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You may already know something about the gut-brain connection and how the health of your microbiome – the community of microbes living in your digestive tract – affects aspects of your health such as your immune system, your mood and your energy level. If you have not read how the digestive tract influences our health in many ways, it is high time you did it! It seems that every week there is new research on the subject. Example: A new study has shown that women with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) were at higher risk of developing mental illness after childbirth.
The research, published in the journal Intestine, showed that more than one-fifth of pregnant women with IBD were developing a mental health disorder after giving birth. IBD is a generic term used to describe bowel dysfunctions, such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, responsible for ulcerations, inflammations and bleeding of the gastrointestinal tract. Women were at increased risk of contracting two of the major categories of mental health disorders, namely mood disorders such as anxiety and depression, and disorders related to the use of mental health. substances such as opioid addiction. They did not show an increased risk of psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia.
So what does that tell us? On the one hand, we need to pay more attention to the mental health of women with IBD, especially during and after pregnancy. According to Dr. Simone Vigod, lead author of the study and researcher at the Women's Research Institute at College Hospital, "women with IBD face health problems Increasingly important during pregnancy and after delivery, and not just physical challenges, meeting the physical and mental health needs of women and ensuring that they receive the best treatment and the best possible support. "According to the authors of the study, doctors and patients should be aware of this link in order to take preventive measures.
This study had very specific criteria, so you may wonder how this applies to you if you do not have IBD. Well, it's just one more proof telling us to take care of our guts to protect others apparently unrelated aspects of our health (as it turns out that they are not at all independent). Therefore, even if you do not live in Canada, are not pregnant or do not suffer from IBD, we should all be alert to new research that reinforces the link between our gut health and our mental health.
