Gut health is a hot topic in the wellness industry, with a 2020 study reporting that a whopping 40% of adults worldwide suffer from gastrointestinal issues.

Everyone, from YouTubers to health professionals, have been advocating for better gut health awareness, making it hard to ignore the narrative urging me to take my gut health seriously.

A diagnosis of high-functioning anxiety means I’ve become accustomed to tummy troubles and poor sleep. 

So, when I found out that a healthy gut could promote better mood, energy levels and sleep, and reduce bloating and gas (the holy grail), I was sold.

But with so many supplements, lifestyle changes and a wealth of misinformation to consider, it can be difficult to know where to start.

On a mission to reap the benefits of good gut health, I tried five popular gut-boosting techniques.

Here’s how they made me feel…

According to Dr Megan Rossi, diet is a key player when it comes to gut health, with the dietitian and nutritionist recommending eating 30 different plant foods a week to help maintain the diversity of your gut microbiota.

Now, I count myself as a fruit and veg lover, but 30 different helpings still sounded like a tall order. Nevertheless, a couple of daily switches made the goal surprisingly achievable.

Instead of topping my morning porridge with a just a banana (although still pretty great), I added blueberries, pumpkin seeds and goji berries to the rotation. I also filled my favourite midweek fajitas with mixed peppers, avocado and black beans and ate the leftovers with wholegrain rice the next day.

Cutting refined sugars and introducing more fermented foods were also two gut bacteria-boosting techniques at the top of my list. So, I swapped sugary cereal bars for fermented milk drinks and mixed nuts.

For lunch and dinner, I tried topping everything with kimchi (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it) and thanks to my well-fed gut microbiome, I felt more energised, happier and strangely more resilient to the Sunday night scaries. 

If that’s not a win, I don’t know what is.

Like most people, I try my best to keep my reusable water bottle topped up throughout the day. Remembering to actually drink from it is a whole other story, though. 

After learning that staying hydrated is a simple and valuable gut health-boosting technique, I was determined to give it a go and started to think of ways to trick myself into consuming enough liquids.

Herbal teas have been used for their digestive benefits for centuries in ancient Chinese tea ceremonies. I’m all about a hot drink, so made sure my cupboard was overflowing with peppermint and rooibos blends, which encouraged me to drink more throughout the day.

Although straight up water is still probably your best bet, despite popular belief, drinking more tea and coffee can also count towards your fluid intake. 

So, I built a regular mid-morning coffee and Instagram break into my daily routine.

More alert, more hydrated and more kind to my gut? Nailed it.

The last few years have been hugely stressful, and thanks to the two-way gut-brain connection, increased  stress has probably been wreaking havoc on my gut health.

The NHS notes that stress can upset the digestive system, causing bloating and abdominal pain, so finding an effective stress management technique was a journey I started last autumn.

Meditation is a coping technique that allows people to deal with daily stressors more effectively when adopted as a regular practice.

I’m a serious fidget and have never been very good at sitting still but at the start of the year I made a conscious effort to embark on a morning meditation routine.

After a few months of dedicating just 10 minutes to meditation every morning, I found I could go about my day with a much calmer temperament, my mood was better regulated and my tummy troubles and bloating have since been less aggressive than they were in my pre-meditation days.

The good news is that with tons of free meditation videos and playlists available online, meditation is no longer just a practice for those in the know or with enough cash, making it an easy addition to your daily routine.

Cardio can be a contentious topic in the fitness world – some love it, others hate it.

I happen to fall on the side of cardio lover and enjoy morning runs at least twice a week. At the moment, I’m training for a half marathon which has meant upping my running routine to three long runs a week.

Although it can be a tough schedule, I’m addicted to the runner’s high and have noticed that my bowel habits are significantly speedier on training days – exercise can actually increase the diversity of microbes in the gut.

But beware, long runs can actually cause gastrointestinal issues in runners with IBS or sensitive stomachs, issues I have dealt with when my training schedule gets intense. This is because blood flow is directed away from the GI tract to support the cardiovascular system.

But beware, some studies suggest more vigorous exercise could affect IBS symptoms, and intense or prolonged activities, like running a marathon, may aggravate symptoms. 

This is an issue I have dealt with when my training schedule gets intense. 

So, when my tummy isn’t feeling up to it, I’ve found that swimming is a gentler alternative to pounding the pavement. Essentially, any form of movement is great if you’re listening to your body and enjoying it.

If lying down and doing nothing is a legit gut-boosting technique, I’m happy to join the party.

And apparently it is. The gut-brain axis is a two-way relationship, so I wasn’t surprised to find that the broader diversity of my diet and focus on reducing stress resulted in better sleep.

Although I’m not a night owl and probably have the same bedtime as your grandma (tucked up by 9pm, thank you), I’m a very light sleeper who regularly struggles with nights of broken rest.

Implementing a regular sleep-wake cycle, staying away from blue light before bed and reducing my water intake in the evening helped me improve my sleep. I felt refreshed and my sugar cravings were drastically curbed.

Disturbance to sleep quality is associated with disrupting the composition of the gut microbiome, so it’s no wonder that good sleep = good gut health.

While some of these techniques might not be for everybody (coffee will not be staying in my daily routine - too many mid-morning jitters), the benefits I felt from combining these methods was pretty impressive.

Gut health can’t be magically transformed in a matter of days. Building good gut health is a long-term process that yields the best results from consistency over time.

However, given the way that eating the rainbow, running regularly and morning meditation have made me feel, they’re definitely techniques that I’ll be keeping in my routine.

Keen to understand more about the gut? Yakult is encouraging all of us to learn about the important role the gut plays in our overall health and wellbeing. Find out more here.