Stress, Bloating & Poor Digestion...What’s the Link?

Bloating & digestive issues can interfere with both our work & social life…feeling physically uncomfortable & self-conscious isn’t fun!  

When we experience digestive issues, we often look to lay the blame on something we have eaten – a specific food, or food group, which might have caused our symptoms. Sometimes, of course, certain foods do cause digestive discomfort – particularly, when we might have an allergy or intolerance. However, what many of us don’t realise is that stress has a huge role to play when it comes to our digestion, and can be at the root of bloating & other digestive symptoms.

When we are stressed, we switch from a calm state (‘rest & digest’) to a stress state (‘fight or flight’) – this causes a number of biological changes to our bodies. Importantly, our bodies up-regulate systems which will help it to escape the perceived threat quickly, and down-regulate systems which aren’t immediately essential for survival...

The thing is, evolutionarily speaking, the ‘stresses’ we’ve faced have generally been physical, and so have required a physical response (the classic ‘running away from a tiger’ example). So, the systems which we up-regulate include our muscle function & energy release from our glycogen stores – because these systems would help us to escape a threat.

On the other hand, bodily systems which we down-regulate include our digestive, reproductive & immune systems – as these aren’t so important when we’re running away from a tiger!

Practically speaking, ‘down-regulating’ our digestive systems includes things like reducing production of saliva & stomach acid and inhibiting our stomach/intestinal activity. Normally, these functions normally each play a key role in the proper digestion of food. So, when they're dialled down, bloating, indigestion & other digestive symptoms can occur.

It can be interesting to reflect on times you might have experiences these symptoms. Had you eaten lunch on the go, between meetings or after a stressful interaction (for example)? If so, elevated stress could have been to blame.

Supporting stress management alongside out digestive health is a no-brainer if we want to support our digestive health and minimise the likelihood of unwanted symptoms. We can do this by:

• Addressing the root cause of stressors

• Building resilience to stress via dietary & lifestyle tweaks

• Having a bank of easily accessible stress management techniques

• Intentionally activating our ‘rest & digest’ state following a stressful encounter

• Supporting stomach acid production via dietary tweaks

Want to find out how to do this in a sustainable & convenient manner?

Want to discover more about addressing the the root cause of symptoms?

Want to find out more about optimising your health, energy and stress management?

Want to make dietary & lifestyle changes to help you feel your best?

...Let's chat! Schedule a free call below.