We’ve all felt those ‘butterflies’ or that churning in the stomach in response to nervousness, heightened stress or anxiety. Such feelings are unsurprising given that research shows the mind and the gut are interconnected.
When we’re stressed, the digestive system can be impacted as our bodies try to respond. By focusing on this link and seeking to calm the mind, a happy mind can lead to a happy gut.
The mind-gut connection has long puzzled researchers as they try to understand the complex systems involved. According to an article provided by Harvard Health Publishing, if a person is experiencing digestive issues, it could be the cause or the product of anxiety, depression or stress.
Learning to alleviate ongoing gut symptoms can assist those experiencing gut issues, stress and anxiety to regain control of their health.
Gut issues are a common concern for customers visiting the pharmacy for assistance, and pharmacy assistants with knowledge around the mind-gut connection could prompt those experiencing such issues to learn more about this interplay.
Stress and the gut
Sydney-based Michelle White, gut-focused psychotherapist, counsellor and developer of the ‘Happy Inside’ app, says stress and the gut are intricately connected.
“The gut is biologically wired to be affected by stress,” she said. “This wiring can be seen in the primal survival response, which also activates in times of modern stress.”
According to Ms White, stress is a nervous system response whereby the brain activates stress hormones to be released into the body to prepare you for “fight or flight”.
“To save your life, an incredible amount of blood flow is required in your arms and legs for the strength to fight or flight,” she said. “Because your body is so clever, it shuts down the digestive tract to borrow blood flow, because digestive processes aren’t a priority and can hinder a lifesaving event.
“The shutdown is intentionally rapid, either forcing evacuation of the contents of the digestive tract, which activates symptoms such as pain, cramping, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting, or it shuts off any [digestive] function, causing constipation. This is how human beings experience gut symptoms as a result of stress and anxiety.”
Managing stress
Ms White says gut-focused psychotherapy helps people identify how stress and anxiety may be contributing to gut symptoms, and looks to the whole body.
“I help people see the relationship between stress, anxiety and the gut, and where the stress is coming from in their lives that could be contributing to their gut symptoms,” she said. “The stress or anxiety can be a lifelong experience, from a particular event or circumstance in their life, or has come about as a result of ongoing gut symptoms.”
Managing the root causes of stress, she adds, enables the nervous system response to stop affecting the gut.
“When we attend to those causes of stress, we take the reactivity out of the nervous system and the gut stops being affected,” Ms White said. “Gut-focused psychotherapy is uniquely specific to people living with pronounced stress and anxiety and gut symptoms, because once stress is presenting itself as physical symptoms in the body, standard talk therapy isn’t effective. We must include the body in the resolution.”
App-ropriate help
Ms White says she developed the Happy Inside app to facilitate relaxation in the mind, nervous system and gut.
“I created the app to use in conjunction with my [one-on-one] consultations, and also for people who might not have access to consultations to at least have an avenue to begin finding some relief,” she said.
“If we want to resolve symptoms permanently, then we need to resolve the underlying cause of those symptoms, which is why the one-on-one consultations are so important.
“Using the app on its own is OK, [but] it must also be known that it’s more of a band-aid solution that provides relief rather than resolving the underlying cause.”
Learn more about Happy Inside: happyinside.com.au
This feature was originally published in the July issue of Retail Pharmacy Assistants e-magazine.
