The body’s natural flight or fight response to pressure is intended to protect vital functions from assault until the threat is gone. It does this by pumping hormones into the blood stream, mainly cortisol. The boost in cortisol can help to heighten your endurance and change energy to essential bodily functions, temporarily. Among those functions that has energy removed from it through stressful periods is your digestive system.

What is happening?

The body slows down the energy necessary to digest and process in the digestive tract until the stress period is finished. You might have experienced unpleasant reactions, like aches and nausea, in your gut in response to immediate stresses. If you stay in a heightened stressful condition during an extended period, the elevated cortisol levels and stress-response systems can cause substantial harm to your body. Stress may also make existing digestive problems worse, resulting in more abdominal pain, nausea and heartburn.

According to the National Institutes of , one in five Americans has a common and quite uncomfortable digestive malady, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which produces pain, and sometimes constipation and diarrhea. Many of these digestive problems seem to respond or to become more pronounced in response to stress events. The continuing discomfort can affect your mood and it can impact your health. Besides IBS, you might experience indigestion as another affected by . Feeling bloated and wanting to throw up for no apparent reason could be a sign of a stress reaction.

Remember

When the stress is gone, these symptoms disappear. You could also experience heartburn as the gut can cause the stomach to produce more acid. If your diet contributes to heartburn difficulties, anxiety can only make it worse. When your digestive processes are disrupted, you might make an unbalanced bacterial population, beginning on your stomach. This may cause a growth of the that cause ulcers and might worsen ailments where infections or inflammation are found, such as Crohn’s disease.

Sustained stress can lead to an assortment of undesirable physical and functional disorders. While all this is happening, your body’s is compromised for 2 reasons. The increased cortisol levels helps to suppress your immune system as part of their stress reaction. A poorly functioning digestive system won’t have the ability to extract nutrients from the food, which further degrades your body’s ability to stay strong and deal with the strain. It’s not possible to prevent all stress-producing events. goes on around us and we feel like we’re on a roller coaster with emotional ups and downs with every new twist.

Take into account

However, we could take some important measures to keep our bodies functioning optimally by reducing the stress levels and enhancing our capacity to recuperate from these events. The first thing to consider is a walking timeout. Whenever possible, in the first sign of stress, try to have a walk of no less than ten minutes. Exercise will help to re-balance your hormones and keep you on an even keel. Walking near trees and grass will further provoke positive reactions in your mind, which can allow you to relax.

Next, ensure that your diet is full of a diverse selection of nutrient rich vegetables, and proteins. Remove processed sugars and starches from your diet as much as possible. The excess sugar can help to promote inflammation and digestive troubles. Finally, add a decent multi-species probiotic to your daily diet, such as plain sugar free yogurt or kefir to help boost the population of beneficial bacteria in your digestive tract. Exercise and nutrition will go a long way to helping you handle stress, and keep your system functioning through the upcoming events that are certain to come.