How does stress cause gastrointestinal symptoms?

An overstressed body commonly can manifest itself through gastrointestinal symptoms. The physical symptoms can include:

• Indigestion

• Heartburn

• “acid stomach”

• Irritable bowel syndrome

• Diarrhea

• Constipation

• Gas

• colitis

• nervous “butterflies”

• difficulties with sexual dysfunction

• difficulties with urination

• nausea

If you suffer any of these, the chances are that your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is your primary physical indication of stress.

The PNS is part of your automatic nervous system and regulates many of your basic functions:

• your heart rate

• excretion of bodily waste

• digestion

• sexual functions.

The physical arousal which is caused by acute stress can cause any of the symptoms above, and the function of the PNS is to decrease arousal and slow you down again after a bout of stressful reaction.

When experiencing stress, people tend to “wind up” and the body speeds up.  It is the inability slow down or relax which causes those annoying and embarrassing symptoms. The PNS is regulated by the other half of the automonic nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which speeds things up again, and these two work automatically under normal circumstances.

However, when you are under duress, oxygen is partially siphoned away from the digestive tract to feed the larger muscles in preparation for “fight or flight”.  Lack of oxygen in the gastrointestinal area leads to digestion slowing down, or even stopping, but once you calm down and relax following the stress-out, the flow of vital oxygen can return to normal.

It is when you come under longer bouts of stress without taking time to recover that the gastrointestinal tissues and muscles become sensitized to over-activation. This is when symptoms can still manifest themselves, even when the stress that caused them has vanished. You may feel fine in your mind, and over the stress, but your body has yet to recover.