Stomach playing up?
How your stress levels might be affecting your digestion
Ever wondered why your digestion plays up when you are feeling anxious, nervous, stressed, angry, sad, or scared? We have all heard the terms “upset tummy”, “kick in the gut”, “gut wrenching”, “sick to the stomach”and “butterflies in the stomach” but why do we associate certain feelings with the stomach? Why does our stress and digestion affect each other?
Let’s get this straight. All of the body is interconnected. What is happening in one department of the body affects the entire ecosystem of the body. In particular, the brain and gastrointestinal system are strongly connected. There have been studies that go as far to say that your gut is your second brain, having 50-100 million nerve cells, equal to those in the spinal cord. And although the stomach does not operate like the brain in a “thinking” manner, it has more of an intuitive sense. There is some grounding behind the phrase “listen to your gut”.
Nerves
Ever wondered why we get “butterflies” in our stomach and find it difficult to eat before important events in our lives? When we are in fear our bodies switch on our sympathetic system, also known as our fight or flight system. Designed to help us outrun a tiger, this system shuts down our digestion. If we are being chased by a tiger, eating that burger no longer feels like priority. It also cleanses our system to help make us feel lighter and have a better chance of out running the tiger (hence nervous poos).
Stress and digestion
These days we are not often chased by a tiger but still the sympathetic nervous system works the same. We don’t even have to be doing anything seemingly significant to feel the effects of the system. We can be sitting in the comfort of our homes seeing a news report on a car crash, be watching Netflix, or simply thinking about our to do list and this trusty system switches on. All of a sudden we have “butterflies” in the stomach, have a loss of appetite, have cortisol running through our systems but we aren’t moving anywhere. There is no tiger however it feels like there is. The tiger is now our jobs, commitments, duties, “should do” list etc. No wonder we are exhausted and under energised, we are spending our days running from tigers.
Eating in stress mode
When we eat in stress mode, our digestive system is shut down and so the food we consume is not being processed properly. Instead it sits in the pit of our stomach fermenting and festering until we are calm again and the stomach gets the all good from the brain to switch back into rest and digest. Therefore eating on the go, during an important event, and when you are stressed affects your digestion.
9 Simple tricks to aid your digestion right now
1. Make time to eat.
Treat it like a sacred ceremony. Chew, take small bites, savour each bite, be grateful for the nourishment you are receiving, give your digestive system the best possible chance to do its work.
2. Breathe.
Every time you sit down to eat, take a few moments to breathe. Place your awareness on your breath and see if you can expand your breath. Breathing deeply and naturally massages the abdominal organs. Do this after eating to to help aid digestion.
3. Check in.
Check in with yourself from time to time. Sometimes we are constantly on the go that we don’t even realise our stress levels. Ask yourself “am I OK?”, “how do I feel?, “what do I need right now?” And remember, it is OK to have some time out, your body, mind and digestion will thank you.
4. Do some yoga.
If you are feeling like things are stuck in the stomach then do some yoga poses. When we contract, stretch, and twist our abdomen, we massage the digestive organs. Twists help to flush the liver and other organs and also directs blood and lymphatic fluid into larger vessels of the cardiovascular system, helping to eliminate toxins. It’s best to do these before a meal or at least 2 hours after eating.
5. Write a list.
When we are overwhelmed with information we often cannot deal with it and end up with a plethora of ailments including indigestion. Writing down everything and seeing it visually on paper helps to digest information and organise it into smaller bites of information. From there the information is easier to digest and action.
“If you are overwhelmed by the size of a problem, break it down into smaller pieces.”
~ CHUCK CLOSE ~
6. De-clutter your environment.
Having a cluttered home or work space creates further psychological clutter. There is even research done now that suggests that cyber clutter also affects our stress levels.
7. Slow down.
Easier said than done (I know) but so important to give our stomachs time to digest. To give ourselves time to digest everything in fact.
8. Meditate.
Meditating helps to keep you calm and gives you tools to cope during times of stress. Some people think you only need to meditate when you are stressed out but meditating regularly ensures that when you are stressed your body already has the tools to keep you calm. Get your free 20 minute guided meditation here.
9. Take out unnecessary stresses in your life.
It is good to be informed about what is going on in the world, however, the news tends to report on more negative issues. Although we cannot remove ourselves entirely from the negative aspects of life around us (unless we choose to live in an isolated cave), we can choose how much of this negativity we let into our lives. Choosing to turn off the TV, newspaper, or social media app whilst we eat helps to keep us calm and therefore digesting well.
Although there are many reasons for digestive issues (and I am by no means downplaying any diagnosable digestive disorders), when we do find ourselves with an upset stomach, we can pause and ask ourselves, “how do I feel right now?” If we have been rushing, stressing, eating on the go, finding ourselves overwhelmed with work and life, then perhaps it is just our stomachs trying to catch up with us. Stress and digestion go hand in hand so perhaps it is our entire body and mind trying to catch up with us.
Pause. Breathe. Check in.
Peace.
Love.
Namaste.
Emma