5 Ways to Make Your Exercise Routine Gut-Friendly
Research in this area focuses on cardio and consistency.
1. Focus on Cardio
For now, the research connecting exercise to improved gut health has focused mostly on aerobic exercise, and less so on resistance training, like weight lifting. That doesn’t mean pumping iron won’t help your gut health or lacks other notable benefits. It’s just that this area has been studied far less in relation to the gut, Dr. Allen says.
Allen ran a study in which participants did aerobic or cardiovascular exercise, such as jogging or cycling, three days a week for 30 to 60 minutes at a target heart rate of 60 percent of their heart rate reserve, working up to 75 percent. This led to an increase in beneficial gut bacteria and in SCFAs such as butyrate and acetate among healthy-weight, lean participants.
Researchers think part of the reason this works is that harder effort temporarily redirects blood flow away from the digestive tract, and the gut adapts to that mild, repeated stress.
The benefits in Allen’s study were evident at between 60 and 75 percent of the heart rate reserve. At this intensity, you should be able to talk comfortably and maintain regular breathing, while 75 percent is classified as “vigorous exercise,” where you may be breaking a sweat, and your breathing speeds up, says Marc Cook, PhD, an associate professor of kinesiology at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro.
Other exercises, like rowing, swimming, or skipping, can also be effective ways to get your cardio in, Dr. Cook says.
2. Be Consistent
To keep the production of good microbes in your gut going, you’ll need to keep exercising and make it part of your overall lifestyle.
“Consistency is No. 1, because you can lose the beneficial effects if you don’t keep exercising,” Cook says. Some of the research mentioned above suggests that the gut benefits fade once you stop working out.
Just like your stamina decreases if you quit running for a few weeks, your gut microbiome will lose out on the production of good microbes once you stop exercising, Cook warns.
3. Start Small
If you’re starting at square one and aren’t used to exercising, ease your way in, Valentino says.
“Don’t go from couch to marathon,” he advises. “The goal is giving your microbiome a constant fuel source through exercise.” This can help you prevent injuries and build a long-lasting, sustainable, enjoyable habit.
4. Get Outdoors
Exposure to nature increases our exposure to diverse ecosystems and the bacteria within them. “If we’re outdoors, running in a park, or along the ocean, we’re breathing in very diverse communities of bacteria that are in the air,” says Christopher Lowry, PhD, a behavioral neuroscientist and an associate professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder, where his research focuses on the gut microbiome and anxiety-related disorders.
He points to a Finnish study that found that children who played outside on the forest floor, in the dirt, and among plants and flowers had a richer, more diverse gut microbiome and a less inflammatory immune system than their peers in an urban day-care setting.
5. Don’t Forget Nutrition
Your diet has just as much impact on your gut health as your exercise regime, Cook says. Before you go grocery shopping and meal planning, take note: The gut microbiome loves fermented foods, which contain a variety of bacteria and yeast.
Natural probiotics include:
- Yogurt
- Kefir
- Kombucha
- Miso
- Sauerkraut
- Kimchi
Your gut microbiome also thrives on plant diversity. That means you ought to load up on vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. A landmark study that used stool samples and self-reported dietary logs from more than 10,000 people called for eating 30 different plant types per week to bolster microbiome diversity and optimize gut health.
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