The Power of Presence
On gut health, inflammation, & longevity.
In last week's post I shared the research behind the role of stress contributing to gut dysbiosis, leaky gut, and chronic inflammation when it's ongoing and not managed.
Today I want to focus on the opposite spectrum: the power of presence on healing our gut, reducing inflammation, and promoting longevity.
First, let's define what it means it be “present."
Being fully present means that we're out of our head, free of the endless mind-chatter and thoughts, and are completely aware of our surroundings.
As stated in the book The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, “as long as you are in a state of intense presence, you are free of thought," yet still alert to your surroundings or the activity you're engaging in.
It's about observing what's going on around you (the external environment), as well as within you (the internal environment) depending on where you're choosing to place your presence in the moment. Both are valuable.
It's also about slowing down and not rushing from one thing to the next, but really being intentional in each moment.
The practice of presence creates internal stillness, which reduces stress and has profound benefits on our health.
Research shows that mindfulness and meditation (both practices of being in the present moment and free from our thoughts and thinking minds) lead to improvements in gut health, reduce inflammation, and slow the aging process.
Let's explore the research behind each of these areas.
1. Improves Gut Health
Research shows that mindfulness-based practices like meditation have positive effects on gut health by lowering the stress response and putting the body into the parasympathetic state (rather than fight-or-flight mode).
This helps to restore the balance of the bacteria in the gut (reversing gut dysbiosis), strengthen and repair the gut lining (healing “leaky gut”), and suppress chronic inflammation as a result.
Chronic inflammation is considered major contributor of most diseases including skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema, autoimmune disease, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer to name a few.
This means that practicing presence and mindfulness can reduce your risk of developing disease by lowering stress and inflammation.
2. Reduces Cortisol & Inflammatory Markers
Practicing presence also leads to reduced levels of cortisol and inflammatory markers.