SCIENCE, HEALTH
In Week 1 of this Gut Health blog series, we discovered ways to give our diets a makeover to support our gut health.
If you didn’t catch week 1 of the blog series, check it out here.
Reflect on your changes:
Keep up the good work! The Week 1 Diet Makeover is beneficial to your gut health and your overall general health!
Now, let’s dive into Week 2!
This week in the Gut Health blog series, we’re going to focus on stress.
The stress response in humans is essential to our survival. If our body is placed in a situation where we are in danger or under threat, we NEED stress to survive. This is the classic “fight or flight” mechanism.
Our body houses a homeostatic mechanism that triggers certain hormones and neural networks to kick in when we are under stress. This optimizes our cognitive, cardiovascular, metabolic, and immunological systems to be more equipped to handle the threat/danger.
So, stress is great for us in small bursts. It keeps us out of trouble. But, things get tricky when our stress responses don’t turn off and remain at elevated levels over time. This is called “chronic stress.”
Chronic stress occurs when we experience every day “stressors” with such intensity or frequency that our body doesn’t get a chance to activate the relaxation response. We then stay in a state of stress for prolonged periods. Stressors can include pressures from work, family, environment, or traumatic experiences.
Chronic stress takes a significant toll on our health and disrupts many of our body’s systems. Today, we’ll focus on how stress affects our digestion and gut health.
There is a connection within our bodies between our brain and our gut. The brain sends signals to the gut and vice versa. Any irritation in the gut sends signals to the brain, which can trigger mood changes. In turn, mood changes send signals from the brain to the gut. It’s a bi-directional cycle, and they talk to each other all the time.
When we are stressed, the brain releases stress hormones (including cortisol and adrenaline). The digestive tract has lots of receptors for these hormones. These hormones slow things down in the upper digestive tract (constipation) and speed things up in the lower digestive tract (diarrhea). When under stress, our body doesn’t want to focus on digestion; it wants to get us out of danger.
Additionally, stress can alter the bacteria in our gut microbiome. As discussed in the first week of this blog series, disturbances in our gut bacteria can cause an imbalance between the “good” and the “bad” bacteria. This creates an environment where the proper function of the gut is impaired; therefore, the gut cannot properly digest our food into usable parts. The gut also secretes the mood-regulating chemical serotonin. With impaired gut function, serotonin production is reduced, causing our mood to be less than sunny.
Symptoms of chronic stress include:
If you have any of these symptoms, don’t worry, there are ways to manage your stress and alleviate them!
Stress is an inevitable part of the modern world we live in. We are bombarded by stressors regularly. However, how we deal with these stressors has a massive impact on how stress affects our body and mind. Being able to accept that you may not like the stress, but it is something you have to deal with, can have a significant impact on helping you to regulate your emotions/reactions.
Finding tools that work for you to assist in this process can help mitigate the stress and help you feel better both physically and mentally.
As discussed in week one, what we eat has a huge impact on both our gut and our stress levels. Focus on eating lots of whole foods (vegetables, fruits, lean meats, fish, whole grains, nuts, and seeds). Reduce/eliminate processed foods, fried foods, and refined sugar/carbs.
Listen to your body after you eat, notice any changes in mood or feelings of being sluggish. These signs could mean you need to make some changes.
Slow, deep breathing can activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This reduces our cortisol levels and triggers our “rest and digest” response (the opposite of the stress response).
Close your eyes and take a slow, deep breath. Focus on breathing the air down into the pit of your stomach. Feel the stomach rise as you fill up with air. Hold the breath for a couple of seconds and then slowly exhale. Slowly breathe out all of the air that you can. Repeat this cycle a few times and notice how you feel.
This can be very powerful when you are having feelings of stress or anxiety. It can help calm your mind and body.
For November, we are running a 30-day Gratitude Challenge here at Relish Life! No matter when you are reading this blog post, you can start your gratitude practice by writing down 3-5 things that you feel grateful for every day. They can be big or small.
Knowing that you will be doing this each day, your mind subconsciously searches for reasons to be grateful; therefore, our mindset/mood begins to shift to a more positive place.
Moving your body relieves stress and improves mental health. Find something FUN; maybe dancing, walking in nature, swimming, fitness classes, rock climbing, sex, or running. Play around to see what speaks to your heart, and move yo body!
Experiment with different relaxation methods to see what works for you. Then, each day, try to do one small thing for yourself to help ease your mind and help you relax. For example, try reading, meditation, journaling, having a bath, yoga, or deep breathing. Whatever creates stress relief works!
If stress and anxiety are becoming too overwhelming and you are finding it hard to cope, talking to a professional can help your mental and gut health (remember the gut-brain connection?). Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) teaches people how to manage their response to stress better. However, even talking to a therapist can help sort through thoughts buzzing around a busy mind.
I hope you enjoy trying out some of these tools to help you de-stress and improve your gut health! Try a few, see how you feel, and experiment to see what works for you.
If you want to heal your gut- join Relish Life today! Through your Relish membership, you can work with your personal Health Coach to heal your gut and jump onto your weightloss journey.
Melissa is a British-born Health Coach who knows firsthand how difficult it can be to manage the emotions that surround weight. After decades of weight control and yo-yo dieting, Melissa studied to become a Health Coach and effectively coached herself through the process. Through learning how to eat intuitively, Melissa gained a new perspective and shifted her focus from ‘dieting’ to nourishment. She also learned how to recognize and address trauma and stress in her life. The stubborn weight she had held onto for years just melted away.
Melissa LOVES to help others figure out and conquer their own personal health and wellness goals. Following a life-long enthusiasm for alternative medicine, Melissa trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where she received in-depth training in nutrition, health and wellness, and coaching skills.
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