Both probiotics and prebiotics work in coordination to augment the microbiome for the gut and mouth. Since there are both good and bad bacteria that exist, seeking advantage of the good is what the duo primarily aims at. Probiotics are the good bacteria that benefit the body by supplementing the existing bacteria in the body. While prebiotics are nutrients that facilitate the growth of probiotics. Probiotics are analogous to trees and plants planted in a garden, while prebiotics are analogous to the fertilizers that enable the healthy growth of those trees and plants.

In essence, both the prebiotics and probiotics play different roles in the digestive system but the former is dedicated to optimizing the latter’s ability to perform better.

– Prebiotics like fiber can be sourced from bananas, onions and garlic, apple peel etc. They are passed from the small intestine to the large intestine, where they carry out fermentation. The fermentation helps increase the number of beneficial bacteria in the gut.

– Probiotics are living bacteria created through fermentation from foods like yogurt and other fermented dairy products. Lactobacillus is one example of a common probiotic that is obtained from yogurt. It helps improve diarrhea in people.

Benefits of Probiotics

– Probiotics are used to wipe out the undesirable effects of antibiotics in the aftermath of its course. Antibiotics function with strong side effects, including killing the good bacteria as well as the bad. This lowers the count of the good bacteria in the gut; because of this reason, many doctors and health practitioners recommend taking probiotics to recoup the loss of good bacteria.

– Since many studies have shown an imbalance of bacteria in the body as being associated with poor health and disease, the use of probiotics can only be appreciated. Probiotics sustain a healthy balance of gut bacteria in the digestive system.

– Probiotics may also help treat the Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which causes stomach pain, diarrhea, bloating and constipation. These symptoms may see relief with a proper ingestion of certain probiotics.

Benefits of Prebiotics

– Prebiotics may help improve calcium absorption by creating a favorable environment in the large colon through fermentation.

– Prebiotics support the growth of gut bacteria, which can enhance metabolism and digestion. Prebiotics promote healthy gut microbes, directly boosting an and supporting the function of probiotics. Onions and garlic are great sources of prebiotics.

– Using prebiotics from natural sources can also reduce bowel complications and provide ease. Prebiotics may also reduce intestinal infections and by extension soothe inflammation in the colon walls.

What Exactly Are Probiotics and Prebiotics?

Probiotics are bacteria sourced from foods and processed as supplements. They are live microorganisms that play the role of good bacteria. Common foods used to source probiotics from are yogurt and sauerkraut. You can also include a richer variety of probiotics in your eating plan by looking towards fermented foods like aged cheeses that possess bifidobacteria and lactobacilli as live cultures.

Prebiotics are also naturally occurring nutrients in non-digestible or fiber rich content. They can be obtained by eating fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Precisely, maintaining a rich diet of bananas, artichokes, onions, garlic, asparagus, beans and whole-grain foods can give you an ultimate dose of prebiotics. Prebiotics are believed to improve the balance of microorganisms; however, more research is underway to consolidate these findings.

Both the probiotics and prebiotics form a dynamic duo. Prebiotics serve as fuel for the probiotics and overall improve GI health. Eating a banana topped with creamy yogurt and sprinkled with apple bits is one way of combining both power elements and obtaining maximum health benefits.

Why do people have such a hard time sleeping at night?  Why do we have such a hard time unwinding?  A lot of it has to do with the amount of time that people are spending on their screens.  The screens can be any type of electronic screen, which includes t.v.s, smartphones, tablets, anything that is a source of artificial light.  Why does this matter so much when we are trying to get some sleep?

The answer is because we rely on melatonin to regulate our circadian rhythms.  These are the rhythms that tell us when it’s day and when it’s night so that our bodies can figure out when they need to sleep.  A common solution for having trouble sleeping is to watch tv in the background or read a book on a smartphone, but actually, this will give you the opposite affect.

 Why is blue light so bad at night?

It completely disrupts the production of melatonin.  This means your body really doesn’t know what time it is or what it should be doing.  But what’s the deal with blue light, why doesn’t all light affect it the same way?

The wavelength of blue light is different than other light.  Blue light has a shorter wavelength and so it strains the eyes more.  It also directly makes your melatonin production go lower than it should be.  There are tiny receptors in the eye that can be damaged by blue light as well, and this makes it difficult for them to help tell our body when it’s time to sleep.  They also influence telling the brain when it is time to sleep.

How do you workaround these changes which make it so difficult for the body to know what time it is?

You can avoid blue light or use blue light blocking devices.  Other solutions include changing the devices to be on the nighttime setting which uses amber light.  Amber light blocks blue light production and gives off a nice illumination without you having to worry about blue light disrupting anything.  Sometimes it is impossible to get away from the screens or our habits with them, so these solutions come in really handy.

Before you choose to supplement with melatonin or take a sleeping pill, remember that you can control a lot of how your body is responding to the patterns of night by just altering a few things.