Have you ever had an upset stomach when you were feeling anxious?
In today’s Wellness Wednesday we’re going to talk to you about how stress impacts your gut health and 4 tips to manage stress and settle that gut.
Did you know that your digestive system is a common area that is affected by stress like worry, fear and anxiety?
How Stress Impacts Your Gut
When someone is highly anxious and stressed, this automatically activates the nervous system which fires the fight or flight response (feeling like you want to run away) – and as our guts can be sensitive to stress, it can commonly cause episodes of cramping or diarrhoea (not fun!)
Another reason why this happens is because prolonged stress has been shown to upset the balance between good and bad bacteria. It can allow more bad bugs to thrive and overgrow, reducing your protective good bugs.
If you continue to experience stress for long periods of time it can create more inflammation in the digestive system lining which over time can lead to symptoms like running to the toilet or alternating constipation, ulcers, reflux and even contribute to inflammatory bowel disease.
Four Tips on Managing Stress for a Happier Digestive System
1. Become Aware of Your Stress
You might feel like we say this a lot, but it’s a crucial step on really connecting the triggers that lead to anxiety and your upset stomach!
- The first step is to start to become aware of what being stressed feels like to you.
- A way to find out if you’re stressed is the way your body feels because your body always reacts to the way you are feeling.
- Notice – what is your posture doing? What is your breath doing? Are you breathing heavily? Do you have short sharp breaths? Are you clenching your jaw? Are your muscles feeling tense?
- Start to become aware and identify what stress feels like to you throughout the day.
- This way you can start to take charge of your response to stress when it happens, because of the cues your body gives you.
2. Drink Chamomile Tea
Chamomile tea is great during anxiety episodes or stressful situations as it helps to relax the nervous system and calm the mind. It also acts as a ‘carminative’ which means to calm the digestive system, making it perfect for irritable bowel syndrome or upset digestive systems.
The use of Chamomile is safe in anyone with digestive ulcers or inflammation, and it provides natural anti-inflammatory properties, soothing the gut lining and reducing digestive pain.
Drink up to three cups of chamomile tea a day to enjoy the benefits of relaxing your nervous system and settling your gut.
3. Come Back To Your Senses
if you have ever found yourself thinking up the worst case scenario, catastrophizing and constantly worrying about the future, (which is the complete opposite of being present), then this can trigger the flight and fight response that leads to those yucky gut issues. So let’s help you to break that cycle and come back to your senses.
- Become aware of your mind and the thoughts that are racing.
- Tell yourself to STOP it – to interrupt the current thought pattern.
- Bring your attention to what is right in front of you.
- Come back to your senses by smelling some essential oils, feeling your feet planted on the ground, noticing your breath.
- Release any judgemental thoughts about how you are feeling in the moment, by bringing your awareness back to your senses over and over again.
- Do this for 5 minutes, and build up over time – do multiple times a day!
By being mindful in the moment and bringing yourself back to your senses, it will help you to get out of your head and into your body – breaking the cycle of stress and anxiety.
4. Breath-work
Regulating your stress levels through your breath is a quick and easy strategy you can do anywhere to calm the nervous system down.
When you exhale a few counts longer than your inhale, the vagus nerve sends a signal to your brain to turn up your ‘relax and digest’ nervous system (parasympathetic) and turn down your fight or flight response (sympathetic response).
Take 10 deep belly breaths in and breathing slowly for a count of 5 on the exhale, letting all that tension go.
Question of the Day
We hope that you found our tips on managing stress and gut health helpful!
Question of the day: What tip are you going to implement starting today? Comment below.
Let us know below, or tag us on instagram, facebook or comment on our youtube video.
