The Hidden Impact of Stressors on Your Gut Health
As busy people juggling busy careers, personal life, and everyday stressors, it’s easy to overlook the subtle but powerful effect stressors have on our health—particularly on our gut.
For many of us, IBS is a daily struggle. The pain, bowel dysfunction and bloating, seem unpredictable, but could the root cause be stressors? The connection between stressors and gut function is real and deeply impactful.
When our Survival Network identifies a threat to our physical and/or emotional wellbeing (aka a stressor), our body’s Survival (aka Stress) Response is activated. This response is under the control of our Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS). We shift into survival mode. For our ancestors stressors were short-term. The threat was soon over. So we evolved to spend a short time in survival mode, long enough to ensure our survival. Today we are faced with a seemingly endless number of stressors and when activation of the Survival Response becomes chronic, we start living in survival mode. Living in survival mode starts to wreak havoc on our health. And guess where it hits hardest? Our gut.
The Chronic Stress-Gut Connection
Immediately our Survival Network identifies a threat, our HPA (Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal) axis is activated, releasing hormones like adrenaline and cortisol into our bloodstream. While these hormones are helpful in acute stressor situations, chronic activation of the Survival Response leads to elevated stress hormones in the body, which studies show can disrupt the functioning of our digestive system and alter the healthy balance of our gut microbiome.
Living in survival mode:
Suppresses digestion: Making it harder for your body to process food properly.
Causes inflammation: Elevating gut sensitivity, contributing to bloating, cramping, and irregular bowel movements.
Worsens IBS symptoms: Chronic stress exacerbates symptoms like pain, bloating, diarrhea, and constipation.
Why It’s Crucial to Address Stressors for lasting IBS Relief
You might think about IBS as just a gut problem, but it’s deeply tied to your mind-body connection. Ongoing stressors aren’t just uncomfortable—they are a major contributing factor to maintaining IBs symptoms and the cycle of IBS flare-ups.
This is where Gut-Directed Hypnotherapy (GDH) comes in. By utilizing this specialised form of hypnotherapy, we target the two key factors that are maintaining the condition:
1. the miscommunication between the brain and the gut. GDH resets how the brain and gut communicate
2. chronic stress. GDH calms the body’s nervous system and resets the sensitivity of the Survival Network so that situations that aren’t threats, but are being identified as such, no longer trigger the Survival Response.
The Key to Empowerment
If you’ve tried medications, diets, or lifestyle changes and still haven’t found lasting relief, GDH can help you find significant, long-lasting relief. It enables you to take back control—not just of your IBS, but of your life. By addressing stressors through GDH, you can reduce your symptoms, improve your digestion, and regain confidence in your body’s ability to function normally again.
Don’t let stressors be the cause of your ongoing discomfort. Let’s talk about how GDH can support you in breaking the Stress - IBS cycle so you can take back control of your health.
Book Your Consultation Now
Are you ready to take control and transform your gut health? Book a consultation today to explore how GDH can work for you.