Exploring the Intricate Gut-Brain Connection and Its Impact

3. The ENS and Mental Health

For many years, some doctors have believed that issues like bloating, pain, constipation, diarrhea, and major conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) were the result of depression and anxiety. By researching all of the functions of the ENS, experts have discovered that the other way around may also be true: bowel conditions can cause anxiety and depression.

Researchers have found that serious gut conditions like IBS involve increased permeability in the gut, which allows the gut microbiota to encourage irritation and inflammation that then influence the brain.