How Stress Affects Your Gut
When stress becomes internalized.
MICROBIOME
The connection between our gut and our brain has been acknowledged for centuries in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, but western medicine is only starting to get on the same page, with more and more studies acknowledging that there is a direct line between our digestive health and mental health. When we experience chronic stress, it can lead to an imbalance of bacteria in the intestine, in which the pathogen-causing ones outnumber the good. This condition is known as dysbiosis, or dysbacteriosis, and can cause symptoms like bloating, abdominal pain, gas, and cramping.
CORTISOL LEVELS
Cortisol is our primary stress hormone and plays important roles in metabolism and immunity, but when our cortisol levels get too high, it can lead to anxiety and even jitteriness. Continuously high levels of cortisol in the body can cause an increase in the production of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), which can incite a heightened immune response –– leading to symptoms like inflammation, and even bloating, gas, and cramping.
IBS
If you suffer from IBS, you already have experience with the painful digestive symptoms, but we’ve got bad news: stress often exacerbates them. When we’re stressed, it can cause our immune system become inflamed, which can cause some of the symptoms mentioned above, but for those with IBS, they’re usually even worse. But we’ve got good news, there are ways to fight it.
SOLUTIONS
For IBS, addressing stress levels while simultaneously working to rebalance your gut microbiome is the best way to tackle IBS head-on. The spore-based bacteria in our PREBIOTIC + PROBIOTIC has been clinically proven to reduce the symptoms associated with IBS and, when taken daily, most people see results within 2-4 weeks.
For immediate solutions to bloating, constipation, and general digestive discomfort, we have DEBLOAT+, which is an even more powerful version of our bestselling DEBLOAT FOOD + PREBIOTIC, and works on bloating both immediately and long term. REGULARITY RELIEF takes on constipation, as key ingredients magnesium citrate and marshmallow root help to draw water into the colon to soften stools, functioning as an osmotic laxative, while DIGEST START helps your body produce digestive enzymes and juices to ensure a speedier digestion.
If you’re experiencing regular stress, the best thing to do, of course, is to adjust your lifestyle, making key changes that allow you to seriously reduce daily stress levels. For the meantime, however, we suggest our FUNCTIONAL FRAGRANCE, an anti-stress supplement in the form of a fragrance, that helps you to recenter and reset during moments of high stress –– with just a whiff.
DISCLAIMER : The best way to deal with stress is making conscious changes to your lifestyle. We cannot claim any products will eliminate stress, but they will help ease the symptoms of stress on your body, so you can face that daily grind.