Why Depression Can Involve the Gut, Inflammation, and Brain Regulation
What if depression is not happening only in your mind?
You can have a good life, people who love you, and reasons to feel grateful, yet still wake up exhausted, disconnected, unmotivated, or emotionally flat.
That does not mean you are weak. It may mean your brain and body are struggling to regulate together.
Depression can be influenced by the gut, immune system, thyroid, hormones, blood sugar, sleep, inflammation, chronic stress, and patterns of brain activity. This is why two people with the same diagnosis may need very different kinds of support.
At O’Keefe Matz Functional Health Clinic in Saint Paul, we combine functional medicine with QEEG brain mapping and neurofeedback. This allows us to investigate what may be affecting the brain from the body while also examining how the brain is functioning.
Depression Is Not Always Just Sadness
Depression can look like sadness, but it can also feel like:
• Waking up tired no matter how long you sleep
• Losing interest in people or activities you once enjoyed
• Feeling emotionally numb
• Struggling to think clearly
• Having no motivation to begin even simple tasks
• Feeling overwhelmed by ordinary responsibilities
• Experiencing anxiety and depression at the same time
• Feeling physically heavy or slowed down
• Developing digestive problems, pain, or headaches
For some people, depression begins after grief, trauma, prolonged stress, or a difficult life event. For others, it seems to appear without an obvious explanation.
That is when it may be helpful to ask a different question:
What is placing stress on this person’s brain and body?
Your Gut and Brain Are Constantly Talking
Your brain and digestive system communicate through the gut-brain axis. This communication involves the vagus nerve, immune system, stress hormones, intestinal microbiome, and compounds produced by gut bacteria.
If you have ever felt nauseated before a stressful event or developed digestive problems during a difficult period, you have experienced this connection.
But the communication works in both directions. Stress can affect digestion, and digestive dysfunction may influence mood, energy, inflammation, and brain function.
Research has found differences in the gut microbiomes of people with depression. Scientists have not identified one specific “depression microbiome,” but the evidence supports an important relationship between gut health and mood. Read the scientific review.
Dr. Mark Hyman has helped bring this connection into the public conversation. His discussion, The Hidden Connection Between Gut Health and Mental Health, explains why functional medicine looks at digestion, nutrition, inflammation, and lifestyle when someone is struggling with mood.
Gut health may deserve a closer look when depression occurs alongside:
• Bloating
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Reflux
• Food reactions
• Brain fog after eating
• Fatigue after meals
• Abdominal discomfort
• Irritable bowel symptoms
Learn more about the clinic’s approach to digestive and gastrointestinal health.
Inflammation Can Affect More Than Your Joints
When most people hear the word inflammation, they think about arthritis, an injury, or physical pain. But inflammatory signals can also communicate with the brain.
Some people with depression have elevated inflammatory markers, including C-reactive protein and certain cytokines. This does not mean that inflammation causes every case of depression. It means inflammation may be an important contributor for a subset of people. Review the research.
Inflammatory activity may be associated with:
• Mental and physical fatigue
• Reduced motivation
• Slower thinking
• Increased pain sensitivity
• Poor sleep
• Loss of enjoyment
• Social withdrawal
Dr. Datis Kharrazian has written extensively about the gut-brain and immune-brain connections. His article, Gut Inflammation Is Linked to Depression, explains why addressing gut inflammation may require more than simply adding a probiotic.
Potential sources of inflammatory stress may include poor sleep, blood-sugar problems, autoimmune disease, chronic pain, digestive dysfunction, infections, food sensitivities, smoking, alcohol, and ongoing psychological stress.
The goal is not simply to lower an inflammatory marker. The goal is to understand why it may be elevated.
Your Thyroid May Be Affecting Your Mood
Thyroid hormones help regulate metabolism throughout the body, including the brain.
When thyroid function is impaired, a person may experience depression, fatigue, constipation, brain fog, weight changes, hair loss, feeling cold, and reduced motivation.
A TSH test can be useful, but it may not provide the entire picture. Depending on the person’s symptoms and history, a more complete thyroid evaluation may include free T4, free T3, thyroid peroxidase antibodies, and thyroglobulin antibodies.
This may be especially important for someone with Hashimoto’s disease or symptoms that continue despite being told that thyroid results are normal.
Learn more about our functional medicine approach to thyroid conditions.
Fatigue and Brain Fog Can Be Clues
Many people with depression do not initially describe themselves as sad. They say:
“I am exhausted.”
“I cannot think.”
“I have no motivation.”
“I do not feel like myself.”
Fatigue and brain fog can be part of depression, but they may also be connected with thyroid dysfunction, anemia, low iron, vitamin deficiencies, blood-sugar fluctuations, inflammation, digestive dysfunction, hormonal changes, chronic pain, or poor sleep.
Our guides to 27 overlooked causes of fatigue and 17 overlooked causes of brain fog explain why these symptoms may require a broader evaluation.
What If the Brain Is Having Trouble Regulating?
A healthy brain needs to shift between different states.
It should become alert when you need to focus, settle when it is time to rest, and recover after stress. Depression may involve a brain that has difficulty making these transitions.
One person may feel slowed down and mentally foggy. Another may feel exhausted but internally restless. Someone else may become stuck in repetitive negative thoughts.
Dr. Daniel Amen’s bestselling book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, helped popularize the idea that mental health is closely connected to physical brain health.
Much of his work focuses on practical factors that support the brain, including nutrition, exercise, sleep, blood-sugar regulation, stress management, social connection, and protection from brain injury.
This fits naturally with functional medicine. The brain is an organ of the body, so what affects the body can also affect the brain.
What Can a QEEG Brain Map Tell Us?
A QEEG records electrical activity from the scalp. It examines patterns such as brainwave power, timing, distribution, and communication between different areas.
A QEEG does not diagnose depression. Instead, it may help us understand whether the brain appears overly activated, slowed down, poorly connected, or unable to shift efficiently between states.
For example, a person with depression may show patterns associated with:
• Low motivation
• Mental slowing
• Excessive worry
• Difficulty calming
• Poor attention
• Repetitive negative thinking
• Disrupted sleep
Two people with depression may have very different brain maps. That is why we do not believe in using the same neurofeedback protocol for everyone.
Read more about what a QEEG brain map may show in someone with depression.
How Neurofeedback Supports Brain Regulation
Neurofeedback gives the brain real-time information about its activity.
During training, sensors record brainwaves while the person watches a screen or listens to sounds. The feedback changes as brain activity moves toward or away from the training goal.
With repetition, the brain practices more regulated patterns.
Depending on the QEEG findings and symptoms, neurofeedback may be used to support:
• Mood regulation
• Restorative sleep
• Attention
• Mental stamina
• Stress recovery
• A calmer nervous system
• Greater emotional flexibility
A systematic review found encouraging results for neurofeedback in major depressive disorder while also noting that more high-quality research is needed. Read the systematic review.
Neurofeedback is not one standard program or a guaranteed cure. Its strength is the ability to create individualized brain training based on the person rather than the diagnosis alone.
Why We Combine Functional Medicine and Neurofeedback
Dr. Jeffrey Bland, the founder of the functional medicine movement, developed a systems-based model that looks at how the body’s different systems interact. Learn more about Dr. Bland’s work.
That systems approach is especially relevant to depression.
Functional medicine may help us investigate the gut, thyroid, hormones, inflammation, nutrients, blood sugar, and sleep.
QEEG brain mapping helps us examine electrical brain activity.
Neurofeedback helps the brain practice healthier regulation.
Instead of choosing between the body and the brain, we look at both.
Depression Support in Saint Paul, Minnesota
At O’Keefe Matz Functional Health Clinic, Dr. Shannon O’Keefe provides functional medicine care with a special focus on thyroid function, Hashimoto’s disease, digestive health, inflammation, hormones, fatigue, and nutrition.
Dr. Janell Matz brings more than 40 years of health care experience and more than 12 years of neurofeedback experience. Her brain-based approach includes QEEG brain mapping and individualized neurofeedback.
Together, these services create a distinctive brain-body approach for people struggling with depression, fatigue, brain fog, digestive problems, poor sleep, or low motivation.
To learn whether this approach may be right for you, schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation or call 651-292-8072.
O’Keefe Matz Functional Health Clinic is located at 1053 Ashland Avenue in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and serves patients throughout Saint Paul, Minneapolis, and the Twin Cities.
Important: This article is educational and is not intended for emergency care. Anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts or an inability to remain safe should seek immediate emergency assistance.
