3 Simple Ways Even a College Student Can Take Care of their Gut, According to @shayne_themindfulyogi

22-year-old Shayne Cerebe is an Elon alumna boldly pursuing her passion for wellness diving head first into her post-grad life. After graduating with a degree in accounting, which she intends to use in the future, life took her in a different direction. Currently, she is in-training to become a Holistic Health Coach which means her job will be to enhance and protect the health and well-being of people.

“I just feel so strongly about educating people on their own health and well-being and also, helping people see everything that they are capable of because we are all capable of greatness,” she said.

One of the most important aspects of holistic health is gut health, she said. While at Elon, Cerebe herself suffered physically, mentally and emotionally due to poor gut health; it took her years to heal from. She said the holistic health knowledge she has now could have expedited her healing.

Now, she desires to educate and offer solutions to college students who may be experiencing the same health problems she did.

Full disclosure, her tips are not for everyone, but poor gut health is an extremely common problem in college students, she said. What is also notable, is how often primary-care doctors misdiagnose illnesses rooted in poor gut health.

Essentially, our gut works with our liver to process all of our hormones. Stress hormones and chemical imbalances are processed through the liver; if we are holding stress in our bodies and not practicing effective wellness habits or coping properly, we can get sick. Our internalized stress will manifest itself into gut issues and physical illness.

College students are “insanely stressed” and often are not sleeping enough, not eating enough and not practicing self-care. Cerebe said this was her life in college, and it made her sick. She went to various doctors for help, but after running every test possible, they still had no answers she said.

It is important to know the “other side” of gut health, besides a westernized medical approach she said. When she started learning about holistic health and wellness, she learned about psychosomatic disorder, which basically means the mind has the power to cause illnesses. And this was profound for her, as it validated her physical illness.

One of the main differences between the holistic health approach and the westernized, modern medicine approach, is the emphasis on mind-body connection. Holistic health tries to address the underlying mental states of the symptoms whereas a western medicine approach uses drugs to suppress symptoms.

In Cerebe’s experience, the pills prescribed for her actually worsened her symptoms. It was the holistic health approach that changed her condition and it took identifying the root-cause, stress, and learning how to cope with and reduce her stress which ultimately healed all of her symptoms.

Whoa.

All of that to say, it is possible to be healed from the hormonal manifestations making you sick. And you should start now, in college. “Don’t wait for adulthood to start taking care of yourself,” Shayne said.

Drink Less.

“I’m going to sound like a Debbie Downer in terms of drinking, but it’s recommended you have 1-2 drinks a day,” Shayne said. Now, you may not drink those 1-2 drinks every night with dinner, but instead save your nightly drinks for Friday night. That’s fine, Shayne said. It is about finding that balance with trial and error. What you should avoid is excessively drinking nightly or even every other night. If you drink more than two drinks on a Tuesday, you should balance it out with not drinking the following nights.

Gentle Movement

Exercise is critical, and it does not need to be strenuous. Walking and yoga are great forms of exercise for your gut. “Happy baby and cobra pose are good stretches that massage your belly,” she said. You can also gently massage your own belly with your hands to aid your digestion.

Nutrition

Remember, it is important to consider all of your options and there is a possibility that the root cause is not nutritional. “Gut pain could absolutely be caused by stress,” she said. “And it’s not that there is something wrong with your body.” Alternatively, if you may have an allergy or intolerance to certain foods, it is important to properly address your needs and seek professional help.

Gut health is hard because it starts with finding the root-cause and maneuvering from there. For Shayne, it was reducing the amount of stress in her life and finding an outlet for it. Her stress outlet turned out to be her yoga practice with a focus on breathing. These little things, like breathing, make all the difference, she said. Taking the time to tune in and deepen your breath will slow down your nervous system and help you to not only manage stress, but heal your gut and live more fully.

Follow Shayne on Instagram @shayne_themindfulyogi to stay updated with more holistic health information.