3 Reasons to Reduce Stress for Gut-Healing & IBS
I think most of us check out when we hear the words “you need to reduce your stress”. But reducing stress to improve your health, especially your gut health, isn’t just a trendy fad, it’s ESSENTIAL for healing. Now, don’t get me wrong, stress isn’t necessarily always bad, but like anything, it’s the chronic form that we need to be considering.
If you tend to feel anxious, fatigued, have jaw pain or headaches, grind your teeth, or have an irritated digestive system, these are all signs pointing towards chronic stress.
Here are 3 reasons to not overlook this important area for gut-healing.
Your Nervous System Extends Into Your Gut
We have an extension of our nervous system called the enteric nervous system that’s found in our digestive tract. It’s a network of nerves, neurons and neurotransmitters that allow our gut and brain to communicate. Pretty cool, huh?
Our nervous system health plays such an important role in how well our digestive system functions. If you’re always worried, anxious or stressed about the little things in your day, your gut will get those signals and quite literally shut down!
Stress tells the body to shunt energy, nutrients and other resources to help with the stressful event it’s currently facing, not to digestion, healing or repair.
Stress Affects Your Gut Lining Integrity
When we’re stressed, our body produces the stress hormones cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine. When these chemicals are elevated in the body, this causes the gut to become inflamed and aids in the development of leaky gut.
Keep in mind there are other types of physical stressors also, such as hidden gut infections, nutrient deficiencies, heavy metals, processed foods, chemical cleaners, blue light, EMFs and lack of sleep.
Stress May Be Your Missing Piece to Gut Healing
If you’ve been on a mission for some time to heal your gut and are working with a specialist but haven’t seen results, this is likely a piece of the puzzle that’s been missing. I find it’s often one of the most important factors in moving the needle for people’s health. Studies have shown that chronic stress is associated with both the onset of IBS and exacerbating the symptoms of IBS.
Additionally, if you’ve had something very stressful or traumatic happen to you at any point in your life, that event can sit in the nervous system, causing a chronic state of stress. It’s often necessary that we work through events or trauma that have occurred with a trained professional, such as a therapist, to fully heal.
Final Thoughts:
It’s Your View Of Stress That Matters Most
It’s not just about how much stress we have in our lives, but more importantly how we view stress. A CEO can have major stress in his or her day, but still not experience that stress in a negative way as much as someone with much less responsibility who feels they’re drowning in stress. How we view that happens to us makes all the difference. If we develop the mindset that life is happening “for us” instead of “to us”, this will support our healing.
Your Challenge:
Make your focus this week developing an easy stress-relieving practice. Mediation or deep breathing is a great place to start to calm the sympathetic nervous system and support gut healing!
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If you’d like to book with me for January, please click this link to book your initial or follow-up session.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! See you in 2023!
Asher Kleiber
Registered Holistic Nutritionist™
