Exercise and Gut Heath, a New Study

We are all aware of the traditional benefits of regular exercise, but now experts think getting sweaty has a direct effect on improving our health by increasing the diversity of the microbiome.

The recent findings published in Experimental Physiology suggest that exercise at a sufficiently high intensity to improve aerobic fitness, may support health through favourable alterations, presence, activity and clustering of good gut microbes.

So what does this mean?

The higher the range of microbial colonies living in our gut, the healthier we are. Eating a wide array of plant foods, probiotic foods and avoiding processed foods are among the best 3 pieces of advice for ensuring a well-fed diverse microbiome. But it seems now that lifestyle choices are also becoming more and more important. When we have a bigger range of microbes, this means less digestive discomfort, improved mental health and improved immune health.

What type of exercise is best? In this study it was shown that the better the cardiorespiratory fitness levels in the participant the higher the diversity of gut bacteria. Just 10-15 minutes of cardio active exercise such as HIIT training, cycling, running, jogging and swimming 3-4 times a week can improve your fitness levels remarkably.

It is important you find the activity enjoyable to ensure that you stick at it. Hiit training is great and you can find many tutorials for free on YouTube.

Stephen J Carter, Gary R. Hunter J. Walker Blackston Nianjun Liu Elliot J. Lefkowitz William J. Van Der Pol Casey D. Morrow Jesseca A. Paulsen Laura Q. Rogers. (2019). Gut microbiota diversity is associated with cardiorespiratory fitness in post‐primary treatment breast cancer survivors. Experimental Physiology . 104 (4), 529-523.