Simple Exercises Your Gut Will Love.

First off this post will delve into why on Earth getting moving is so vital for your digestive system – yes, even regardless of what you eat. Then we’ll look into five really simple exercises for gut health which will help. And no I don’t mean pumping iron in the gym for hours (although you can do that if you want to of course!)

Exercise & your microbiome

No matter what you are or aren’t eating, exercise alone can definitely improve the state of your gut bacteria. So if your diet is less than perfect, taking frequent exercise is going to help you – a lot.

It’s certainly true to say that your gut bacteria like it when you’re active. So much so that regular exercise can increase the levels of your beneficial microbes by up to 40%!

Adequate levels of short-chain fatty acids, specifically butyrate, are required to keep inflammation under control in the gut as well as ensuring that cell renewal ticks over optimally. In other words, butyrate is essential for healthy gut functioning. Your friendly gut bacteria produce butyrate, and exercise has been shown to increase the levels of butyrate your bacteria produce.

The following species of beneficial bacteria have been proven in studies to increase drastically – by up to 40%! – when you exercise:

• Lactobacillus
• Akkermansia (very important and often lacking)
• Bifidobacterium

The physical act of exercising reduces your gut transit time, i.e., the amount of time it takes for your food to pass through your digestive system.

Reducing your gut transit time prevents bad bacteria from from hanging around for too long, and setting up camp in there.

How exercise can cause gut problems – how to avoid this

There is however one caveat: Over-exercising, or exercising too intensely, can cause the opposite to happen. This may increase levels of stress, inflammation and leaky gut and is absolutely not what we want! Elite athletes and marathon runners will have had specific training on how to counteract these effects. But unfortunately a similar scenario can occur if you go from doing no exercise and being very sedentary, to suddenly going all out.  Balance (as always) is what’s needed here.

If you’re worried your diet is impacting your gut health, I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help support both your digestive sysem and hormone health, whilst avoiding triggering symptoms.

It’d be impossible to include all you need to know in one blog, but the programme will have all you need to know to ensure you’re soothing your digestive system, whilst eating delicious and filling foods.

With that in mind, here are some much simpler exercises for gut health!

• Stand up and walk when you’re on the phone, all those little steps add up which is good news for your gut microbes.

• Whether you’re working from home or in the office ensure you take regular breaks from your computer to stretch out and walk around. Walk up and down the stairs a few times. Think about how all these small activities add up over the course of a day.

Sitting for long periods is bad for your digestion. Your gut loves it when you move around as it helps it do its job much more effectively.

Dancing, yoga & abs

• Dancing and yoga are fantastic for your gut health, not only are they relaxing and enjoyable but studies have demonstrated that they positively impact symptoms associated with IBS.

• Ab workouts aren’t only beneficial for reducing your belly fat. They benefit you from the inside too by helping to reduce inflammation.

Balance is key

Always remember that balance is key. Overdoing the exercises for gut health won’t help your digestive system at all and will probably increase your stress levels to boot. Gentler forms of exercise such as yoga or pilates will also help to get you into ‘rest and digest’ mode which is vital for gut health.