Is Stress Taking a Whack at Your Digestive System?
By Sandy Schroeder
You may already know how upset your stomach can become when chaos strikes. Just as you are sitting down to your favorite meal, the phone rings with bad news and everything goes downhill from there.
What Really Happens
MindBodyGreen describes what happens to the body when it is under attack.
Digestive system fallout - When you are stressed your salivary glands are less active and your digestive juices flow slowly.
Stress gets in the way - When bad news hits, the body wants to fight or flee and digestion winds up taking a back seat.
Symptoms are inevitable - If you eat when you are stressed, heartburn or leaky gut often show up as your digestion suffers.
Stress impacts everything - Food absorption and waste elimination are compromised, creating health risks and ongoing discomfort.
Stomach acid is reduced - When you are stressed, your body may produce less stomach acid, making it harder to digest food and reducing the ability to shut down bacteria and viruses.
Gut bacteria changes - Stress may change gut bacteria impacting the immune system and affecting mood.
Meals lose their appeal - If you have had stress impact your digestion you know what a difference it can make in your feeling about food. People who experience ongoing worry and stress may lose a lot of the pleasure of dining as their stomachs pay the price.
How to Turn Things Around
If you have ongoing challenges with ups and downs in your daily life, it may be well worth your time to learn some ways to dial back stress before you eat. Finding ways to calm down will help your digestive system operate more normally.
Use belly breaths - Before you sit down to eat, take a few deep belly breaths to let your system relax so digestive enzymes and stomach acid can function normally.
Slow down and enjoy eating - Just focus on the food as you enjoy the tastes and chew slowly. If you are eating with others, pause to talk and put your fork down between bites. Let your mind slow down and just enjoy the process, giving your body a chance to relax in the moment. The more you do this the more of a habit it will become to make meals pleasurable again.
Eliminate outside distractions - Turn off your phone, and find a quiet place to sit if you are not eating with others. Never park yourself in front of the TV or computer, or try to work on some other project at the same time. If you tend to eat quickly as you hurry through the day, make the effort to drop way back and make meals a time to pause.
The more you deliberately move stress away from your meals the better you should feel. You will know it's working when you are able to relax and enjoy your meal even when the day has been hectic. You may feel less stressed overall and have fewer digestive symptoms as food becomes fun again.
To learn more about your health, wellness and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Lakewood, Calif.