As we discussed yesterday, your food diet isn’t the only thing that can create issues. Depression, anxiety, stress can all wreak havoc on your digestive system. How? Why? What can we do to resolve these issues? For the purpose of this post, the term “stress” will encompass depression, anxiety, and stress unless otherwise stipulated.
How does stress affect the digestive system? There are different types of stress. Some invigorates and energizes you – good stress. Some pushes you to do things out of your comfort zone – potentially good stress. But other stress can be damaging. Chronic damaging stress – bad relationships, unresolved issues with people, hostile work environment – these are harmful to your overall health.
When you are chronically stressed, your body activates the sympathetic nervous system. This is your fight or fight response system. Have you ever been fearful for your life? Monsters under your bed? Hearing noises outside your home at night? A gun pointed at you? Do you remember the feelings that occur in these types of situations? When your sympathetic nervous system is activated, adrenaline floods your body. Your body goes into survival mode and begins to change the way your organs work. That includes your digestive system. To preserve as much nutrition as it can and to focus on the most important functions for survival, your body delays the emptying of the stomach among other things. This can lead to nausea, stomach aches, indigestion, and heartburn.
Recommended reading: https://www.blackmores.com.au/digestive-health/how-stress-affects-your-digestion
I only touch on the parts of the sympathetic nervous system affecting digestion in this post.
Depression, brain fog, and anxiety also play a huge part when it comes to leaky gut syndrome. Not only can leaky gut syndrome create these challenges, but these challenges can also create leaky gut syndrome. Remember that your gut controls all the nutrients that your body needs. When you are depressed and anxious, there may be a sign that you aren’t getting the required nutrients from your food. Conversely, these challenges can negatively impact your digestive system’s ability to process foods properly.
Recommended reading: https://www.brainsway.com/knowledge-center/gut-health-and-anxiety/
More recommended reading: https://www.rtor.org/2020/01/08/leaky-gut-syndrome-may-cause-depression/
More recommended reading: https://www.potomacpsychiatry.com/blog/mighty-moody-microbiome-leaky-gut-leaky-brain-leaky-emotions
More recommended reading: https://drruscio.com/brain-fog-depression-leaky-gut-could-be-to-blame/
This seems to create a catch-22. It takes time to heal, and you need to do it step by step. Depression and anxiety are rampant in our family as we are all perfectionists. This ideology is one that we have worked hard to remove as there is nothing good in being a perfectionist. Find ways to reduce your stress, get enough sleep, talk about your challenges and stressers, exercise daily, and eat healthy meals. These will all aid you in getting healthy.
Recommended reading: https://victoriaalbina.com/leaky-gut-how-to-restore-your-gut-and-improve-your-mental-health/
I’ve only touched on parts of the complex connection between stress and your digestive system. Inflammation is another huge piece that is covered in the recommended reading section above. Do your own research and read my other articles related to depression and anxiety for more ideas on healing.
Recommended reading: https://www.naturaljoyhealing.com/stressing-over-anxiety
More recommended reading: https://www.naturaljoyhealing.com/got-a-case-of-the-blues
It’s a short post today… tomorrow we will cover another interesting reason you may have leaky gut syndrome and then we will wrap it up with things to avoid.
Blessings – E