improve your digestion by keeping stress off your plate
Diet, genetics, and lifestyle are often the first to come to mind when considering factors that influence gut health. But stress is actually one of the BIGGEST disturbances to digestion and the health of your gut microbiome. In fact, stress has been linked to many digestive health issues, including reflux, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and autoimmune disease. Therefore, stress management and self-care are important components of healing the gut and working toward optimal digestive health. It doesn’t matter how healthy your diet is – if stress is also on your plate, it will impact your body’s ability to properly digest food and absorb nutrients.
Digestion can be affected by stress and emotions. For example, your appetite may change (increased or decreased hunger), you might crave comfort foods, and a meal that is normally easy for you to digest may cause heartburn. “But I’m not stressed out!” That’s what I used to think but after my second autoimmune diagnosis I decided to take a closer look at my stressors. Come to find out I had plenty of emotional stress that I wasn’t totally aware of and therefore not managing well. Sometimes you may not even realize what’s contributing to your stress. Many individuals aren’t aware of the continuous stress they experience, much less its impact on digestion and therefore overall health.
When you are stressed, the “fight or flight” response gets activated, the body’s energy is diverted away from digestive functioning and toward managing the stress. Digestion is put on the back burner to allow resources to be conserved while the body is on high alert.
One reason you may be unaware of your accumulated stress is that you don’t know how to recognize stress, even when they’re feeling it! That was me. So, I’m here to give you a few easy tips that will help you tune into your stress and become more aware by asking yourself a few of the following questions:
Do I have tension anywhere in my body?
Is my breathing shallow?
Am I feeling restless or having difficulty focusing?
Am I having trouble falling or staying asleep?
Learning how to soothe and quiet the stress response before and during meals takes practice and can feel challenging, especially when life feels hectic. An easy but powerful way to keep stress off your plate is to adopt a practice of mindful eating. Mindful eating is the act of being fully present to all your senses as you eat. You can do this by simply taking 3-5 deep breaths before eating. This practice helps us to shift out of that “fight or flight” mode and instead activate the “rest and digest” mode. Another way to do this is by expressing gratitude for the food you’re about to enjoy. Keeping stress off your plate is a process so expect progress, not perfection. There will be days when eating mindfully will be more difficult than others, and that’s okay! Just keep practicing and you’ll notice the difference.