The gut-brain connection
Have you ever had a
“gut-wrenching” experience? Do certain situations make you “feel nauseous”?
Have you ever felt “butterflies” in your stomach? We use these expressions for
a reason. The gastrointestinal tract is sensitive to emotion. Anger, anxiety, sadness,
elation — all of these feelings (and others) can trigger symptoms in the gut.
The brain has a direct
effect on the stomach. For example, the very thought of eating can release the
stomach’s juices before food gets there. This connection goes both ways. A
troubled intestine can send signals to the brain, just as a troubled brain can send
signals to the gut. Therefore, a person’s stomach or intestinal distress can be
the cause or the product of
anxiety, stress, or depression. That’s because the brain and the
gastrointestinal (GI) system are intimately connected — so intimately that they
should be viewed as one system.
This is especially true in
cases where a person experiences gastrointestinal upset with no obvious
physical cause. For such functional GI disorders, it is difficult to try to
heal a distressed gut without considering the role of stress and emotion..
Stress
and the functional GI disorders
Given how closely the gut
and brain interact, it becomes easier to understand why you might feel
nauseated before giving a presentation, or feel intestinal pain during times of
stress. That doesn’t mean, however, that functional gastrointestinal illnesses
are imagined or “all in your head.” Psychology combines with physical factors
to cause pain and other bowel symptoms. Psychosocial factors influence the
actual physiology of the gut, as well as symptoms. In other words, stress (or
depression or other psychological factors) can affect movement and contractions
of the GI tract, cause inflammation, or make you more susceptible to infection.
In addition, research
suggests that some people with functional GI disorders perceive pain more
acutely than other people do because their brains do not properly regulate pain
signals from the GI tract. Stress can make the existing pain seem even worse.
Based on these
observations, you might expect that at least some patients with functional GI
conditions might improve with therapy to reduce stress or treat anxiety or
depression. And sure enough, a review of 13 studies showed that patients who
tried psychologically based approaches had greater improvement in their
digestive symptoms compared with patients who received conventional medical
treatment.
Is
stress causing your symptoms?
Are your stomach problems —
such as heartburn, abdominal cramps, or loose stools — related to stress? Watch
for these other common symptoms of stress and discuss them with your doctor.
Together you can come up with strategies to help you deal with the stressors in
your life, and also ease your digestive discomforts.
Physical symptoms
- Stiff
or tense muscles, especially in the neck and shoulders
- Headaches
- Sleep
problems
- Shakiness
or tremors
- Recent
loss of interest in sex
- Weight
loss or gain
- Restlessness
Behavioral symptoms
- Procrastination
- Grinding
teeth
- Difficulty
completing work assignments
- Changes
in the amount of alcohol or food you consume
- Taking
up smoking, or smoking more than usual
- Increased
desire to be with or withdraw from others
- Rumination
(frequent talking or brooding about stressful situations)
Emotional symptoms
- Crying
- Overwhelming
sense of tension or pressure
- Trouble
relaxing
- Nervousness
- Quick
temper
- Depression
- Poor
concentration
- Trouble
remembering things
- Loss
of sense of humor
- Indecisiveness
Read more on Harvard Medical Journal Website. Click Here
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