Probiotics help quality of sleep

young beautiful woman lying on the bed.
young beautiful woman lying on the bed.

Probiotics don’t just keep the gut healthy. They can shorten a cold by two days, help you to sleep better, and increase health-related quality of life. Around 90 per cent of the body’s serotonin is produced in the gut. Serotonin is the hormone which keeps our mood balanced, but is instrumental in making melatonin, the relax hormone, also found in the gut.

 Explains Adrienne Benjamin, leading nutritionist at Pro-ven, ‘Melatonin is essential for getting a good night’s sleep as it is produced by the body in response to darkness, signaling to the brain to prepare for night time. Gut bacteria have been shown to play a role in producing both serotonin and melatonin.’
A double-blind placebo controlled study found that certain probiotic strains support immune health and can improve health-related quality of life during upper-respiratory infections, according to registered dietitian, Tracey J. Smith, an adjunct professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey that undertook the study.
It’s important to take a high-strength multi-strain probiotic to maintain a high proportion of friendly bacteria in the gut.
The Chief Medical Officer of England has likened antibiotic resistance to international terrorism. It is a threat that should be taken seriously – if antibiotics fail to work with infections, what will happen?
One thing you can do is always take probiotics when you are issued with antibiotics. And never push your doctor for antibiotics – they only treat infections, not viruses. And you could eat organic meat – organically reared animals are not routinely fed antibiotics to prevent disease like their counterparts.
Healthy intestines – healthy you

The health of your intestines accounts for 70 per cent of the health of your immune system, so ensuring that the microflora are ‘friendly’ can have enormous health benefits.

The gut is like a wild garden with over 400 different species of bacteria weighing some four to five pounds. In a healthy person the ‘friendly’ microflora cling to the wall of the intestinal tract like barnacles preventing harmful bacteria getting a hold. But they are constantly under attack from hostile bacteria which become prevalent when we suffer from stress, take antibiotics or the oral contraceptive, eat poorly, become ill, travel abroad, or drink too much alcohol.

Stress sets off a chain of activities in the body resulting in excess mucus being produced in the gut, which allows the microflora to slide off the wall of the intestinal tract, leaving space for the dangerous bacteria to take over. When we travel overseas we may get a double whammy – added to the stress of getting ready to go away and travelling for hours it’s possible we might eat food that contains harmful bacteria as well as drinking unsafe local tap water.

Once diarrhoea sets in all the friendly bacteria are completely flushed out and need to be replaced. If antibiotics are prescribed for the upset stomach they kill of pathogens in the gut, but also destroy everything in their path including microflora. Oral contraceptives and steroids have the same effect, so consequently the immune system is weakened and we are left defenceless.

A proliferation of hostile bacteria in the intestinal tract creates the right environment for the yeast, candida albicans, to multiply and take on its fungal form. Candida grows roots which pierce the cell membranes giving it free access to the blood and tissues.  See Could it be candida?

 

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Probiotics Acidophilus & Bifidus for Travellers Proven 14 capsules £8.09
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Probiotics 50+ A-Z Multivitamin with Acidophilus & Bifidus Proven 30 capsules £7.43
Child Probiotic with A-Z Multivitamins Proven 30 £7.49
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