Every day, our guts and minds are busy having hidden conversations. Normally, we don’t care about the details of those conversations. However, according to Emeran Mayer, MD, a gastroenterologist, neuroscientist, and research professor at University of California, Los Angeles, we should pay attention to the communication occurring in our brain-gut-microbiome axis—our health and emotional well-being may depend on it.

Despite the prevalence of digestive problems, irritable bowel syndrome, and inflammatory bowel disease, many people lack awareness of the connection between stress, trauma, adverse childhood experiences, and their gut health, Dr. ;Mayer says. But when patients understand how “emotions play out in the theater of their guts,” he says they look at their symptoms or disease differently and can learn to manage aspects of their conditions rather than feeling like passive victims of the next flare or reoccurrence.

Dr. Mayer’s book The Mind-Gut Connection, published in 2016, makes the science of the brain-gut-microbiome relationship easily digestible. His forthcoming book, The Gut-Immune Connection ($27.99, HarperWave, 2021), continues to educate people on how to be proactive with their health.

Events that take place during the first 1,000 days of life, what Dr. Mayer calls a key developmental window, are “essential for programming the gut microbiome and its interactions with us (the host and cells in the gut).” Many things a pregnant woman “does, eats, thinks, feels, and is angry about will influence that development,” he says.

The first 18 years of life comprise another key developmental window. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) during this time affect the programming of the brain-gut-microbiome axis. Stressful and traumatic events can include more subtle forms, such as verbal abuse, rejection, and marital discord of parents, says Dr. Mayer.

To read more of Casey Hersch's article, please click here.