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Gut Health — Is Stress Affecting Your Stomach?
Picture this: you’re going through a stressful time. Life is feeling difficult and to top it all off your stomach has started to not agree with you. No matter what you eat you just feel gross. Now, your mental health is suffering even more. As you start to think about your symptoms, you question what came first, the stress or the stomach pains?
It is not uncommon for people who are experiencing stress to have stomach issues. In fact, a lot of stomach issues are caused by stress. The stomach is like a second brain — it has neurotransmitters too! In fact, the gut nervous system has more than the brain does. The SNS (sympathetic nervous system) is activated when you are stressed. When this signal is sent by the brain, your body begins to conserve its processing power. This means anything that isn’t necessary is slowed down, including your digestive system. As a result, the emptying of the stomach is delayed which can lead to heartburn, nausea, or a stomach ache.
Chronic stress can impact your body even more intensely by making symptoms of underlying issues worse. Additionally, a history of stress in someone’s life can put them at greater risk for certain gastrointestinal issues, like IBS.
