Stressed and tired after a long day of work, nothing can calm me as efficiently as a moment in my backyard. Sitting on my aquaponics ecosystem, breathing the fresh and moist air, eating some strawberries and tomatoes. Contemplating the fish, hearing the sound of the running water, it puts me in a deep relaxation. I feel good and connected with the “real” world. You have probably experienced this sensation of happiness either around your aquaponics system, in lake or a forest.
The happiness bacteria in aquaponics…
This feeling has actually been explained and is due to a very interesting bacteria called “Mycobacteria vaccae”. This bacteria initially discovered in Africa has a very beneficial effect on humans and other living creatures. Some studies have proven that mice in contact with this bacteria had a lower stress level and a higher serotonin (hormone responsible for happiness) secretion. This bacteria is studied in order to cure tetanus, cancer, asthma and more. Another study has shown that mice exposed to the bacteria and placed in a maze were able to escape twice as fast as other mice not exposed.
This bacteria could make us more efficient and able to solve problems.
This bacteria is present in soils. Even if no studies have been conducted on this topic yet, it is reasonable to believe that this bacteria of happiness is present in aquaponics.
Read more on this topic here:
https://qz.com/993258/dirt-has-a-microbiome-and-it-may-double-as-an-antidepressant/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1783173/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1868963/
You will probably be interested to discover Jonathan’s six steps to build and manage an Aquaponics system. Click here to access for free! Thanks and good reading 🙂
How aquaponics can increase our level of happiness and boost our immune system, this is what we’re going to see together in today’s video.
Welcome in this video. If you are new to this channel, my name is Jonathan and my aim is to help you to build your own aquaponics system, in your own backyard, and to grow sustainable, healthy, and tasty food for you and your family.
So in today’s video, we’re going to talk about the positive side of aquaponics and how it can boost your happiness. There are different ways. You know, you can see aquaponics and just think, yes, it can increase your happiness because it reconnects you with nature, and it’s going to grow some fantastic, healthy, and sustainable food in your backyard that you’re going to be able to eat and share with your family.
So obviously, when you share something, even with friends, it increases the level of happiness. But that’s not what I want to talk about today. Today, I would like to talk about some researches that have been made on specific bacteria that is called Mycobacterium vaccae, and these bacteria are present in the soil.
So in aquaponics, we have an ecosystem that is moist, and we got a lot of organic matters in decomposition. So the biodiversity of bacteria is very high. We got a really, really interesting form of bacteria here, and we can definitely imagine that this bacteria, Mycobacterium vaccae are present in most of aquaponics systems around the world.
So what are these bacteria doing is very interesting. Some researchers have found that these bacteria are actually the same family as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. So that’s basically, the bacteria that are responsible for the tuberculosis disease, but the one we are talking about here, Mycobacterium vaccae, are actually bacteria that are nonpathogen. So they can’t give you any disease, but the structure or the shape and the proteins of these bacteria are very similar to the one that is giving you tuberculosis.
So when your body is in contact with these bacteria, it’s going to detect it and is going to react to these bacteria, and it’s going to increase the immune system and prepare the immune system against those type of bacteria, which means, that if you are in contact with these specific bacteria, your immune system should be able to insulate and take care of these bacteria like trying to basically take over the bacteria.
And this is very interesting because here we are talking about bacteria that are completely nonpathogenic, which means that they’re not going to affect you, but your body then is ready to react, and it’s going to react the same way if it finds Mycobacterium tuberculosis that is very, very dangerous.
So basically, it’s a kind of free vaccination that you have, if you have this type of aquaponics system, if you are working in the aquaponics system or even if you have a classic garden and you spend a lot of time in the garden working with the hands in the earth and breathing around the garden.
The other research that was super interesting is that they actually took some mice, put them in contact with some of this bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae and they found out that the mice were more happy.
So you know, there are some molecules, some hormones that are inside our body and that are responsible for happiness and lowering our stress level. And they found out that the mice that were in the presence of these bacteria were definitely more relaxed and divided the level of stress. So it was significant and that’s exactly what I can experience personally when I am in my aquaponics garden, or even in nature, in a forest. I just feel good. I just feel relaxed and that’s probably somewhere linked to this those type of bacteria that really increase these hormones, the happiness hormone in our body.
Also they did other research and they found out those same mice that were in contact with the Mycobacterium vaccae, when they were put in specific situations, challenging situations, like in a maze and they have to find the exit of the maze, they were able to escape the maze twice as fast as the other mice that were not exposed.
So here, we can really understand that it makes the mice somehow smarter, or at least more efficient, more able to solve problems.
So it’s very interesting. I don’t know if we can say that the more time you spend with your aquaponics system and the smarter you’re going to be, but that’s actually a very interesting point.
So I’m not going to spend too much time talking about it, but you can go on Google and Google Mycobacterium vaccae, and you’re going to find a lot of information. I put some links in the description of the video to some studies that are found very interesting.
Also, on Wikipedia, we find a lot of information. Actually, let’s go on Wikipedia together, have a look at what we can find. On Wikipedia, we can read that Mycobacterium vaccae is a nonpathogenic bacteria which means that it’s bacteria that are not going to transmit any disease to humans. It’s in the family of the mycobacteriaceae that lives naturally in soil.
So this is very interesting because these are bacteria living in soil, and I saw some specific documentary about it and it’s actually really present in swamps, in soils that are moist. So this is exactly the type of environment that we have in aquaponics.
So we can definitely imagine that we have this type of bacteria in our aquaponics systems. Then they are telling us where does this name come from, so the name comes from the fact that the first time they found it, it was in a cow. I mean, actually, in a cow dung in Austria. So it’s just the fact that yes, it lives where you got high concentration, high density of organic matters.
So the same, we have this in our aquaponics system and so research earlier being pursued with regard to kid Mycobacterium vaccae vaccine include immunotherapy for allergic asthma, cancer, depression, leprosy, psoriasis, and then a lot of other diseases including tuberculosis.
And why tuberculosis? It’s simply because tuberculosis is bacteria that are from the same family, the Mycobacterium, so I mean, it’s not even the family. It’s the same genus of bacteria.
So it’s very, very similar and they look the same and so if you are exposed to Mycobacterium vaccae, it basically acts as a vaccine because you immune system is going to detect Mycobacterium vaccae, and it’s going to boost your immune system. It’s going to basically yeah, increases the immunity against those type of bacteria that are Mycobacterium.
So Mycobacterium vaccae is nonpathogenic, which means that it’s completely fine. It’s not going to attack your body, but Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a dangerous disease. So by being exposed to Mycobacterium vaccae, you are going to help your immune system to be boosted and to fight if one day it’s facing Mycobacterium tuberculosis. So then we can read a lot of researches, and they say that some of them have shown that Mycobacterium vaccae simulated a newly discovered group of neurons, increased levels of serotonin, and decreased level of anxiety in mice.
So very interesting. Here we can read increased the levels of serotonin. Serotonin is a hormone that is responsible for happiness. When you have a high level of serotonin, you feel extremely well. And so the higher it is and the less anxiety and stress you can feel, as well.
So you can really understand here that being exposed to those type of bacteria, you’re going to be more relaxed. And then the following is very interesting, as well. Other researchers fed live Mycobacterium vaccae to mice, then measured their ability to navigate a maze, compared to control mice not fed with the bacteria. Here it’s very interesting. Mice that were fed live Mycobacterium vaccae, navigated the maze twice as fast, with less demonstrated anxiety behaviors, as control mice. So here, while I leave it to your own interpretation, but for me, it really means that these bacteria are going to boost your ability to solve problems and possibly your intelligence.
So at least confronted by a problem, you have twice more chances to resolve the problem if you have been exposed to Mycobacterium vaccae. So anyway, I leave it to you. You can read whatever is on Wikipedia. Wikipedia is just one of the sources where you can find information about these specific bacteria.
And again, Mycobacterium vaccae is just one species of bacteria that are present in natural environment, especially in soil, and very probably in aquaponics, So then what I understand when I see those type of studies but what I already thought for a while is that the more we are exposed to natural bacteria and the less — how to say it — sensitive we are to some dangerous diseases simply because it boosts our immune system, it exposes to different types of molecules, and generally speaking, it’s very positive.
You know as humans we always hear about bacteria in a very negative way. We always hear that bacteria are bugs and we need to be away from them. They are dangerous and that’s right that some of them are dangerous, but most of them are what we call probiotic. They are positive for our health.
So we live in a world where we try to be aware to wash our hands 20 times a day, to you know, to always be clean and being away and not in contact with bacteria. But that’s probably the opposite that would be good for our body. And all those researches they tend to try to show at least, that being exposed to those bacteria at least, Mycobacterium vaccae will be a solution for asthma, cancer, depression, and a lot of diseases, right?
And it’s true for probably other bacteria, as well. So I think when you work in aquaponics, when you’re in contact with gardens and with your grow bed in aquaponics, you really boost your immune system. It’s really going to help your health and the health of your new family. So try to be exposed to life because this is where we come from and this is what is going to take care of us.
Also if you go on YouTube and you type Mycobacterium of vaccae, you’re going to find this very interesting video which is 29-30minutes. The title of the video is The Dirt Vaccine: Mycobacterium vaccae. So I really recommend you to see this documentary. It’s really, really interesting. It’s going to really explain to you how the researchers found about the bacteria, how it came from Africa, and the different studies they have done about these bacteria.
So again, if you have a bit of time, if you’re interested in this topic, and I think it’s very interesting, you just go online, have a look and read about these bacteria that is really promising.
You see the environment where they found it, it’s really in those wet environments, and I think it looks very much like what we have in aquaponics in our grow bed. You see lot of water, swampy area, in the soil where we have lot of organic matters and a high moisture level. And that’s what these specific bacteria really like. So again, I recommend you to have a look at this interesting video, how do you say, documentary. You will learn a lot and it will probably interest you and it will probably help you to go outside and be spending a bit more time in your garden because this is where you are healthy and you’re happy.
So as you see, this is just one bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, but in an aquaponics system, in nature, we are exposed to a lot of bacteria and really, what I really believe is that our society nowadays is really trying to take us aside from nature and actually nowadays, a human is not even considered as being part of nature. You got humans and then you got animals and nature and what we are doing in the society unfortunately, we are destroying the environment and destroying what is qualified of as nature.
But we can’t survive without nature. I mean, anyway, I don’t want to focus too much on this point because it’s so obvious. But it’s so important to take care of nature and being in contact with nature.
So when you have an aquaponics system in your place, you are in contact with multiple bacteria, and what I was trying to say was that if you are aside from nature, if you separate yourself from all those bacteria, you become very sensitive because your body, your immune system is not in contact with those bacteria and as soon as there is something happening, you get sick. And that’s what we see. A lot of people are now getting asthma simply maybe because they are not in contact with normal bacterial proteins that are present in the environment.
So the more in contact you are and the more used you become to it, your body is adapted to nature. Nature is part of it and also something very important is that in the biodiversity of bacteria that are present in the world, most of them are pro-bacteria. They’re going to be positive for you.
So stop saying bacteria are something bad. That it’s something that you should be away from. You know, some people wash their hands 20 times a day, but actually, a lot of studies are now showing that the less you clean your hands and the healthier you become.
So I’m not saying that you should eat with the hands plenty of earth, but it may be positive actually to do it. Anyway, obviously, we all need some good hygiene but don’t be crazy, and if you spend some time in your aquaponics system, don’t be afraid to put your hands in contact with the water, with the bacteria, to breathe it. It’s all right. It’s just going to be beneficial to you.
I hope you share this point of view. If not, give me your point of view in the comment of the video. We are here to discuss and to learn from each other.
If you are new to the channel, please subscribe. I’m going to send you one video every week, and also if you haven’t done it yet, you can have access to the free aquaponics training in the description of the video, which is really going to allow you to get all the ratio to respect, the limits of aquaponics, to build your aquaponics system in the best condition and also to manage it and to produce some really good food in your backyard.
I’ll see you in the next video. Bye-bye.
Don’t forget to get your free gift from this screen. You can also leave me a comment below the video. Subscribe to the channel and see my last video. I really hope to see you soon. And I wish you a fantastic success with aquaponics. Have a good crop!