Latest / Hardiness with Dr Paul Taylor / Wisdom Wednesdays: Rewilding Your Microbiome

Transcript

Wisdom Wednesdays: Rewilding Your Microbiome · Hardiness with Dr Paul Taylor

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays. Today's
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: episode is all about the benefits of spending time in
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: nature and specifically green spaces and waterways and looking at
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the impact on your health and particularly your microbiome. So
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: over the past few decades, it's actually become pretty clear
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: that health isn't just about what happens inside our bodies.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: It's also about how we react and interact with the environment.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: And it turns out that the microbes in the er soil, plants,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: and water play a critical role in shaping the human microbiome,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: which in turn influences many aspects of our health, from
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: our immunity to our mental well being. And this emerging
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: field of research sheds light on the importance of reconnecting
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: with nature to improve our microbiome and ultimately our overall health.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: And I knew a bit about this, but diving into
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: it actually really emphasized the importance of these green spaces
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: and blue spaces as well. Actually, so first let's look
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: at green spaces, so parks, forest gardens, those sorts of things,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: how they affect our microbiome. So one of the key
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: papers on this topic was a twenty twenty one article
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: called Colliding and Interacting Microbes and Microbial Communities Consequences, and
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: this study highlighted, or the paper highlighted, our urbanization and
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: the industrialization of our environment has led to a significant
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: reduction and exposure to diverse microorganisms. And the researchers discussed
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: how our ancestors lived in much closer contact with nature,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: interacting with the soul plants and animals that carry beneficial microbes,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: and these microbes would have constantly reshaped and balanced our
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: immune systems, our gut health, and even our mental health.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: But in modern cities and many of us spend times
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: indoors in these hyper sanitized environments, and that's got worse
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: since COVID. And although people might think of this as
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: clean living, it's really a kind of a microbial desert.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: And our immune systems evolved to rely on regular exposure
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: to a wide array of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: to stay healthy. And then without these exposures, we see
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: an increase in immune related disorders like asthma, allergies, and
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: autoimmune diseases. Anybody noticed that they've all been on the rise.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Now this phenomenon is actually called immune disregulation and It's
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: well known, for instance, that kids who are raised in
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: the countryside and especially on farms, have much more diverse
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: microbiomes and healthier immune systems than city kids. And this
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: study argues that urban habitat restoration, so restoring green spaces
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: in cities can actually help us to rewild the microbiome,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: as does spending significant time in nature. And some of
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: you may be familiar with the concept of forest beathing
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: that is kicked off out of Japan, where people go
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: and spend significant amounts of time in the forest, and
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: it's supposed to have a pretty significant effect on their
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: physical and mental health, and now we might know why,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: or at least a contributing factor. So this microbiome rewilding
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: hypothesis suggests that restoring this rich biodiversity in our environment
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: can restore the balance in our bodies, offering protection against
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: immune related diseases. But it's not just green spaces that
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: have a significant impact. We know also that waterways, things
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: such as lakes, rivers, and oceans introduce us to another
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: rich layer of microbial diversity. And I read an interesting
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: paper published in the Journal of the Science of the
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Total Environment, and it was actually just this year it's
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: called the role of natural waterways in supporting human microbiomes,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: and it actually stated that when we spend time around
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: and in water, through swimming, fishing, or simply being close
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: to it, can have distinct benefits for human health. So
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: my morning walk along the beach with my dogs might
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: actually be doing quite a lot of beneficial things. This
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: paper highlights that the microbiomes of aquatic environments are vastly
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: different to those of land based environments, and the microorganisms
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: found in rivers, lakes, and oceans, such as cyanobacteria and
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: aquatic fungi, can actually colonize our skin and even influence
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: our gut microbiota when we spend time there. These interactions
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: can strengthen our microbiomes by introducing new species of microbes,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: which diversify our internal ecosystems. And what has become really
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: really clear lately is that it's the diversity of our
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: microbiome that actually drives health, and when we have a
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: narrow microbiome, it is not good for us. And this
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: research also suggests that regular exposure to natural waterways can
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: even help regulate our moods, reduce stress, and even boost
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: immune function. Through this unique microbial transfer, and it really
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: underscores the value of blue spaces as well as green
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: spaces for improving mental health. And it's being reported that
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: people who live near water, whether it's an ocean or
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: a river or a lake, often report lower levels of
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: stress and mood disorders, as well as improved cognitive function.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: And this calming effect of water, sometimes known as the
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: blue mind, has been linked to lower cortisol levels and
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression. And it turns out
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: it might not just be looking at the water, but
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: actually being around it and being exposed to the microbes
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: that come there. So let's not circle back to really
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: this core problem that we face today, which is massive urbanization.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: And the twenty eighteen paper called Urbanization and the Microbiome,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Causes and Consequences and goes into a deep dive about
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: how living in cities reduces our contacts with nature's microbiomes,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: and it actually reviews this paper review decades of research
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: showing that the rise of modern cities with the concrete
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: jungles and lack of green or blue spaces, has a
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: direct correlation with increased cases of chronic inflammatory diseases, allergies,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: and even psychiatric conditions like anxiety and depression, and the
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: authors explain that we've essentially removed ourselves from the microbial
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: ecosystems that help regulate our health. And it's particularly eye
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: opening because it talks about the biodiversity hypothesis, which is
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: basically that our immune system, our a healthy immune system,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: is developed in this environment with lots of different microbial life,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: and by cutting ourselves off from nature, we're losing those
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: critical inputs to our our that our immune system actually
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: needs to function optimally. And we know that your immune
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: system interfaces with the gut brain access as well, because
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: about eighty percent of your immune system resides in the gut,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: and that's how it can affect our brain and our
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: mental health as well. And also, actually a little aside
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: on this, some people that we've all seen them, probably
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: make things a bucket load worse by constantly using disinfectant
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: wipes wherever they are. And you see those people here
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: constantly disinfecting the hands of their kids, and that really
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: is not good. Now. The authors of this study proposed
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: that restoring green spaces and increasing access to waterways could
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: reverse some of the damage caused by urbanization and by
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: reintroducing ourselves to these diverse microbial communities found in nature,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: we can help to recalibate our immune systems, improve our
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: gut health, and even support mental resilience. And it was
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: it was very popular in Britain one hundred years ago
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: when people were sick was they were sent out to
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: the country to recover. We know it was about getting
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: away from the city and the cleaner hor but there
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: could have been more to it on this. So to
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: build on this idea, there's a twenty seventeen paper called
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Urban Habitat Restoration and Microbuyoing Rewilding, and that talks about
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: how restoring the diversity in urban areas can help to
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: prevent disease. And they're essentially saying we need a plant,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: lots more trees, plants and waterways. Well you don't plant waterways,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean, have these waterways to rewild
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: our microbombs. And they actually talked about a pretty fascinating
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: case study where there was and they took this area
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: and restored a whole heap of degraded pasture into a
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: biodiverse green space where soil bacteria were reintroduced and then
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: microbial diversity flourished and they measured this and over time
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: this intervention improved the health of the soil, which then
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: had a positive effect on the health of the people
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: who were living nearby, and by increasing the microbial diversity
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: in the environment, the researchers actually saw improvements in immune
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: function and reduction in cases of asthma, allergies, and even
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: certain skin conditions. So this is not just theory by
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: a bunch of hippies. This is actually proper science where
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: they've actually seen the changing of the environment actually impacting
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: on people's microbiomes and in turn on their health. So
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: let's chat briefly about mental health as well. There was
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: an interesting paper published in Nature Mental Health in twenty
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: twenty three and explore the effects of both daytime and
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: nighttime natural light exposure on mood and psychiatric disorders, and
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: the researchers found that regular exposure to natural light and
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: then natural darkness, especially in green spaces, helps to regulate
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: circadian rhythms, which are really critical for mood stability. And
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: the study also discussed how increased exposure to natural environments
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: can lower the risk of developing psychiatric conditions like anxiety
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: and depression, and it turns out that nature does more
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: than just directly calm the mind by chilling your out.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: It actually physically interacts with our bodies, introducing us to
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: this microbial environment that can enhance our mental well being
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: and protecting against these mood disorders. And that builds on,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: as I said earlier, what we know about the gut
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: brain access, and that concept was discussed in the twenty
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: twenty one microbiome rewilding paper, and a balanced microbiome doesn't
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: just influence digestion and immune health, it also, through the
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: gut brain access, plays a key role in mood regulation
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: and also in cognitive function. So when we're spar time
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: in nature, whether it's green spaces or blue spaces, we're
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: actually feeding our microbiome their diversity that it needs to
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: support both good digestive health and also good bringing and
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: mental health and reduce the risk of mood issues, including
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: depression and anxiety. So let's talk about what we can
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: do practically. So obviously the first thing would be spending
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: time in green spaces, just making a habit to go
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: out and whether it's in the evening or on the weekend,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: or if you can at lunchtime, just get out and
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: spend a bit of time in nature, because every little
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: bit counts. And then it's also engaging with waterways, whether
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: it's a lake, walking along a river, or walking along
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: the beats by the ocean, because that introduces, remember, another
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: source of microbes that are different. And then just things
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: like gardening. Digging your hands into the soil is a
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: simple but effective way to a boost your exposure to
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: these diverse microbiomes, and studies have actually shown that gardeners
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: tend to have much more diverse both skin and gut microbiomes, which,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: as I said, improves our immune health. And then it's
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: about mindful interaction, right, so when you're nature, it's not
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: just walking through it on your phone, it's actually engaging
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: with it. Touching the plants, touching the soil, the grass,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: getting into the getting your feet into the water. They
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: all help to introduce these beneficial microbes into our body.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: And I think the key thing, especially with our kids,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: is to balance indoor in our door time. So if
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: you spend a lot of time indoors, try to make
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: sure you get outside as regularly as possible and get
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: some fresher in, but ideally in those green and blue spaces.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: So that's it for this week. Folks, catch you next time.