If you’ve taken antibiotics recently, you might wonder how long it’ll take to get your gut health back to normal. After all, antibiotics don’t just kill the “bad” bacteria that make you ill. They also kill off the “good” bacteria that support digestion and strengthen your immune system. This disrupts the balance of your gut microbiome and can lead to some frustrating symptoms.
Luckily, your gut microbiome is resilient. With the right foods and lifestyle habits, you can restore healthy gut flora and rebuild your gut. Read on to learn 6 steps to restore your gut health after antibiotics.
Antibiotics and your microbiome
Over 100 trillion microbes live in your gut.1 This collection of bacteria, yeast, and viruses, known as your gut microbiome, plays a pivotal role in your health. Your gut bacteria synthesize vitamins, supply nutrients, make enzymes and neurotransmitters, and promote a healthy immune system.2
Genes, age, diet, lifestyle, and yes–antibiotic use–all affect your gut microbiome. Antibiotics reduce microbiome diversity. Meaning, they decrease the number of bacteria strains in your gut. Antibiotics also disrupt the delicate balance in your gut flora, which can cause bad bacteria to spread.3
This may explain why roughly 1 in 5 people who take antibiotics develop diarrhea.4 Other side effects of antibiotics include rashes, nausea, and yeast infections. Some people even develop serious infections like C. difficile due to antibiotic use.
The good news is you can restore your gut health after antibiotics. By making some simple dietary and lifestyle shifts, you can improve the balance of your gut flora.
Steps to restore gut health after antibiotics
Here are 6 key steps to restore your gut health after taking antibiotics.
1 – Limit sugar & processed foods
Eating too much sugar or processed foods may delay your recovery. Processed and sugary foods both cause inflammation in the gut.5 This can, in turn, alter the balance of your gut microbiome. That’s why it’s best to limit or avoid these foods while your gut heals. Instead, aim for a high-fiber diet rich in a variety of colorful fruits and veggies.
Bone broth can also be an excellent food to rebuild your gut. It’s rich in minerals, amino acids, and other nutrients like gelatin that help heal the gut lining.
2 – Take probiotics
Probiotics are a simple way to help restore your healthy gut flora. When taken during or after antibiotics, they help replenish your microbiome diversity.
Research shows that taking probiotics during an antibiotic course can even help reduce the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhea.6
Ideally, you’ll want to start probiotics when you begin your antibiotics course. It’s best to take them at least 2 hours away from each antibiotic dose. After you finish your antibiotics, continue taking probiotics for several weeks, or even months. This will promote the colonization of beneficial bacteria to help rebalance your gut.
3 – Eat fermented foods
Probiotics are a great start to restoring balance to your gut. But most probiotics contain only a handful of bacterial strains. Because of this, they can’t restore microbial diversity on their own.
That’s where fermented foods come in. Fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, miso, sauerkraut, and kimchi contain a variety of bacterial strains.7 Including them in your diet is an easy way to help rebuild gut diversity. When choosing fermented foods, read the label carefully. Always look for products that say, “contains live and active cultures.”
4 – Include prebiotic foods
If you want your friendly flora to thrive, you need to keep them well-fed. And that’s exactly what prebiotics do. Prebiotic foods contain special types of fiber that feed your beneficial bacteria. Your gut bacteria then use them to produce nutrients like short-chain fatty acids that improve your gut health.
Some of the best sources of prebiotics are:
- Garlic
- Onions
- Leeks
- Asparagus
- Dandelion greens
- Jerusalem artichokes
- Chicory root
- Green bananas
- Apples
- Flaxseed
- Oats
- Legumes
5 – Rest and relax
Studies show that stress has harmful effects on your gut microbiome. It also creates inflammation, alters gut motility, and increases intestinal permeability, setting the stage for a “leaky gut.”8 So if you want to restore your gut after antibiotics, keeping stress at bay is crucial.
Try to carve out time for relaxation practices like meditation, yoga, or deep breathing whenever you can. Practicing healthy sleep habits can also prevent stress from getting out of hand and support a healthy gut. Sticking to a regular sleep schedule, limiting screen time before bed, and having a relaxing bedtime ritual can help you get the rest you need.
6 – Get regular exercise
Exercise does it all. It boosts your mood, increases circulation, reduces inflammation, and even improves your gut health. Studies show that exercise causes positive changes to your gut microbiome. It enhances levels of beneficial bacteria and enriches gut diversity.9
So how much exercise does it take to see an impact? According to research, 150 minutes of weekly exercise for 8 weeks was enough to have beneficial effects on the gut microbiota.10
How long does it take to heal your gut after antibiotics?
Research suggests that on average, it takes around 1-2 months for the gut to return to baseline after antibiotics.11 That said, your recovery time will vary depending on several factors. This includes your age, diet, the type of antibiotic used, and the number of antibiotic courses.
Broad-spectrum antibiotics kill more species of bacteria than narrow-strain antibiotics. So they tend to do more damage. The health of your microbiome before taking antibiotics will also play a role in your recovery timeline.
Are antibiotics necessary?
Antibiotics are sometimes needed to get rid of certain bacterial infections. They can help with serious health issues like sepsis and pneumonia. In these cases, antibiotics can be lifesaving.
However, antibiotics are often prescribed for illnesses when they’re not necessary. They shouldn’t be used for viral infections such as colds, flu, or many sinus and ear infections.12 13
Antibiotic overuse not only disrupts the gut microbiome but also leads to antibiotic resistance. This is when bacteria evolve, becoming “superbugs” resistant to antibiotics’ effects. You can avoid antibiotic resistance by only taking antibiotics when necessary.
Some herbs and essential oils have anti-bacterial properties that may help with infections. However, these shouldn’t be used as a replacement for medical advice or prescribed antibiotic medications.
Key takeaways
While they can be lifesaving, antibiotics can have detrimental effects on the gut microbiome. This can lead to side effects like diarrhea, nausea, and rashes in some people.
Fortunately, your microbiome is resilient. Practicing gut-friendly diet and lifestyle habits can help rebuild your gut post antibiotics.
Probiotics, fermented foods, and prebiotics can all help repopulate your friendly bacteria. Reducing stress and getting regular exercise can also help promote the right balance of healthy gut flora.
It may take a few months to restore your gut after taking antibiotics. Try to be patient. If you’re still dealing with antibiotic side effects after several months, talk to your healthcare provider.
About Mindy Palmer
Mindy Palmer is a wellness writer and certified holistic health coach. She enjoys inspiring others to live healthier lives by creating informative content for leading-edge health and wellness brands.
Sources:
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