Stress and digestion
When I asked my client the other week ‘what do you do to relax?’ she responded: ‘honestly, I don’t know how to relax’. Unfortunately, she is not the only one in this situation. I see it all the time in my clinic. She is in a state of constant hyperarousal and so close to burnout.
The World Health Organisation rightly says that stress is ‘the health epidemic of the 21st century’.
Stress isn’t just an emotional thing, it is also physical and impacts our health dramatically.
Stress is not all bad of course, our stress response is basically here to keep us alive and motivated. In previous times, it was necessary to avoid being eaten by the animal chasing after us. Our sympathetic nervous system triggers the ‘fight-or-flight’ response and we become hyper vigilant. The hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline are released. Our blood is directed to our muscles to confront what’s in front of us: an imminent danger. This acute stress response is usually short-term and once the danger passes the stress response reduces. Our parasympathetic nervous system takes turns and promotes the ‘rest and digest’ response calming the body down.
The problem now is that although we don’t have a lion chasing after us we have a lot of tiny stressors throughout the day meaning we are often in a fight-or-flight response. In his book ‘The Stress Solution’ (which I highly recommend!) Dr Chatterjee talks about Micro Stress Doses: an annoying email from work, a delayed train, a difficult deadline, a tough conversation, shocking media news, a crying baby and so on…
What happens to your digestion when you’re in a constant ‘fight or flight’ situation?
Stress has big impacts on our digestive system. It decreases nutrient absorption leading to deficiencies in things like magnesium. It also reduces metabolism, restricts activity in the stomach and intestinal digestion (for instance your stomach acid is inhibited, as is peristalsis).
This will cause digestive discomfort such as abdominal pain or bloating.
Stress can contribute to peptic ulcers and often aggravates GORD symptoms. Stress is also a known risk factor for Inflammatory Bowel Disease and plays a huge role with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Our digestive system is not the only one to be affected by stress. In fact, all our bodily functions are affected by stress!
As another example, your reproductive system gets affected too. There is a decrease in testosterone and oestradiol production leading to reduced fertility. There is often a lack of libido. Your body is literally not in the mood to procreate! Ever heard of the couple conceiving on holiday? This is because they’re finally relaxed!
So, if you think:
‘I don’t have time for a break’
‘I don’t have time to eat away from my laptop’
‘I don’t have time to take some fresh air’
‘I don’t have time to relax’
Think again.
If you don’t make time to relax, your body will force you to take time and this is called burnout. You may think work is the most important thing right now but once it takes its toll on your health you will not even think about work anymore. In fact, you won’t be able to do much at all except rest!
What can you do to promote the ‘rest and digest’ response?
Stressors will happen in your life so I don’t want to stress you more about being stressed but our individual perception and mindset can be moulded to deal with stress. We all respond to stress differently.
Here are 3 things that can make a difference:
Eating a healthy diet that is nourishing is key to support physiological processes (I give more diet tips here).
Deep breathing - it is a really powerful tool and can be done anytime you feel that your body is in a ‘fight-or-flight’ response. Try the ‘box breathing’ technique also called the four-square breathing
Breathe in through your nose for 4 seconds
Hold your breath for 4 seconds
Slowly exhale for 4 seconds
Hold for another 4 seconds
And repeat until your feel calmer
3. Walking meditation. Be present when you walk in nature but also in the street. Meditation is not for everyone so walking meditation is usually a great way to be more in the present.
And remember, there is no badge of honour for working long hours. The present moment is the most important.