Stress is Linked to Stomach Pain, Gas and Bloating

In today’s fast-paced world it is inevitable that we will have to deal with unwanted stress.  Small amounts of stress are necessary for our optimal function, but too much could be the primary cause of most disease!

Types of Stress:

• Physical Stress: exercise or hard labor jobs, moving away from our body’s homeostasis
• Chemical Stress: Exposure to chemicals such as hair products, cleaning solvents, pesticides, paints, drugs, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine or environmental pollution
• Mental Stress:  Worry, anxiety, working long hours, frustration or high responsibility, public speaking, moving, career change, job loss
• Emotional Stress: Anger, worry, fear, sadness, regret, broken heart, betrayal, attitude toward self, loneliness
• Nutritional Stress:  Vitamin, mineral, protein, carbohydrate or fat deficiencies/ excesses
• Traumatic Stress: Injury, infection, surgery, extreme temperatures, loss of loved one, moving or life changes, divorce
• Psycho-spiritual Stress:  Relationship or family pressure, financial or career pressure, not obtaining life goals, public speaking, state of unhappiness, divorce

The central nervous system, primarily the sympathetic branch, is largely at play with the stress response.  The main idea is to increase the regulation of the physiological functions that can allow the person to adapt to his/her perceived environment.  This stimulates the production and release of the hormones norepinephrine, epinephrine and cortisol.  These hormones increase blood pressure and heart rate, constrict certain blood vessels to increase blood flow to the brain and muscles but also to decrease blood flow to the digestive and reproductive organs and they raise blood glucose so our cells have the energy required to deal with the stress.

When stress is experienced around eating, all of the energy needed for efficient digestion gets diverted to other areas of the body.  Stress also generates free radicals and suppresses the immune system, this can damage cells and tissues leading to inflamed organs and vessel linings.  Inflammation increases permeability of the tissues thus enhancing allergic reactions to food.

Acute stress initially increases hydrochloric acid (HCI) production in the stomach, as well as, the pancreatic bicarbonate secretions in the duodenum to balance out the extra acidity.  This can cause stomach pain, indigestion, heartburn, gastritis and ulcers.  Chronic stress will actually have the opposite effect decreasing HCI and because the pancreas has been overworked to balance out the acidity, it will also have reduced function.  This will result in poor digestion and absorption of nutrients, which can lead to gas, bloating and other gastrointestinal conditions.

For people with elevated stress levels, we suggest a variety of tools in our eBook to reduce the effects stress has on our health and particularly on our digestive system.

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