Nick i like the efforts you put on graphics! 🖥️ i sometimes wonder how you can do all these things- study in medschool, analyze a journal, put it on videos, add graphics, edit, etcetera! When i was in medschool, all i did was study, eat, sleep & repeat. You are obviously very talented. Keep it up 💫
@nicknorwitzPhD ...to neutralize the stress I do exercise and use breathing technique mentioned. Its difficult with everything going on in the world; it's a constant struggle to maintain balance...
I started having aerophagia (which I wasn't conscious of) due to stress which caused GI issues, which triggered more hypochondria and stress (had a colonoscopy before I figured out what was going on!)
Thank you for this great explanation in layman’s terms. I’ve been following you since getting serious as very low carb ketovore, now carnivore for 6 weeks. I was PM in the Health Insurance industry (Medicare Advantage Star Ratings, and I do not feel comfortable doing such work after all the science I’ve seen over this past summer from you and others. We are part of a broken system. I would be happy to do anything I can to help further this science and get it out to the masses. As a soon to be 55 year old man in phenomenal health and shape (
Thank you Rob, for your kind words and for sharing with us. Regarding "I would be happy to do anything I can to help further this science and get it out to the masses" -- hav have anything specific in mind or particular skill sets you think might be useful to my team and I? If so, drop you contact and I can email you. Best - Nick
@@judyluce3141 Not necessarily. Some people like to play with them... there are some with decent data behind them, e.g. Seed... but I don't tend to recommend them per se.
Fantastic video, Nick! The connection between stress and the microbiome is such a crucial topic, especially as more research highlights the gut-brain axis. I recently came across a study that complements your findings, showing how chronic stress can lead to dysbiosis, which in turn affects our mood and overall health. It's fascinating to see how the amygdala's role in emotion regulation can influence gut health through pathways like the vagus nerve. I also appreciate your emphasis on actionable takeaways; incorporating probiotics and fermented foods can be a game-changer for many. For anyone looking to dive deeper, I recommend checking out the paper you linked, as it provides a wealth of information on the mechanisms at play. Keep up the great work in shedding light on these important connections in health and wellness!
I just recently began doing breathwork for 90 to 120 minutes a day. I've incorporated 4-7-8; HRV, Vagus Nerve Reset, Box and a few others including the double inhale. The Practices knocks out my headaches and calms me down as well as a blessing to my sinuses.
Stressing out about stress is even more unhealthy than stress itself. There might come a time where we don't exploit our fellow citizen through pressure and work. There might come a time where we don't look down on the "lazy" while at the same time get angry or annoyed by someone who passes us by materialistically or status-wise. But as of 2024 it's better to recognize that getting away from stress most of the time means pushing through and staying positive aka "fighter's attitude". This is coming from someone who had 2 burnouts and had to develop a "middlefinger"-attitude to this pretentious society. Anyway good video and I like the tips at the end of the video.
Oh Nick, yes, STRESS brought on my bf’s Severe Ulcerative Pancolitis. Thank you for bringing this science to us! Appreciate you!!! Will forward this to him.
Thanks! And good on you... my gf deals patiently with a bf with gut problems too... even in remission, there's a PTSD/stress element that never completely disappears and having a partner who is sympathetic and caring means the world!
Indeed, this was all documented in Bad Boys II, using the Woosah technique of vagal activation, although they were a bit light on the neural pathway aspects. They were ahead of their time, scientifically speaking.
By the way, good growth on your channel. I think I have a mutually beneficial arrangement for you. As you know, popular channels at some point end up having toxic commenters that post on the channel's videos. I was thinking I could post toxic comments here so that others know you have finally reached the big time as a YT creator. This has the added benefit where posting trollish comments in shockingly bad taste on YT relaxes me. A win-win situation! Think it over!
Great vid as always. I managed to transform strong pain into less serious bloating recently with breathing techniques. Results seem super solid and consistent with what you're explaining. Will we get a more detail-oriented vid on Lactobacillus alone one day? :) Different stuff is marketed to people as the most beneficial and basically nothing is confirmed the best on keto diets as probably there is not enough data. For example, this guy seems interesting: Lactobacillus acidophilus Er-2 317/402 Narine
Super interesting as always. As a yoga teacher.. another reason to do the breath work and something I always told my students is the type A people don't like the slow stretchy yoga and it's often. Exactly what they need
stress also influence directly virulence of certain bugs and may directly cause leaky gut. I suppose the inverse pathway can alter our mood and stress level... if crazy panic stressful signals go up trough vagus nerve to the amygdala ... maybe we can feel awful and dizzy and sad
@@nicknorwitzPhD stress is an alert signals and in acute state it changes our metabolism and physiology maybe for a purpose --- but in a chronic state we fail - the cell danger response is so complex but meaningful
Gut health so important especially the flora and hence why I was surprised see that in your channel since low carb tends to have low fiber which isn’t good for gut health. Good on you to cover this topic.
@@nicknorwitzPhD hmm.. specific resources, like no, but the topics to be researching are for making your own I find the most crucial thing is to understand the nature of lacto bacillus from a bit of a microbiology article and then learn and thus can be done on TH-cam etc, different ways of starting it so you don’t have to buy your own. Particularly how to create a starter culture without a yogurt container. As that’s just reusing one. You become much more capable when you can do it from rice water or something similar. Plus the lacto bacillus when it runs out of food to my knowledge it goes dormant till you feed it again, some lady fed hers like 4 years later from back of fridge and it popped back up, so before throwing out always try to restart. And then as far as using it in the garden, compost, soil drench, and even foilar spray on leaves, I’m still researching parts of that but it seems like it works as it’s one of the main bacteria in the soil food web. Lacto breaks down organic matter and has other functions which I’m reading about in this article: www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1347745/full I think learning about these two things you have the ability to culture what you need And keep it going without wasting a ton of flour or starches etc. And then using it in your garden is always a good thing. Nice thing is it’s an anerobic fermentation so it dosent need a bubbler. I’m also been trying out and investigating aerated compost teas though the trick with those is to check out dr. Elaine Ingram’s videos on composting and the closer to that you get the better as the process matters. Which is why some results are inconsistent with that, though it does help with plant growth and production it seems, the jury is still out on disease suppression for aerated compost tea, but more will be done I expect. Though lots of people sware by it. I get sense we will just get a more precise process for leveraging it at some point. Also you don’t have a kitchen compost, you have a compost area that you put kitchen stuff. The distinction is important as you would benefit from going on a walk or hike or bike ride or have lunch at a nearby forest preserve or ideal biome near you. You take a small like medicine bottle or so of soil from a few different places. And some dead leaves on the ground, not a lot like a handful or two, and if you can find some rotting wood grab some wood chips or parts you can take off. And if you ever come across roots, always keep them unless they diseased. Because soil has microbes, leaves and wood have fungi, and roots inside them can exist a type of mycorizal fungi that they can’t currently reproduce in a lab. It only grows in roots. And take all that, and add it to your compost and keep it reasonably moist (create a routine for watering or automate it, use decorated water that sat out for a day or two) And as far as gardening goes for NPK, most if not all your nutrition can often come from urine(nitrogen), wood ash(potassium), and bone meal(crushed up bones, can even make bone broth in pressure cooker before crushing and use it to make them really soft after like 5 hrs in there). And especially urine there is a slight ick factor for some people, though the reason it’s important outside of being free, is that it is something farmers use but also if we just as a society reuse our urine and follow guidelines for large groups(more strict than just a man peeing in a milk jug, I know what I eat and consume and take and have, I don’t know them but there are procedures for this and machines to even pasteurize it on large scale). Though the crazy thing, using it creates a ton less emissions and even helps us be more energy independent because the haber Bosch process that they use to extract nitrogen from N2 in the air, takes a ton of energy to feed billions of people and yet we are litterally just releasing it into sewage system and wasting it and sending it out to dead zones in oceans that are 8500 miles wide, like at a certain point it just becomes smart energy, sustainability and self reliance as well as mutual aid and local production wise, it works. Just if curious learn to use it. If women want to my understand is you need some sort of attatchment or something to prevent trickle down contamination, guys don’t have this issue we can often use it straight away as long as we don’t have a urinary tract infection. So between all those different things I’ve got a pretty strong garden going and learning to ferment and make various things my self.
But WHY!!!??? What is the purpose of the evolutionary symbiosis of the Lactobacillus in the gut? And WHY would we want to kill off the bugs when we get stressed?
@@nicknorwitzPhD Dr Bessel Van der Kolk , psychiatrist wrote The Body keeps the Score. The takeaway lesson is that trauma stores in the body ; how I wish he made this physiology pathway connection but it basically is the same message
How about if you are unfortunately on benzodiazepines. Very hard no matter what to get into parasympathetic when you are in tolerance……my gut is wrecked
@@lululove6175 benzodiazepines are hard to get off for sure. Are you on a therapeutic dose or are you overdosing , building your tolerance level over time ?
I have more sauerkraut on my counter top right now in the process of fermenting. I'm curious as to what benefits I'll notice by incorporating some on every non-fasting day.
You know, Nick, it would have been really helpful if you had told me all this 45 years ago... Where were you when I needed you most...? And I have to add... that fermented foods give me cramps and bloating... how do you explain that...? 😥
I didn't exist and my mom was a 14. As for fermented foods, their consumption can cause generation of gas. My recommendation is to start with a small dose (e.g. 1 Tbsp of sauerkraut) and build up slowly from there.
@@nicknorwitzPhD Oh, your mom is just one year older than me 😊 Sauerkraut is one of those foods which make me think that Dr. Anthony Chaffee is right when he says that plants are trying to kill us... After a lifetime of suffering, and 5 years on Keto, I have switched to Keto Carnivore a couple of months ago. Feeling somewhat better. Of course it's too late for me... I should have started decades ago 😔
Very interesting findings! Thank you for bringing it to light I do find it strange that the mucin secreted in the duadenum has such an impact on the microbiome since most of our bacteria are found in the large intestine Do you have any hypothesis? Is it possible this mechanism works in mice but not in humans due to the differences in our digestive systems?
At 2:01 you mention a reciprocal action. I get that the amygdala talks to your good guy gut bugs, telling them to multiply or cull themselves, via these Brunner's glands . But I don't remember you saying anything about what the gut bugs say back to the amygdala, (presumably via the same Brunner's glands?). Are you going to cover that separately or is simply the lack of gastro intestinal discomfort, the comforting feedback the amygdala needs to tell the rest of your brain to relax?
It's more of a broader point, also mentioned in the paper. But I think it's most practical to talk about this as a bidirectional communication. I highlighted one "story" in the data
@@nicknorwitzPhD OK, thanks. The video caught my eye because of this reciprocity. I briefly entertained the notion of a gut bug controlling our brains in a manner more insidious than simply through physical discomfort. A Rick and Morty script idea maybe. Keep up the good work, the topics are interesting.
Here one that has been suffering with IBS for a long while. Improved my symptoms and reduced the frequency of flare-ups by cutting on most FODMAPs. Wanted to enhance gut microbiota so started adding kefir, kimchi, etc. My gut hated that, flare-ups were even worse when they happened. I wonder if there is a situation in which trying to "add" lactobacillus when the brain is impaired to signal for the glands to do so is counterproductive?
Wow, what a wild coincidence. I just saw your tweet about your egg experiment on X, and just got your notification for this video… I haven’t seen your content in months either!
Don't be so sure about lactobacillus being good, Guy Daniels here on TH-cam puts some doubt on that assertion by comparing the microbiome populations of people with several conditions. Other families do have a mostly positive association meaning they are present in larger quantities in healthy control individuals but that's not always the case with lactobacillus.
I agree in general that microbiome compositions need to be taken in context. For the purposes of this video I highlighted a simple yet imperfect heuristic, also noting it's a large and broad genus.
I posted something similar with Guy Daniels as he explains where other do not. Hope this helps others, just because Lactobacillus is very easy to culture doesn't make it necessarily good for us it seems.
Because: 1) evolution is not real, we were created in God's image potential. 2) we live in ungodly society and economies so we live against our operating manual of love and community
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul Soil??? Or what will a man give as an exchange for his soul Soil????. Soil. We are but soil... Hold on to your soil... Gives new meaning to the term Land Lord. We are all Land Lords..
I Do sometimes... currently on a caffeine break but in general I do... and That's "Dr Some Dude" now... LOL x.com/DrEricRodgers/status/1837819116687696327
My favourite way to find balance is reading scripture... never fails to bring me back into harmony... Here's one just for you Galatians 5:14 “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Great presentation, it's easy to see the love you bring in your work for us all God Bless You Nick
Great topic. Stress reduction exercises are bit too "zen" for me, but I play drums and that seems to work for me. I also eat homemade sauerkraut and kefir regularly (nearly every day).
This is fantastic. Especially in light of the research that suggests people living w/ Alzheimer’s have a less diverse microbiome. Doubling down on committing to a healthy gut can only serve us in the short and long run. I think the key is to prime the gut as much as possible and develop good stress managing techniques so that when acute stressors arise (the surprise type), we have a solid tool box of remedies.
just ran across your 720 eggs video which has drawn me into your other videos. The gut health connection to stress is making a lot of sense to me, and, yeah, I admit that I am a stressed-out basket case (just ask my wife!). I've known about probiotics and yogurt, but don't usually eat it very often. This is giving me a lot of food to think about (pun intended). Stress management is not something that was taught at any point in my life, so, again, you've given me a lot to think about. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I think you are turning medicine on its head. And it's about time. trying to improve my microbiome and have an impact on auto immune. going to start by researching all your videos.
I think this could be what caused my gut issues, i had a base of skull fracture very close to where the vagus nerve enters the skull, my skull is slightly out of shape from this injury.
The more we learn about the body, the more natural healing modalities start to make sense. They are not just placebo, there are actual physiological reasons why they work because most of them are about stress reduction. Depending on what modality is used, the effect on the autonomic nervous system varies. So some are more powerful than others.
@@nicknorwitzPhD Yes, I agree completely. I use energy healing techniques and as wacky as they may sound, they do affect the autonomic nervous system very powerfully and that is why they work so well. I have used them to heal myself from a lof of things. It sure feels like I have super powers since I learned to use them. I feel like these kinds of techniques are the future and the more studies come out which investigate the autonomic nervous system the more these "woo-woo" sounding things start to make sense. Then one day they come to the conclusion "Hey, these are really powerful techniques, so sad that it took us 100 years to figure that out". Well, I don't wait for science to catch up, I use them almost everyday and get the benefit for myself and people around me.
Nicely explained Nick, thanks for the breathing exercise tip, I'll be trying that extra steal of breath and see if it gets me less anxious and stops the stress build up..
The worst uc flares ive had pop up out of nowhere is where i felt the least stressed. It's an anecdotal statement but since we can't measure stress exactly, it's my experience.
Thought is a major driver of emotions, which as you are describing impacts gut health. I actually completely healed an egg intolerance of about 5 years purely through meditation in just one sitting (if anyone is curious I can explain exactly how). The way we think and the content of what we think about creates a physiological reaction. You can be doing the same things with your body, but thinking differently, and therefore causing more healing or more anti-healing in the body. One way I like to put it is there are healing thoughts like forgiving thoughts, thoughts of possibility, or gratitude, which feel calming and happy. And then there are destructive thoughts like holding grudges, thoughts of limitation, fear, or worry. Being aware that thought drives emotions, and positive emotions drive all sorts of positive physiological processes, is very important and I think largely under-appreciated mechanism for healing. In my own mind, I think a continual stream of forgiving and positive thoughts is a much more effective painkiller than an OTC anti inflammatory. I believe one day research will show this and it will be common knowledge. Maybe not for another 100 years though, since you can't really profit from having people realise how free and powerful their mind is.
Loving the gut bugs. I guess this works in both directions 😊 I used to practice much of the „parasympathetic work“ in the aftermath of a TBI, without much effect. Only to hear from my medical team again and again: you’re simply not relaxed. But when I started to heal my gut & nerves through massive dietary changes, those relaxation exercises and breathing techniques eventually became doable, beneficial and even enjoyable. Special mention though to my first PT :) to my second session with him he gifted me a little bag with kefir seeds!
I’d love to hear more of your take on the mind body space, and the physiology behind it. Think Dr John Sarno and Dr Alan Gordon, and so many more who are pioneers in this field. Many are finding their healing using mind body modalities for things such as ME/CSF, Long Covid, and chronic pain.
Thanks that's great. It would be interesting to have information on specific products that actually have lactobacillus. I recently saw an interview with a doctor who tested a range of products (in America) and found that about 90% didn't have the bacteria they claimed (this was true for products like keffir and sauerkraut, but also for probiotic supplements).
Very interesting again Nick, have a question on this topic...What is your take on Vagus Nerve Stimulators, would they be able to have a meaningful effect on this process? Thanks for any insights you can provide
Unfortunately I haven't tried any myself. I think they're very interesting tools and would like to beta test some for myself. If I do, I will report back.
So as usual, the thousands of people who had vagotomies to treat their gastric ulcer, were made WORSE by the surgery!! Along with gastric resections, and how about colon perforation during colonoscopies? This has tremendous consequences in many treatments involving the GI system!
@@nicknorwitzPhD things have actually calmed down after nine days and relatively back to normal but have a family practice visit today. Had a rough year with a sick mom and just ongoing things hard to turn that off. I actually do yoga five times a week and spend a lot of time in my garden, but that brain is a hard one to control.
Hey Nick! I love how you manage to teach the complexity and science of the human body (in all areas) in such a compact, understandable and exciting way. Better than my professors (personal opinion). Every video makes me curious for more. I'm currently thinking about a topic and would like to ask you a question about it: What would be your nutritional approach for a young, metabolically healthy, lean (currently still high carb + high protein) athlete who wants to build a lot of muscle but also wants to gain metabolic flexibility?
Thanks for your kind words Sven. I don't have a boiler plate answer to your question, unfortunately, since it depends on sport, baseline diet, athletic goals, etc. In general, I think hitting protein at 1g/lb total body weight and resistance training 4-5d/w. If you like, try fasted workouts and include a mix of cardio (zone 2), HIIT, heavy/power activities. If your gut tolerates it, I'd try fermented foods. I think it's always interesting to try carb cycling at minimum re metabolic flexibility, although that doesn't need to be chronic keto. In the end, it's an n = 1 journey... give everything reasonable a try and see what lands... but when you try something give it a serious go... sometimes it takes time to adapt.
@@nicknorwitzPhD Thanks for your answer and your input! Protein, fermented foods and resistance Training already in place. Will definitly try HIT and Zone 2. I think I will also reduce the carbs in some steps, plan them primarily after training and replace the rest with fat. Give it 2 to 3 months and then evaluate the carb amount
Great topic for anyone trying to get healthy! The vagus nerve intrigues me in that until recently it rarely gets discussed. I would love to hear more about it.
Nick, awesome! Not give us more on how much of a two way street this really is! Given the success of keto and carnivore for mental health, should be lots of content that will help people!
@@nicknorwitzPhDYessir! Been following you since I was turned onto your content in the same week by Dr. Ken Berry and Dr. Erica Welsh. Your work with Dave Feldman has also shed some light on why keto and carnivore has improved my wife's hashimoto's and both of our moods. Keep up the good work!
This is why a mix of polyvagal exercises and attatchment core wounds are good to work on and understand activating and deactivating behaviors. And learning how to sustain better getting out of sympathetic (activating states) or freeze and shut down (immobility states) and signing creates long exhale naturally, so sing in shower even better with groups
@@nicknorwitzPhD lol. Don’t realize I phrased it like that till you pointed it out lol. But I have a theory that the more traumatized a often marginalized population, the more often there religious services are much more ANIMATED, LOUD AND ENERGETIC, I’m thinking of a African American Baptist church I visited once in a rough part of town trying to talk them into starting a local youth program. That pastor was def pretty cool but he totally had a laugh at my phase after a service I sat through to talk after. He was like “you def didn’t grow up with that style of singing in church did you?!” lol. 😂. If you think about it, the line of though and poluvagal mechanisms to that along with history kinda make sense. Though if you ever notice people kinda salivating over those indigenous videos and music (quite good actually, def check out indigenous music) but the reason people kinda are drawn to this, is so much of the depictions of life and how to relate to things are in many ways more polyvagal based activities from throat singing dancing drumming nature caring for nature and each other. Like that stuff all screams the sort of community western capitalism has mostly destroyed in society over time as we worship THE 🐉 DRAGON.
Nick i like the efforts you put on graphics! 🖥️ i sometimes wonder how you can do all these things- study in medschool, analyze a journal, put it on videos, add graphics, edit, etcetera! When i was in medschool, all i did was study, eat, sleep & repeat. You are obviously very talented. Keep it up 💫
Both! Thanks Rhowena... my secret is passion and great role models and friends and an awesome community that keeps my moral high!
I stress a lot about the fact that im going through a stressful period and about the consequences of that stress on my health! 🤦♂️
You just need a plan during and after
It's a vicious circle isn't it. How will you break it?
@nicknorwitzPhD ...to neutralize the stress I do exercise and use breathing technique mentioned. Its difficult with everything going on in the world; it's a constant struggle to maintain balance...
@@nancymello5246 I don't think you need to neutralize the stress of exercise. BTW, did you see the lactate and anxiety video? If not, check it out.
I started having aerophagia (which I wasn't conscious of) due to stress which caused GI issues, which triggered more hypochondria and stress (had a colonoscopy before I figured out what was going on!)
Thank you for this great explanation in layman’s terms. I’ve been following you since getting serious as very low carb ketovore, now carnivore for 6 weeks.
I was PM in the Health Insurance industry (Medicare Advantage Star Ratings, and I do not feel comfortable doing such work after all the science I’ve seen over this past summer from you and others. We are part of a broken system.
I would be happy to do anything I can to help further this science and get it out to the masses. As a soon to be 55 year old man in phenomenal health and shape (
Thank you Rob, for your kind words and for sharing with us. Regarding "I would be happy to do anything I can to help further this science and get it out to the masses" -- hav have anything specific in mind or particular skill sets you think might be useful to my team and I? If so, drop you contact and I can email you. Best - Nick
Healthy gut, healthy mental state. Lactobacillus for the win. thanks, Nick.
Very welcome Slater!
@@nicknorwitzPhD so you are advising probiotics, then to help offset the craziness of the brain in the Vaso vagal nerve
@@judyluce3141 Not necessarily. Some people like to play with them... there are some with decent data behind them, e.g. Seed... but I don't tend to recommend them per se.
Another wonderful video. You are really good at this.
Bingo! Great video.
Thanks!
The best!
Fantastic video, Nick! The connection between stress and the microbiome is such a crucial topic, especially as more research highlights the gut-brain axis. I recently came across a study that complements your findings, showing how chronic stress can lead to dysbiosis, which in turn affects our mood and overall health.
It's fascinating to see how the amygdala's role in emotion regulation can influence gut health through pathways like the vagus nerve. I also appreciate your emphasis on actionable takeaways; incorporating probiotics and fermented foods can be a game-changer for many.
For anyone looking to dive deeper, I recommend checking out the paper you linked, as it provides a wealth of information on the mechanisms at play. Keep up the great work in shedding light on these important connections in health and wellness!
I just recently began doing breathwork for 90 to 120 minutes a day. I've incorporated 4-7-8; HRV, Vagus Nerve Reset, Box and a few others including the double inhale. The Practices knocks out my headaches and calms me down as well as a blessing to my sinuses.
Wonderful!
Stressing out about stress is even more unhealthy than stress itself. There might come a time where we don't exploit our fellow citizen through pressure and work. There might come a time where we don't look down on the "lazy" while at the same time get angry or annoyed by someone who passes us by materialistically or status-wise. But as of 2024 it's better to recognize that getting away from stress most of the time means pushing through and staying positive aka "fighter's attitude". This is coming from someone who had 2 burnouts and had to develop a "middlefinger"-attitude to this pretentious society. Anyway good video and I like the tips at the end of the video.
Thanks Delta! And yes Buddha's second arrow, etc.
@@nicknorwitzPhD "Buddha's second arrow," Interesting. Also the chinese proverb "what you resist persists".
Amazing pacing and graphics on this wild topic!
Very helpful video. Thank you very much.
You are very welcome!
Oh Nick, yes, STRESS brought on my bf’s Severe Ulcerative Pancolitis. Thank you for bringing this science to us! Appreciate you!!! Will forward this to him.
Thanks! And good on you... my gf deals patiently with a bf with gut problems too... even in remission, there's a PTSD/stress element that never completely disappears and having a partner who is sympathetic and caring means the world!
@@nicknorwitzPhD I guess she’s para-sympathetic, too
Nick that is awesome. Can you give a lesson on mitochondria? How to increase the effectiveness and what fuels are best for mitochondria?
Indeed, this was all documented in Bad Boys II, using the Woosah technique of vagal activation, although they were a bit light on the neural pathway aspects. They were ahead of their time, scientifically speaking.
The Will Smith movie?
@@nicknorwitzPhD Exactly
By the way, good growth on your channel. I think I have a mutually beneficial arrangement for you. As you know, popular channels at some point end up having toxic commenters that post on the channel's videos. I was thinking I could post toxic comments here so that others know you have finally reached the big time as a YT creator. This has the added benefit where posting trollish comments in shockingly bad taste on YT relaxes me. A win-win situation! Think it over!
Haha... thank you but no thank you. I want to cultivate a positive environment I possible.
Great vid as always. I managed to transform strong pain into less serious bloating recently with breathing techniques. Results seem super solid and consistent with what you're explaining. Will we get a more detail-oriented vid on Lactobacillus alone one day? :) Different stuff is marketed to people as the most beneficial and basically nothing is confirmed the best on keto diets as probably there is not enough data. For example, this guy seems interesting: Lactobacillus acidophilus Er-2 317/402 Narine
Lack of sleep + lack of socialising = high stress.
Thats all u need to know.
Try being autistic and poor in the big city. Perfect recipe for the life you describe
Super interesting as always. As a yoga teacher.. another reason to do the breath work and something I always told my students is the type A people don't like the slow stretchy yoga and it's often. Exactly what they need
Too true
Great video Nick! Thank you for this
My pleasure! Glad you liked it Tom.
stress also influence directly virulence of certain bugs and may directly cause leaky gut. I suppose the inverse pathway can alter our mood and stress level... if crazy panic stressful signals go up trough vagus nerve to the amygdala ... maybe we can feel awful and dizzy and sad
Stress seems to influence many things in metabolic health, does it?
@@nicknorwitzPhD stress is an alert signals and in acute state it changes our metabolism and physiology maybe for a purpose --- but in a chronic state we fail - the cell danger response is so complex but meaningful
i like your point regarding the guilty pleasures
I thought you all might ;)
Gut health so important especially the flora and hence why I was surprised see that in your channel since low carb tends to have low fiber which isn’t good for gut health. Good on you to cover this topic.
Look at the cover of my cookbook and get back to me ;) www.amazon.com/New-Mediterranean-Diet-Cookbook-Keto-Friendly/dp/1589239911
Great content. Thank you
Glad you liked it!
You can also learn to do your own lacto-bacillus fermentation. Heck it’s also a good drench for your soil and compost
Have recommended resources for fellow viewers Dave?
Or just make Dr. William Davis so called "SIBO yogurt". It does wonder. th-cam.com/video/la9yODLZizo/w-d-xo.htmlsi=oYoPy6y-yY71dzYT
@@nicknorwitzPhD hmm.. specific resources, like no, but the topics to be researching are for making your own I find the most crucial thing is to understand the nature of lacto bacillus from a bit of a microbiology article and then learn and thus can be done on TH-cam etc, different ways of starting it so you don’t have to buy your own. Particularly how to create a starter culture without a yogurt container. As that’s just reusing one. You become much more capable when you can do it from rice water or something similar. Plus the lacto bacillus when it runs out of food to my knowledge it goes dormant till you feed it again, some lady fed hers like 4 years later from back of fridge and it popped back up, so before throwing out always try to restart. And then as far as using it in the garden, compost, soil drench, and even foilar spray on leaves, I’m still researching parts of that but it seems like it works as it’s one of the main bacteria in the soil food web. Lacto breaks down organic matter and has other functions which I’m reading about in this article: www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1347745/full I think learning about these two things you have the ability to culture what you need And keep it going without wasting a ton of flour or starches etc. And then using it in your garden is always a good thing. Nice thing is it’s an anerobic fermentation so it dosent need a bubbler. I’m also been trying out and investigating aerated compost teas though the trick with those is to check out dr. Elaine Ingram’s videos on composting and the closer to that you get the better as the process matters. Which is why some results are inconsistent with that, though it does help with plant growth and production it seems, the jury is still out on disease suppression for aerated compost tea, but more will be done I expect. Though lots of people sware by it. I get sense we will just get a more precise process for leveraging it at some point. Also you don’t have a kitchen compost, you have a compost area that you put kitchen stuff. The distinction is important as you would benefit from going on a walk or hike or bike ride or have lunch at a nearby forest preserve or ideal biome near you. You take a small like medicine bottle or so of soil from a few different places. And some dead leaves on the ground, not a lot like a handful or two, and if you can find some rotting wood grab some wood chips or parts you can take off. And if you ever come across roots, always keep them unless they diseased. Because soil has microbes, leaves and wood have fungi, and roots inside them can exist a type of mycorizal fungi that they can’t currently reproduce in a lab. It only grows in roots. And take all that, and add it to your compost and keep it reasonably moist (create a routine for watering or automate it, use decorated water that sat out for a day or two) And as far as gardening goes for NPK, most if not all your nutrition can often come from urine(nitrogen), wood ash(potassium), and bone meal(crushed up bones, can even make bone broth in pressure cooker before crushing and use it to make them really soft after like 5 hrs in there). And especially urine there is a slight ick factor for some people, though the reason it’s important outside of being free, is that it is something farmers use but also if we just as a society reuse our urine and follow guidelines for large groups(more strict than just a man peeing in a milk jug, I know what I eat and consume and take and have, I don’t know them but there are procedures for this and machines to even pasteurize it on large scale). Though the crazy thing, using it creates a ton less emissions and even helps us be more energy independent because the haber Bosch process that they use to extract nitrogen from N2 in the air, takes a ton of energy to feed billions of people and yet we are litterally just releasing it into sewage system and wasting it and sending it out to dead zones in oceans that are 8500 miles wide, like at a certain point it just becomes smart energy, sustainability and self reliance as well as mutual aid and local production wise, it works. Just if curious learn to use it. If women want to my understand is you need some sort of attatchment or something to prevent trickle down contamination, guys don’t have this issue we can often use it straight away as long as we don’t have a urinary tract infection. So between all those different things I’ve got a pretty strong garden going and learning to ferment and make various things my self.
But WHY!!!??? What is the purpose of the evolutionary symbiosis of the Lactobacillus in the gut? And WHY would we want to kill off the bugs when we get stressed?
As a mental health counselor, I approve this message
You Get IT!
@@nicknorwitzPhD I’m incorporating your teachings into my toolbox of mental health pillars
@@nicknorwitzPhD Dr Bessel Van der Kolk , psychiatrist wrote The Body keeps the Score. The takeaway lesson is that trauma stores in the body ; how I wish he made this physiology pathway connection but it basically is the same message
How about if you are unfortunately on benzodiazepines. Very hard no matter what to get into parasympathetic when you are in tolerance……my gut is wrecked
@@lululove6175 benzodiazepines are hard to get off for sure. Are you on a therapeutic dose or are you overdosing , building your tolerance level over time ?
I wonder if Dr William Davis's Lactobacillus reuteri yoghurt is operative in this causal loop.
Sorry, I don't know who that is.
I have more sauerkraut on my counter top right now in the process of fermenting. I'm curious as to what benefits I'll notice by incorporating some on every non-fasting day.
You know, Nick, it would have been really helpful if you had told me all this 45 years ago... Where were you when I needed you most...?
And I have to add... that fermented foods give me cramps and bloating... how do you explain that...? 😥
I didn't exist and my mom was a 14. As for fermented foods, their consumption can cause generation of gas. My recommendation is to start with a small dose (e.g. 1 Tbsp of sauerkraut) and build up slowly from there.
@@nicknorwitzPhD Oh, your mom is just one year older than me 😊
Sauerkraut is one of those foods which make me think that Dr. Anthony Chaffee is right when he says that plants are trying to kill us... After a lifetime of suffering, and 5 years on Keto, I have switched to Keto Carnivore a couple of months ago. Feeling somewhat better. Of course it's too late for me... I should have started decades ago 😔
@@aurapopescu1875it’s never too late. Don’t give up.
Very interesting findings! Thank you for bringing it to light
I do find it strange that the mucin secreted in the duadenum has such an impact on the microbiome since most of our bacteria are found in the large intestine
Do you have any hypothesis?
Is it possible this mechanism works in mice but not in humans due to the differences in our digestive systems?
Well... the small and large intestines are connected...
Thanks Doc for great info. Btw in NYPost article they all of a sudden start calling you Dr Norwolk. Super unprofessional.
At 2:01 you mention a reciprocal action. I get that the amygdala talks to your good guy gut bugs, telling them to multiply or cull themselves, via these Brunner's glands . But I don't remember you saying anything about what the gut bugs say back to the amygdala, (presumably via the same Brunner's glands?). Are you going to cover that separately or is simply the lack of gastro intestinal discomfort, the comforting feedback the amygdala needs to tell the rest of your brain to relax?
It's more of a broader point, also mentioned in the paper. But I think it's most practical to talk about this as a bidirectional communication. I highlighted one "story" in the data
@@nicknorwitzPhD OK, thanks. The video caught my eye because of this reciprocity. I briefly entertained the notion of a gut bug controlling our brains in a manner more insidious than simply through physical discomfort. A Rick and Morty script idea maybe. Keep up the good work, the topics are interesting.
Here one that has been suffering with IBS for a long while. Improved my symptoms and reduced the frequency of flare-ups by cutting on most FODMAPs. Wanted to enhance gut microbiota so started adding kefir, kimchi, etc. My gut hated that, flare-ups were even worse when they happened. I wonder if there is a situation in which trying to "add" lactobacillus when the brain is impaired to signal for the glands to do so is counterproductive?
Yes. You need to balance first. Try carnivore with dr William's sheep yogurt for a couple years.
Wow, what a wild coincidence. I just saw your tweet about your egg experiment on X, and just got your notification for this video…
I haven’t seen your content in months either!
Were you previously subscribed? Do you have notifications on? I post 2 videos a week usually.
Don't be so sure about lactobacillus being good, Guy Daniels here on TH-cam puts some doubt on that assertion by comparing the microbiome populations of people with several conditions. Other families do have a mostly positive association meaning they are present in larger quantities in healthy control individuals but that's not always the case with lactobacillus.
I agree in general that microbiome compositions need to be taken in context. For the purposes of this video I highlighted a simple yet imperfect heuristic, also noting it's a large and broad genus.
I posted something similar with Guy Daniels as he explains where other do not. Hope this helps others, just because Lactobacillus is very easy to culture doesn't make it necessarily good for us it seems.
I had gastric bypass surgery and I’m pretty sure they cut my Vegas nerve 😢
Roux-en-Y? During Roux-en-Y some surgeons elect to perform a vagotomy to reduce symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux
Does anyone have a theory as to why this connection between stress and the gut problems would have been selected for during human evolution?
Co-evolution is common... like the Goby and Pistol Shrimp ;)
Because: 1) evolution is not real, we were created in God's image potential. 2) we live in ungodly society and economies so we live against our operating manual of love and community
Are stress levels measured by smart watches reliable?
I would be dubious
It’s good your video is out of the bedroom now.
It has been... sadly I don't have studio money... costs of being 28 and in medical school.
@@nicknorwitzPhD Keep at it! I’ll miss the pandas 🐼
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul Soil??? Or what will a man give as an exchange for his soul Soil????. Soil. We are but soil... Hold on to your soil... Gives new meaning to the term Land Lord. We are all Land Lords..
TBH, this went over my head a tad.
Reflexology put you in a parasympathetic state. It has been proven. That’s what I use sometimes.
Glad you have something that sounds like it works for you
🤘
rock on
Mr. Norwitz do you drink coffee?
I Do sometimes... currently on a caffeine break but in general I do... and That's "Dr Some Dude" now... LOL x.com/DrEricRodgers/status/1837819116687696327
Wow, lots of info to ‘digest’ , pun intended, but you explain it well. Thanks, you are one of the few doctors I trust. Very helpful
That's very kind! Thank you Carol
My favourite way to find balance is reading scripture... never fails to bring me back into harmony...
Here's one just for you
Galatians 5:14
“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Great presentation, it's easy to see the love you bring in your work for us all
God Bless You Nick
IDK... one set of neighbors in kinda' a jerk. JK... nice quote.
My mind is blown. Thank you!
Great response!
Great topic. Stress reduction exercises are bit too "zen" for me, but I play drums and that seems to work for me. I also eat homemade sauerkraut and kefir regularly (nearly every day).
Drums would count as a polyvagal exercise
Hence the "user specific stress reduction" ... nice!
This is fantastic. Especially in light of the research that suggests people living w/ Alzheimer’s have a less diverse microbiome. Doubling down on committing to a healthy gut can only serve us in the short and long run.
I think the key is to prime the gut as much as possible and develop good stress managing techniques so that when acute stressors arise (the surprise type), we have a solid tool box of remedies.
Have an upcoming video on AD... very cool new science on lactate and an enzyme called IDO1...
Close to 81k smart subscribers!!!
Thanks Jim :)
So for all the weird woo language Wim Hof uses, he was actually right about the brain-vagus nerve-gut-immune system-health chain?
Sometimes what seems "woo" have a solid scientific basis... sometimes...
As someone recently diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease I find this information affirming.
Underrated topic!
Indeed!
Blooming fascinating Nick. Thanks for your excellent work…once again!
Appreciate it Steve!
just ran across your 720 eggs video which has drawn me into your other videos. The gut health connection to stress is making a lot of sense to me, and, yeah, I admit that I am a stressed-out basket case (just ask my wife!). I've known about probiotics and yogurt, but don't usually eat it very often. This is giving me a lot of food to think about (pun intended). Stress management is not something that was taught at any point in my life, so, again, you've given me a lot to think about. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I think you are turning medicine on its head. And it's about time. trying to improve my microbiome and have an impact on auto immune. going to start by researching all your videos.
Excellent content & presentation. 30 Wellness Secrets to prevent or reverse Lifestyle Disorders
I think this could be what caused my gut issues, i had a base of skull fracture very close to where the vagus nerve enters the skull, my skull is slightly out of shape from this injury.
So sorry to hear that.
The more we learn about the body, the more natural healing modalities start to make sense.
They are not just placebo, there are actual physiological reasons why they work because most of them are about stress reduction.
Depending on what modality is used, the effect on the autonomic nervous system varies. So some are more powerful than others.
Mastering your autonomic nervous system (the best you can) is a form of super power, I suppose... or at least incredibly functional
@@nicknorwitzPhD Yes, I agree completely. I use energy healing techniques and as wacky as they may sound, they do affect the autonomic nervous system very powerfully and that is why they work so well. I have used them to heal myself from a lof of things. It sure feels like I have super powers since I learned to use them. I feel like these kinds of techniques are the future and the more studies come out which investigate the autonomic nervous system the more these "woo-woo" sounding things start to make sense. Then one day they come to the conclusion "Hey, these are really powerful techniques, so sad that it took us 100 years to figure that out". Well, I don't wait for science to catch up, I use them almost everyday and get the benefit for myself and people around me.
Thank you! Fantastic information. 🙌
This is what my podcast is about today. I will share this, thank you!
Great!
Nicely explained Nick, thanks for the breathing exercise tip, I'll be trying that extra steal of breath and see if it gets me less anxious and stops the stress build up..
The worst uc flares ive had pop up out of nowhere is where i felt the least stressed. It's an anecdotal statement but since we can't measure stress exactly, it's my experience.
My stress comes from poor health, when I feel good I have no stress.
Would be awesome to see a video from you on SIBO.
Awsome, thanks a lot 💪
Thought is a major driver of emotions, which as you are describing impacts gut health. I actually completely healed an egg intolerance of about 5 years purely through meditation in just one sitting (if anyone is curious I can explain exactly how). The way we think and the content of what we think about creates a physiological reaction. You can be doing the same things with your body, but thinking differently, and therefore causing more healing or more anti-healing in the body. One way I like to put it is there are healing thoughts like forgiving thoughts, thoughts of possibility, or gratitude, which feel calming and happy. And then there are destructive thoughts like holding grudges, thoughts of limitation, fear, or worry. Being aware that thought drives emotions, and positive emotions drive all sorts of positive physiological processes, is very important and I think largely under-appreciated mechanism for healing. In my own mind, I think a continual stream of forgiving and positive thoughts is a much more effective painkiller than an OTC anti inflammatory. I believe one day research will show this and it will be common knowledge. Maybe not for another 100 years though, since you can't really profit from having people realise how free and powerful their mind is.
On ... "you can't really profit from having people realize how free and powerful their mind is" ... how do we make this a business model?
I am definitely curious please explain how!
@@nicknorwitzPhDNick Norwitz becoming a modern day Royce DuPont. Few.
Great video!
Cheers!
What about zonulin? Define "stress"...cortisol level? C-reactive protein?
I did speak about cortisol I believe... listen again.
Loving the gut bugs.
I guess this works in both directions 😊
I used to practice much of the „parasympathetic work“ in the aftermath of a TBI, without much effect. Only to hear from my medical team again and again: you’re simply not relaxed.
But when I started to heal my gut & nerves through massive dietary changes, those relaxation exercises and breathing techniques eventually became doable, beneficial and even enjoyable.
Special mention though to my first PT :) to my second session with him he gifted me a little bag with kefir seeds!
Cool story... definitely bidirectional :)
I’d love to hear more of your take on the mind body space, and the physiology behind it. Think Dr John Sarno and Dr Alan Gordon, and so many more who are pioneers in this field. Many are finding their healing using mind body modalities for things such as ME/CSF, Long Covid, and chronic pain.
I'll consider doing more videos on this topic. Those are new names for me so thanks for the tips.
Great 'specifics' there are so many generalizations of cortisol and bacteria yaaaay ! 😄
Glad it was helpful!
Lactobacillus are really life saving for me. Any south asians reading this. Please drink you chaas or have your curd/dahi :D
Tell us more...
Another wonderful video. You are really good at this.
Thank you! Cheers!
Thanks that's great. It would be interesting to have information on specific products that actually have lactobacillus. I recently saw an interview with a doctor who tested a range of products (in America) and found that about 90% didn't have the bacteria they claimed (this was true for products like keffir and sauerkraut, but also for probiotic supplements).
I haven't found a good kefir without Lactobacillus... it think it's part in parcel.
Very interesting again Nick, have a question on this topic...What is your take on Vagus Nerve Stimulators, would they be able to have a meaningful effect on this process? Thanks for any insights you can provide
Unfortunately I haven't tried any myself. I think they're very interesting tools and would like to beta test some for myself. If I do, I will report back.
@@nicknorwitzPhD Thank you very much and really appreciate the info
Thank you!
you're welcome :)
wow
IKR!
So as usual, the thousands of people who had vagotomies to treat their gastric ulcer, were made WORSE by the surgery!! Along with gastric resections, and how about colon perforation during colonoscopies? This has tremendous consequences in many treatments involving the GI system!
I think it does, yes.
Omg right now!!!
Haha love the reaction.
@@nicknorwitzPhD things have actually calmed down after nine days and relatively back to normal but have a family practice visit today. Had a rough year with a sick mom and just ongoing things hard to turn that off. I actually do yoga five times a week and spend a lot of time in my garden, but that brain is a hard one to control.
Hey Nick! I love how you manage to teach the complexity and science of the human body (in all areas) in such a compact, understandable and exciting way. Better than my professors (personal opinion). Every video makes me curious for more. I'm currently thinking about a topic and would like to ask you a question about it: What would be your nutritional approach for a young, metabolically healthy, lean (currently still high carb + high protein) athlete who wants to build a lot of muscle but also wants to gain metabolic flexibility?
Thanks for your kind words Sven. I don't have a boiler plate answer to your question, unfortunately, since it depends on sport, baseline diet, athletic goals, etc. In general, I think hitting protein at 1g/lb total body weight and resistance training 4-5d/w. If you like, try fasted workouts and include a mix of cardio (zone 2), HIIT, heavy/power activities. If your gut tolerates it, I'd try fermented foods. I think it's always interesting to try carb cycling at minimum re metabolic flexibility, although that doesn't need to be chronic keto. In the end, it's an n = 1 journey... give everything reasonable a try and see what lands... but when you try something give it a serious go... sometimes it takes time to adapt.
@@nicknorwitzPhD Thanks for your answer and your input! Protein, fermented foods and resistance Training already in place. Will definitly try HIT and Zone 2. I think I will also reduce the carbs in some steps, plan them primarily after training and replace the rest with fat. Give it 2 to 3 months and then evaluate the carb amount
Great topic for anyone trying to get healthy! The vagus nerve intrigues me in that until recently it rarely gets discussed. I would love to hear more about it.
Noted. Glad you enjoyed the video.
Merogenomics has been doing a deep dive on the vagus.
Nick, awesome! Not give us more on how much of a two way street this really is! Given the success of keto and carnivore for mental health, should be lots of content that will help people!
More to come on mental health and metabolic health ;) I have a playlist on it on my home page now too
@@nicknorwitzPhDYessir! Been following you since I was turned onto your content in the same week by Dr. Ken Berry and Dr. Erica Welsh. Your work with Dave Feldman has also shed some light on why keto and carnivore has improved my wife's hashimoto's and both of our moods. Keep up the good work!
This is why a mix of polyvagal exercises and attatchment core wounds are good to work on and understand activating and deactivating behaviors. And learning how to sustain better getting out of sympathetic (activating states) or freeze and shut down (immobility states) and signing creates long exhale naturally, so sing in shower even better with groups
"sing in shower ... with groups" interesting proposal... ;) you must have great friends
@@nicknorwitzPhD lol. Don’t realize I phrased it like that till you pointed it out lol. But I have a theory that the more traumatized a often marginalized population, the more often there religious services are much more ANIMATED, LOUD AND ENERGETIC, I’m thinking of a African American Baptist church I visited once in a rough part of town trying to talk them into starting a local youth program. That pastor was def pretty cool but he totally had a laugh at my phase after a service I sat through to talk after. He was like “you def didn’t grow up with that style of singing in church did you?!” lol. 😂. If you think about it, the line of though and poluvagal mechanisms to that along with history kinda make sense. Though if you ever notice people kinda salivating over those indigenous videos and music (quite good actually, def check out indigenous music) but the reason people kinda are drawn to this, is so much of the depictions of life and how to relate to things are in many ways more polyvagal based activities from throat singing dancing drumming nature caring for nature and each other. Like that stuff all screams the sort of community western capitalism has mostly destroyed in society over time as we worship THE 🐉 DRAGON.
At 9:17, according to closed captioning, physiological *size* matters. 🤣
At 8:52, this level of detail will *lyft* the spirits of *über* neuron nerds but may be *taxing* on the rest of the audience.
Are you trying to Drive me crazy with these puns ;)
@@nicknorwitzPhD perhaps I am, using *autonomic* vehicles.