The part of the body that is most closely related to life expectancy

What is the relationship between intestinal life span and longevity? Does your gut age match your actual age? How can we achieve health and longevity by maintaining our intestines? Let’s explore it together below.

The intestine is the second "brain" of human beings

Do humans have a second "brain"? That’s right! It is our intestines, which have 100 billion nerve cells and are mainly responsible for our subconscious activities. Experts say that 95% of serotonin, dopamine and a variety of hormones that make people happy and that control the emotions of humans and some mammals are synthesized in the intestines. A large part of emotions are influenced by the enteric nervous system. Even the human experience of happiness depends on information transmitted from the intestine, the second "brain", to the brain.

The first brain of a person is the central nervous system, whose main function is to transmit, store and process information, produce various psychological activities, and dominate and control all human behaviors. When we are at rest, our intestines are still moving. In addition to participating in the digestion and absorption of food, they are also involved in the regulation of the functions of other organs in the body, including affecting people's emotions.

Wang Yuanzhao introduced that the intestine is the largest detoxification organ in the human body and is responsible for most of the detoxification tasks in the human body. While detoxifying, it also takes on the important task of resisting diseases. Our human body has three major barriers to resist diseases, namely the placental barrier, blood-brain barrier and intestinal barrier. The placental barrier has lost its function since we were born, and the blood-brain barrier is relatively complicated to maintain due to the complexity and precision of its structure. Therefore, the intestine is the easiest to maintain among the three major barriers. Since it also serves as the "largest detoxification organ" of the human body, a healthy intestine is essential to good health!

Intestinal age and bacteria go hand in hand

Does the gut have an age? Wang Yuanzhao, director of the anorectal department of Nanjing Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, said that this does exist, but it is not calculated based on the length of time. The reference value is based on the stage changes in the distribution of intestinal flora as the physiological age increases.

Taking bifidobacteria in the intestines as an example, for most people, the number of bifidobacteria gradually decreases during adolescence. During youth, the proportion of bifidobacteria gradually decreases from 40% to about 10%, and the intestines also begin to age. When people enter middle age or old age, the number of beneficial bacteria such as bifidobacteria further decreases. Therefore, the number of bifidobacteria in the intestines is often used as an important indicator to judge the age of the intestines, and it also becomes a health data reflecting the physical condition. Director Wang reminded that supplementing beneficial bacteria can help provide a beneficial environment for the intestines. For example, soybeans contain soy oligosaccharides, which help the growth of bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria.

So, can we rest easy as long as we have beneficial bacteria in our intestines? Does this really keep our intestines young forever? Wang Yuanzhao introduced that if we do not pay attention to self-health care, various unhealthy lifestyles, such as long-term irregular work and rest, unhealthy diet, smoking and drinking, etc., can cause an imbalance in the intestinal microecological environment and lead to premature intestinal aging. In particular, the abuse of antibiotics and other drugs will cause serious damage to the beneficial intestinal flora and lead to premature intestinal aging. Harmful bacteria such as Escherichia coli and putrefactive bacteria, without the restraint of beneficial bacteria, will take the opportunity to multiply rapidly and produce many substances that are unhealthy. After being absorbed into the blood, they will cause serious damage to important organs such as the heart, brain, liver, kidneys, digestive tract, and skin, causing various diseases and even endangering life.

"Drunk from eating" and "angry from eating" both hurt the intestines

In addition to protecting the intestines, we must also prevent "food drunkenness". We have only heard of alcohol drunkenness, but is there also a concept called "food drunkenness"? You may be unfamiliar with this term, but you may be familiar with the following symptoms: If you have the urge to sleep after eating, it is called "food drunkenness". This is because after a meal, the blood in the whole body is concentrated on the digestive system, and the blood flow to the brain is reduced, which leads to a decrease in the excitability of brain activity, so you want to sleep. If we sleep after eating at this time, it will not be good for our intestines and will affect intestinal digestion. Therefore, "Take a hundred steps after a meal, and you will live to be ninety-nine." has become a famous health saying for many readers and friends. However, the time and method of walking are particular. It is generally best to take a walk for about 20 minutes after a meal, and massage the abdomen while walking, which is good for intestinal digestion.

In addition, everyone should not bring bad emotions into meals, because getting angry after eating will cause food stagnation, and eating immediately after getting angry will not be digested. Western medicine believes that anger can cause sympathetic nerve excitement, acting on the heart and blood vessels, reducing blood flow in the gastrointestinal tract, slowing peristalsis, and worsening appetite. In severe cases, it can also cause gastrointestinal ulcers. Therefore, no matter what unpleasant things happen while eating, do not get angry, so as not to affect digestion and damage the intestines.

Defecation is a technical activity

If you feel the urge to defecate, you should defecate immediately and go to the toilet to defecate only. Don't do other things to avoid distracting your attention. Remember to defecate regularly and scientifically. After the first defecation is completed, you should wait quietly for the feces to move down from the upper rectum. When you feel the second defecation, you can do the second defecation. Don't squat in the toilet for too long. If you have been squatting in the toilet for more than 5 minutes and still don't feel the urge to defecate, you should stop.

Do not use too much force when defecating to avoid damaging the anus. You should slowly increase your strength and use force to expel the feces. If you bleed during defecation, don't be nervous, just stop defecation and the bleeding will stop. If there is any material coming out during defecation, slowly press it back into the anus after defecation to avoid swelling and pain caused by incarceration. After defecation, you should first lift your hips and then slowly stand up with your back straight to prevent dizziness or fainting after standing up. If you are constipated or have difficulty defecating, do not push too hard. This will not only be detrimental to your defecation, but may also increase the pressure on your cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems. Many heart disease patients suffer sudden attacks in the toilet because they use improper force and their feces cannot be defecate, causing their blood vessels to burst first.

Sitting and squatting for defecation have their pros and cons

Wang Yuanzhao introduced that the toilet posture varies from person to person. As toilets are increasingly becoming the main toilets in homes and hotels, more and more people are defecating while sitting. The biggest advantage of using a toilet is that it relaxes the body and makes it easy to prevent accidents. Especially for patients with constipation, who spend a long time on the toilet, it is better to sit down to use the toilet. Squatting on the toilet for more than 3 minutes can directly lead to varicose veins and congestion in the rectum, which can easily cause hemorrhoids. The severity of the disease is related to the length of time. The longer the time, the higher the chance of disease. It is also safer for patients with high blood pressure to use the toilet while sitting than squatting. However, for normal people, squatting to use the toilet is more beneficial for health than sitting. If you adopt a squatting posture, the muscles around the anus will be more relaxed, which can relieve the phenomenon of stool obstruction. In addition, the squatting posture can increase abdominal pressure, which helps smooth bowel movements.