Stress And Your Gut- Is Your Psychology Affecting Your Digestion
Is Stress Causing Your Gut Problems?
You’ve heard people say“I had a gut feeling” or “it hit me in my guts.”
Why do we use these expressions? The old physicians of time gone by have always known there’s an intimate connection between the health of your gut and your over all health. As well as a connection between your thoughts and feelings and your gut function.
When you’re in a fight or flight mode your body decreases the amount of blood to the digestive tract. Digestion isn’t important if you’re needing to escape danger so your body prioritises the flow of blood to your muscles and brain, until the danger has passed. Only many of my clients are running from pillar to post for most of the day.
This constant low grade stressed state leads to long term sometimes chronic digestive issues. The digestive system consistently undersupplied with blood can result in many other changes including inflammation and significant variations in transit time for stools. Constipation and diarrhoea are all too common.
Exposure to stress whether short term or chronic has been found to cause changes to your microbiome (gut bacteria).
We know that stress results in alterations to the brain-gut interactions ("brain-gut axis") ultimately leading to the development of a broad array of gastrointestinal disorders including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), other functional gastrointestinal diseases, food antigen-related adverse responses (this is something that’s becoming much more common with clients complaining of sensitivities to foods that weren’t previously an issue for them), peptic ulcers and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
The major effects of stress on gut function include:
#1 Alterations in gastrointestinal motility; your guts ability to move food along. Resulting is constipation/diarrhea.
#2 Increase in visceral perception; where you have an increase in gut sensations, sensitivity to pain increases. This is important as abdominal pain is one of the main complaints for many suffering with IBD and IBS.
#3 Changes in gastrointestinal secretion; from stomach acid to bile and other secretions essential for the breakdown and assimilation of nutrients. Without these essential secretions we can’t properly break down food leading to nutrient deficiencies long term.
#4 Increase in intestinal permeability; leaky gut walls allow large undigested food particles to cross the barrier and places a significant load on the immune and lymphatic system.
#5 Negative effects on gastrointestinal mucosa and mucosal blood flow; as mentioned above.
#6 Negative effects on intestinal microbiota. Mast cells (MC) are important effectors of brain-gut axis that translate the stress signals into the release of a wide range of neurotransmitters and proinflammatory cytokines, which may profoundly affect the gastrointestinal physiology. You cannot separate the gut, immune and brain they’re all intimately linked.
Key word here neurotransmitters, these are chemical messengers in your nervous system. It’s thought that up to 80% of your neurotransmitters are produced in your gut including things like serotonin, dopamine, and GABA. When you’re gut isn’t functioning your brain will struggle!
gut & immune system function
Two thirds of your immune system is located around the gut and for a good reason during an average lifespan you will consume 35 tones of food…and how much of that is the good stuff?
So, if you’re stressed you are compromising your gut; affecting blood flow and microbiome function. This then places a significant load in your immune system and with all of those inflammatory markers swimming around your blood. Unfortunately, your brain function is further impacted, leading to more stress and becoming overwhelmed.
There is an amazing book called “Gut and Psychology Syndrome” by Dr Natasha Campbell. It goes into some detail explaining how your compromised gut is potentially contributing to your depression, ADD and, foggy brain.
The research is fascinating and more is needed but we’re starting to see the link between the gut function being implicated in many autoimmune and neurological conditions.
IBS & The Role Of Stress
Irritable bowel syndrome a condition that isn’t a disease itself but rather a label that we give patients when we simply don’t have a clear idea exactly what’s causing their symptoms. What if this was a complex condition that was brought about by a number of stressors. Like environmental (food stress) and psychosocial stress?
IBS represents one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders in humans, and is characterized by chronic or recurrent pain associated with altered bowel function. The cause is unknown but for many it commonly follows a period of stress, an acute infection or medication use.
Common Pathology Testing For IBS
The diagnostic testing for IBS patients include routine blood tests, stool tests, celiac disease serology, abdominal sonography, breath testing to rule out carbohydrate (lactose, fructose, etc.) intolerance and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth SIBO.
Colonoscopy is often recommended if alarming symptoms are present. This is something you want to talk to your health practitioner about.
One of the key tests to help monitor if stress is a key player in your gut dysfunction is a salivary cortisol test. This can be useful to gage where you're currently sitting and also monitor stress management protocols to assess progress.
Naturopathic Medicine really excels when it comes to supporting gut health.
There are several things you can start doing now…
Natural Medicine Approaches to the gut
#One
Have the testing done- Go and see your health care provider and have it all investigated. Many patients suffer in silence without really ever getting to the bottom of what’s going on. This is a really important first step, with many clients uncovering a parasite or other issue that needs addressing.
#Two
Implement and stick to a consistent stress management protocol. There are so many things available to you now. From Mindfulness to Hypnotherapy, implement a strategy and find out what works for you. This really is different for everyone and you need to find a protocol that fits with your lifestyle but the key is consistency.
#Three
Eliminate food sensitivities- This is key to healing the gut and decreasing inflammation. You may need to look into having the appropriate testing first so you know what to steer clear of. Look out for the article coming on gut sensitivity testing.
#Four
Seek out a Naturopath that has experience supporting patients with gut issues. The protocol is different for every individual. This is an area of significant complexity and treatment needs to address your individual case. Getting clear on the right functional foods, herbal medicines and probiotics to include and tracking results.
#Five
Probiotics may profoundly affect the brain-gut interactions ("microbiome-gut-brain axis") and mitigate the effects of stress-induced disorders in both the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract. Choosing the right probiotic for the right purpose here is important not all probiotics are created equal.
Natural interventions for gut health
I want to make mention of another very common condition clients present with GERD, gastro oesophageal reflux disease. Most people refer to this condition as heart burn. In 1992 researchers looked into the relationship between stress and GERD. They found that when under stress patients experienced an increase in pain and discomfort associated with GERD. When testing the acid levels in the stomach they didn’t find any increase during stress. So essentially it’s deduced that patients under stress have a lower pain threshold.
This is important, we know there is a very rich supply of nerves to the gut. If you’re sensitised due to high stress levels it makes sense that your gut pain will be worse. Making your stress management protocols important. Ensuring adequate sleep, using things like hypnotherapy, yoga, mindfulness, herbal medicine to help you combat stress patterns is a vital component of a holistic approach.
It’s worth stressing this point because we often spend so much time focusing on the diet, and sensitivities and bacterial and this is a big factor for many people struggling with gut problems.
There was some interesting research published 2000 that found in a controlled study given cognitive behavioural therapy to patients with IBS as a group for 8 sessions each two hours long, saw improvements in their abdominal complaints.
Further studies on the brain-gut axis are needed and I know they’ll continue to open up what we’ve known for a long while, good health starts in the gut and is maintained with a healthy state of mind. Should one become compromised both will suffer.
If you’d like more information or support with your gut function please feel free to reach out.