Week 7: Stress Management - “Digestive Disorders”

Listen to CD #4 Stress Solutions

As you already know, stress can affect virtually any part of the body and can produce physical, mental and emotional symptoms.

The most common stress related or stress exacerbated digestive ailments experienced are Irritable bowel syndrome, (IBS), and stomach ulcers.

Stress directly and indirectly impacts these conditions, which affect millions of Americans yearly.

"We are not what we know. We are what we are willing to learn."
--Council on Ideas

According to the National Institute of Health National Digestive Disease Information Clearinghouse (NDDIC), Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a disorder that interferes with the normal functions of the large intestine (colon).  It is characterized by a group of symptoms—crampy abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea. To learn more about this go to www.nih.gov

One in five Americans has IBS, making it one of the most common disorders diagnosed by doctors IBS causes a great deal of discomfort and distress, Most people can control their symptoms with diet, stress management, and medications prescribed by their physician.

Those who have IBS are more sensitive to the effect of stress and emotions on the colon. We all have areas of sensitivity to stress. Some of us when under stress experience tense muscles, or headaches, others, digestive distress.   

"One of the nice things about problems is that a good many of them do not exist except in our imaginations."  -- Steve Allen 

Stanford professor, Dr. Robert Sapolsky, in his book, Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, http://www.dr-bob.org, illuminates the rebound effect of the termination of a period of stress and describes how the sympathetic nervous system’s activation affects the digestive system.

He describes how the stress response decreases acid production in the stomach (when you are running from the tiger, you do not need to digest your meal–you need to run run run!) which then affects the mucosal lining of the stomach by thinning and decreasing bicarbonate–because there is no acid, thus it becomes less protective due to the lack of acid secretion. 

Again here is your brilliant body seeking to achieve homeostasis. The body has such sensitive feedback loops and intricate intra-system communication isn’t it amazing! When the stressful period ends and acid is produced again by the stomach…ouch!!!! Here come the ulcers. There are other factors that contribute to the formation of ulcers, such as use of NSAIDs or infection by H. pylori.

All this information points to the need for balance. Physiological, and emotional-BODY MIND balance of the exquisite system that is your body!!!

Candace Pert, Ph.D., www.candacepert.com, in her brilliant research in mind body medicine and discoverer of the opiate receptor in the body, has proven that our imaginings and feelings directly affect our gut. Molecules of Emotion, her outstanding and scholarly text recounts her discoveries and provides a clear explanation of how our emotions affect our physiology

The gut (stomach, small intestine and large intestine has many nerves that connect it to the brain. Like the heart and the lungs, the colon is partly controlled by the autonomic nervous system, which has been proven to respond to stress. For example, when you are frightened, your heart beats faster, your blood pressure may go up, or you may gasp. The colon responds to stress by contracting too much or too little.  So when our little people say that their “tummy hurts” when they are upset, it is real, as are our “gut feelings”.  

"The intelligent person will go inwards first. Before going anywhere else, he will go into his own being; that is the first thing. Only when you have known yourself can you go anywhere else. Then wherever you will go you will carry blissfulness around you." --OSHO