors are activated, allowing the body to discharge deep tension and stress. This tremoring is completely natural and safe (animals do it too after stress), and while no talking is required, memories or emotions may gently surface to be released. The process is very gentle, and in fact, most of my clients smile the first time they activate the shaking—it's a unique and often surprising experience to witness your body letting go in a safe container. What are some signs that someone's nervous system is dysregulated, even if they 'seem fine' on the outside? There are a bunch of different signs—I will leave the list below—but let me share one which to me was the most surprising: when I notice myself getting more clumsy than usual, it's a sign of that too. It's great that I know it now, as I can slow down, stop, and bring myself back to a more balanced state before it gets bigger. But here are some of the most common ones I see with my clients: Mental & Emotional ● Chronic anxiety, worry, or restlessness ● Harsh self-talk ● Mood swings, irritability, or feeling easily overwhelmed ● Emotional numbness, disconnection, or inability to feel joy ● Brain fog, poor concentration, or memory issues Sleep & Energy ● Trouble falling or staying asleep ● Waking up tired or feeling unrefreshed ● Persistent fatigue or burnout, even with rest ● Sudden energy crashes or wired-but-tired states Physical ● Chronic muscle tension (neck, jaw, shoulders, lower back) ● Digestive issues (bloating, IBS, nausea—linked to vagal tone) ● Headaches or migraines ● Sensitivity to noise, light, or touch ● Heart rate staying higher than usual, breathing remains shallow or quick ● Heart palpitations, etc. Other Procrastination, over-controlling, perfectionism, or hyper-independence; Difficulty relaxing or 'doing nothing'; Startling easily or always feeling "on alert". You're both a biohacker and a coach grounded in trauma-informed methods—how do you blend hard science and somatic wisdom in your work? Just reading this question lights me up because this intersection truly excites me. I believe the right combination of strategies is key—they can be very complementary—but we have to start with the foundations first. You can't biohack your way out of dysregulation from the outside in; it has to begin from the inside out. In fact, I'm living proof, along with some of the people I've recently worked with, that doing just the cool biohacking stuff isn't as effective if your body is still stuck in survival mode or parts of you aren't fully integrated. For me, it's about marrying data with felt experience, precision with compassion. This fusion allows us to tailor interventions that are not only scientifically sound but deeply human, empowering clients to reclaim nervous system resilience at every level. Plus, somatic wisdom is increasingly validated by hard science, so it's only a matter of time before science fully catches up. There's a lot of noise in the biohacking space. What are three tools or practices you genuinely swear by? It all comes back to giving yourself support to get the foundations right. Number one for me is sleep. I make sure to get morning light in my eyes, filter out blue light in the evening, and use mouth taping to encourage proper nose breathing throughout the night. I've been consistent with these habits for over seven years, and if I skip them, my sleep data clearly shows a drop in restorative sleep. Since we've talked a lot about stress, I also recommend tracking heart rate variability (HRV) to understand your personal patterns and triggers—this is super helpful for managing and transforming stress. But just as important are the other basics: eating real, clean, preferably organic whole foods, staying properly hydrated, moving regularly, and your community/connections. You work with biological age testing—can you walk us through how stress shows up in those results and how your approach shifts it? Chronic stress is inflammatory, and when we test biological age, we look at markers of sustained low-grade inflammation—often referred to as inflammaging. This type of inflammation is one of the hallmarks of aging and plays a key role in accelerating biological wear and tear. How you nourish yourself, sleep, move, and respond to stress all deeply influence your internal environment—either fuelling or reducing that chronic inflammation. That's why, in my approach, I always start with the nervous system—helping clients shift out of survival mode and regulate their stress response using a combination of somatic and mind-driven tools. Once that foundation is in place, we layer in tailored recommendations for cellular health, nutrition, movement, and recovery—evidence-based strategies that not only enhance overall well-being but can also measurably improve biological age markers over time. And all of it is based on each client's unique test results.
Entrepreneur
09-06-2025
- Health
- Entrepreneur
Estee Lantos Launches Refined Masterclass to Help People Slow Biological Aging by Transforming Stress from Within
Learn how nervous system regulation and optimised, yet not rigid lifestyle practices such as sleep, nourishment, movement can help you feel your best and slow down ageing, beginning June 1st You're reading Entrepreneur United Kingdom, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Estee Lantos, a respected voice in biohacking and holistic wellness, is proud to unveil the revamped version of her "Biohack with Nervous System-first Masterclass – a transformative experience designed to help participants understand the factors that influence their biological age and how they can respond to life with more ease & connection. The masterclass is available online from June 1st and is priced at just £50. This 90-minute pre-recorded training is a powerful entry point into Estee's broader wellness ecosystem, offering education and practical tools to to help people feel better, function optimally, and maintain youthful vitality. Estee Lantos "Our culture teaches us to manage stress after it happens. But what if you could train your body to respond differently in the first place?" says Estee. "The key to longevity isn't just in what you eat or how you sleep—it lies in a holistic approach that begins with how effectively you can guide your nervous system back to safety, and live from a place of ease. Inside the Masterclass: A Step-by-Step Guide to Real Change Participants will learn: The science of stress and how the nervous system responds How to create safety within the body through cues and awareness Lifestyle pillars including sleep and recovery, cycle aligned movement and nourishment, cellular health and some other health optimisation practices that actually nourish you. A softer, more sustainable approach to wellness – focused on connection and community But the masterclass is just the beginning. Estee offers a range of transformational services to support individuals at every stage of their wellness journey. Her practice is built around two other core offerings: Somatic Work Personalized support through 1:1 sessions online or in-person sessions, where clients are guided through TRE (Tension, Stress & Trauma Release Exercise) – a body-based practice to release stored stress and reset the nervous system. Ideal for those needing deeper emotional and physical grounding. The Path: 6-Month Transformational Program Estee's signature, high-touch program that includes personalized biological age testing (in partnership with GlycanAge), customized plans, holistic protocols, and continuous coaching. It's an intimate experience built around accountability, deep change, and long-term vitality. Why It Matters Today, many people assume they are living healthy lives – but when they take a biological age test, they're shocked to discover their body is aging faster than expected. Estee's mission is to close this gap through a gentle, scientific, and highly personalised approach. The masterclass not only educates but empowers people to take back control of their health & longevity. The Refined Masterclass is now live. To learn more and join the experience, visit Estee's website or follow her on Instagram
The Independent
06-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Mobility expert says you should swap stretching for this exercise to ease tight hips
As a coach and fitness writer, having tight hips is one of the most common complaints I hear about. People usually default to stretching to sort this out, but a specialist says there are more effective ways to address the problem. Movement mechanics expert and Training Stimulus founder Ash Grossmann says regular movement and developing stability around the joint are likely to yield better long-term results for those seeking to banish tightness. 'In terms of broad, generalised advice, we want to establish what is causing the tightness,' Grossmann says. 'There are indirect reasons why a muscle could be becoming tight – the clue is if you stretch it and the tightness keeps coming back, stretching isn't solving the tightness. 'In a lot of situations, stretching can actually make it feel worse because you get into a wrestling match with your nervous system. Your nervous system generally has your best interests at heart with the tools it has available, so it thinks it's doing you a favour by tightening the muscle. Yanking on that tight muscle [via stretching] can be hurting your bigger picture goal rather than the small muscle tightness you're dealing with.' Below, Grossmann explains the possible causes of muscle tightness, and an accessible protocol for combatting this around the hips. Possible causes of muscle tightness Protection 'The first role of the nervous system, when it comes to movement, is survival and protection,' Grossman says. Muscle tightness might be your nervous system's way of preventing you from accessing a position it perceives as dangerous. For example, you might not be able to complete a full squat because your body 'doesn't feel strong, stable or in control' in the bottom position. Habit If we do anything consistently, the body will adapt to get better at it. Sitting at a desk all day with a flexed hip sends a strong message that this is a position to prioritise. As a result, the nervous system might tighten the hip flexor muscles (which raise the knee towards the chest) to do you a favour and save some energy. Regular, varied movement is the obvious remedy to this – think desk breaks, walking, side bends and rotations (like you'll find in this three-move ab workout). Instability Alternatively, Grossmann says the nervous system can use tightness in the hip flexors as a way of compensating for other muscle's shortcomings and creating stability in an otherwise unstable joint. 'If the body perceives a joint as loose or unstable, it will tighten the muscles it has to hand or that it's familiar with to try and create stability, even if they are not the ideal muscles to get the job done,' he explains. If this is the case, your first course of action should be to recruit and strengthen other key players such as the glutes, adductors and glute medius. You might do this through traditional strength training, or any number of other methods. As Grossmann says: 'Anything that gets length and load through the tissues [around the hip] will help.' The exercise below allows you to do just that, as well as work the hip through a wide range of motion, making it a top option for most people suffering from hip stiffness. The best exercise for fixing stiff hips: The Stimulus Six Lunges The body operates on a use it or lose it basis, as far as movement is concerned. To persuade it to regain range of motion around the hips and banish tightness, we need to build a solid business case for doing so, says Grossmann. 'The body is pretty rational, so unless you give it a compelling case to say, 'Actually, we need length through our hip flexors quite often and for reasonable amounts of time', it won't buy into it.' Doing the Stimulus Six Lunges daily is a good way to go about this. It involves lunging in six different directions, recruiting all the main musculature of the hip and moving in all three planes of motion; sagittal, meaning up, down, forward and backward; frontal, meaning side-to-side; and transverse, meaning rotational. Doing this acts like a mini movement assessment in itself, as you can work out your weaknesses by observing which lunges you struggle with. 'If you don't like doing a side lunge, maybe the adductors are super tight,' he explains. 'If you don't like doing a crossover lunge, maybe the lateral hip or the glute medius is really tight,' Grossmann says. 'By regularly training those movements, we're telling the body, 'We're going to be doing these movements, so you'd better get used to getting length in these muscles'.' Done daily, this will help the hips of your average desk job worker feel 'way, way better', he says. 'There's obviously a lot more nuance you could dig into on an individual basis, but their hips are going to be exposed to more positions and ranges of motion than even a lot of people who go to the gym all the time,' Grossmann explains. 'A lot of gym rats will just do squats and deadlifts, only moving up and down, but not moving sideways or rotating. If you do the Stimulus Six Lunges, you are maintaining your body's ability to access all the joint motions of the hip.' If you simply want to maintain your mobility, doing the sequence daily will help. If you're looking to improve your body's strength and performance in these positions for sport, you can progressively overload them by adding weight, upping the number of reps or increasing the range of motion accessed in each direction. 'If you can only do a side lunge to 90cm at first, gradually working towards a wider side lunge is another way to track and improve, beyond adding weight,' says Grossmann. 'Whether you need to do this all comes back to what your goals are. Do you need more mobility, or are you just trying to keep those hips feeling good and not lose access to those joint positions?' Ultimately the best thing you can do is listen to your body but if you're struggling with tightness, it could be worth asking yourself why the feeling keeps returning and look to Grossmann's advice for help. By taking a slightly different approach you might start to see changes and hopefully, improvements too.
Telegraph
28-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
I spent a month improving my gut health to see if it would calm my anxiety
The phrases 'gut instinct' and 'trust your gut' are born from so much more than a metaphorical flutter in your stomach. In fact, they have roots in the ancient understanding of the gut as a centre of instinct and emotion, with the ancient Greeks believing that the stomach was the seat of emotion. The idea of 'gut feeling' refers to our enteric nervous system – a complex network of neurons that line the walls of the gastrointestinal tract. Sometimes called the 'second brain', this network has over 100 million neurons (which, by the way, is more than your spinal cord) and can sense, process, and respond to information without checking in with your actual brain. Which means that sometimes, your gut really does know what's up before you do. So here is my theory: perhaps, as someone with a high-functioning anxiety disorder, I have been going wrong all these years in treating my 'first' brain, when I should have been treating my second. Since my 20s, I've had a hypersensitive nervous system, with the full spectrum of anxiety symptoms to go with it; adrenaline spikes at the most inconvenient, incongruous times, racing heart, dizzy spells, spiralling thoughts, nausea etc. I've tried pretty much everything to manage it, from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to hypnotherapy, meditation apps to anti-anxiety medication. Some things have worked better than others, but I have come to accept it's going to be an ongoing project, but I'm excited about my next tactic. But what does gut health have to do with anxiety? The connection between our gut and brain – otherwise known as the gut-brain axis – is a well-established but still evolving area of study, and recently it's been suggested that increasing your intake of probiotics – the live bacteria that help maintain a healthy gut microbiome – can significantly reduce anxiety symptoms, effectively acting as a form of nutritional psychiatry. It makes perfect sense when you understand that your gut bacteria can influence the release of the stress hormone cortisol, and a diverse and balanced biome helps produce mood-regulating chemicals like serotonin and dopamine. An imbalance can send distress signals to the brain, potentially fuelling anxiety. Naturally, I decided to test this theory out on myself, but I'd need some expert guidance in the form of registered nutritionist Jessica Shand, who would need a snapshot of my current gut health to get me started. What's happening in my gut? I took a StrideBiome test to establish a baseline for my microbiome. Stride uses advanced DNA sequencing to work out the diversity and balance of your gut bacteria (via an only mildly mortifying DIY stool sample), then produces a lab report with insights into which strains of bacteria you have and which you might be lacking. My results showed a few key imbalances, including low levels of anxiety-reducing strains Bifidobacterium and, most notably, a complete absence of Lactobacillus – another critical calming neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid-(GABA) -producing species that also helps to regulate cortisol, our primary stress hormone. Ah. So this might explain a few things. Armed with this knowledge, Shand helped me work out a gut-brain reset game plan. First up, supplements. She explained that not all probiotics are created equal when it comes to reducing anxiety. 'There are specific strains like the ones you're low on – Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Bifidobacterium longum – that have been shown in some studies to reduce symptoms of anxiety and improve mood,' she told me. 'Research is still ongoing and findings can vary on specific, but these strains in probiotics may help modulate the gut-brain axis by reducing inflammation, influencing neurotransmitter production such as serotonin and dopamine, and enhancing gut lining integrity, all of which are thought to play roles in emotional regulation and therefore anxiety.' What the expert says Shand suggested the Seed DS-01 Daily Synbiotic, a standout in the probiotic world. It combines both prebiotics (the fibres that feed good bacteria) and probiotics (the beneficial bacteria themselves) in a single formulation. This is important because it ensures the probiotics can survive the journey through my digestive system and reach my colon, where they can actually make a difference to support not just digestive health, but also mental wellbeing. It's designed to replenish those missing Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains, boosting GABA production (a naturally occurring substance that's made by our bodies and helps promote relaxation and reduce anxiety) and regulating my cortisol response, therefore (potentially) helping to turn down my anxiety at its biological source. Translation: A science-backed shortcut to a more balanced microbiome, which, for someone like me, is wildly appealing. But it's not just about popping a daily pill. To truly support a healthy brain-gut axis, I need to create an environment where the good bacteria can thrive. That means making some dietary and lifestyle tweaks to set me on the best possible path. Having chatted honestly, Shand understands that I am not a card-carrying member of the Intensive Healthy Lifestyle Club, and so her advice is to make realistically achievable changes. To be sustainable, my habits need to be 'better than', rather than drastically overhauled, ie definitely not a strict overhaul that might add to my anxiety overwhelm. What aiming for 'better than' looks like 'Have the coffee! You're a mother of two young kids, just don't have it first thing in the morning as it will spike your cortisol levels,' Shand tells me. 'Drinking it after a protein-rich breakfast is more beneficial as the food intake primes the body and blunts the harsh impact of the caffeine.' This I can do. Even better, swap out the second or even third cup for a Sixways Hormone Balancing Decaf. ('It contains maitake functional mushroom plus inositol and vitamin B6 to support blood sugar balance and hormonal health, and I promise it doesn't taste of mushrooms!') A probiotic-rich diet isn't a million miles away from what I was eating before, but having a solid awareness of what I was consuming, and why, made me much more motivated to stick to it. A lot of the meals and recipes she suggested are already what I like to eat, just with some gut-loving substitutes. Shand advised me to incorporate a variety of plant-based, fibre-rich, and fermented foods into daily meals. Think kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, miso, and live yogurt, (the fermentation produces natural probiotics). Plus prebiotic fibres (the food that good bacteria thrive on), including garlic, onions, and bananas. My usual turkey mince bolognese is good, but a lentil ragu is better for an extra dose of fibre, supporting my digestion and therefore the growth of beneficial bacteria. A potato and spinach curry can be upgraded to a chickpea and cavolo nero, prebiotic one. Both, by the way, are delicious, comforting, hearty – just good, in all senses. So, for the next few weeks, I committed to this gut-reset protocol: Take probiotic supplements on an empty stomach. Eat more (delicious) probiotic-rich food. Cut down on (but not avoid entirely – see above) known gut disruptors like processed foods and alcohol, which can kill the good bacteria I'm trying desperately to cling on to. I struggled with this last step more than I'd like to admit, such is the constant battle of the overly anxious. Shand suggested swapping a mid-week wind-down glass of wine for Motherroot, a sort of sweet-spicy, alcohol-free alternative that actually supports digestion and stabilises blood sugar with a ginger and apple cider vinegar blend. I mix it with soda and actually love it for an after-kids bedtime treat. Also, just the idea that I am putting something good into my body rather than the guilt of another glass of wine does wonders to relieve my morning-after anxiety all on its own. It's not an immediate switch flip, but I stuck to the protocol for three solid months, and as the days turned into weeks, I started to notice subtle but significant shifts in my mood. The first, most notably, at a time when I'd feel the most overstimulated anxiety spike that would present as extreme impatience. Attempting to get my kids out the door so I could make the right train to get me to an important (therefore bonus anxiety-inducing) meeting on time. It was a subtle shift, like a small presence of kindness that allowed me to reason with myself, reason with my kids and extinguish the bomb threat that would've made the whole schedule meltdown. It could also have been the better sleep, which is another notable change. And so it continued. More often than not, mornings felt less like waking up with anxiety as my first involuntary thought, and more like a gradual stretch into the day. The daily urge to doom-scan and look for the things going wrong in my life (it sounds ridiculous, but will be familiar to anyone with anxiety) felt less prominent. I found myself approaching potentially stressful situations with a bit more patience and less catastrophic thinking. The verdict It wasn't always easy to stick to, and yes, I strayed back to the mid-week wine every so often when my resolve slipped. The hardest part is going out with friends because when presented with a menu that someone else is cooking, I will always be driven to order by my heart rather than my gut. And my heart invariably desires the most delicious, usually unhealthy thing. But Shand encouraged me to remember I'm going for 'better than', not gut perfection, so I decided not to let this cause me anxiety in itself. The benefits quickly outweighed any motivational negatives. Interestingly, my gut itself seemed to be responding too. Without getting too graphic, my digestion felt more 'efficient' and my bloating – a near-constant, very unwelcome guest – significantly reduced. While I'm not suggesting that a few spoonfuls of sauerkraut will cure anyone's anxiety disorder, the cumulative impact of the probiotic plus these small changes has been surprisingly profound, perhaps key to this particular project. It's hard to ignore the psychological lift that comes from simply feeling better in your own body and choices. I feel more resilient, a bit more hopeful, and at times when I'd previously noticed otherwise, have a kind of mental clarity. Of course, this is an ongoing journey rather than a magic bullet – it's never going to be as simple as popping a pill and waking up panic-free. Before I'd done this deep dive on my gut health, I knew – like most of us – that alcohol and eating junk food were causing spikes in my anxiety. I'd have a few glasses with friends on a Friday evening and wake up to either a full-blown panic attack or a traitorous guilt. But what this has taught me is how significant small, subtle and consistent dietary changes can be in improving your gut health and anxiety. The challenge becomes making these regular habits. Building a healthy gut is a long game; a mix of the right supplements, diverse plant fibres, fermented foods, and stress management techniques is a constant work in progress. Still, the idea that I might be able to influence my mood from the inside out – to literally feed my happiness – is a compelling one. There's something incredibly empowering about knowing I can influence my mental health whilst improving my overall health, since for me this experiment was about finding a more holistic approach that addresses the root causes rather than just the symptoms. And the logic, the science behind it, helps to act as an anchor too. For now, I'm trusting my gut – in the truest, most biological sense of the phrase – and am optimistic that this approach might be the missing piece in my personal anxiety puzzle. And if nothing else, my digestive system is certainly grateful.
