There are many conditions which affect the gastrointestinal system (e.g. Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease). As a result people can have to live with a number of challenging symptoms including bloating, cramping, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, constipation and vomiting). These challenging symptoms can have an impact on emotional wellbeing.
The Gut-Brain Axis
Emerging research highlights how some conditions are impacted by the functioning of the gut-brain axis. Essentially, the brain and the gut communicate between each other through a complex interaction between the nervous system, endocrine system and gut hormones.
If you’d like to dig deeper into how the gut and brain are connected, this video explains how it works further.
But how does this play a role in our mental health?
Our nervous system, which sends signals between the brain and the gut, plays a role in emotional regulation. Therefore, the messages the brain and gut are communicating between each other, also interacts with what we feel, including our emotions and body sensations, as well as what thoughts arise in our minds.
There are two main parts of your central nervous system that can impact how we feel in our body and mind.
The sympathetic nervous system is activated when you go into fight or flight response. For example, you might feel this if you got chased by a dog or suddenly realise you were late for your bus. This system can induce sensations of anxiety, such as fast heart rate, sweating, butterflies in your stomach as your body prepares to act.
Alternatively, the parasympathetic nervous system is activated in times of resting and digesting. For example, you might feel this when you are relaxing at a beach on holiday. This system can induce sensations of calm, including slower heart rate, deep breaths and a relaxed posture.
The bacteria in your gut, called microbiome, also play a role in how your gut and brain communicate with each other. Certain gut bacteria cause the release of hormones which affect the nervous system. Likewise, feelings of stress, can alter the kinds of gut bacteria living within the gut. This webpage explains little bit more about the gut-brain link and how your digestive system can be impacted by stress.
As a result, there can be many factors that interact with how our gastrointestinal system functions. These include biology, genetics, chronic stress, life challenges, social support, dietary intake to name just a few. This means that gastrointestinal issues are very real conditions, with very really physical symptoms.
The rest of this section will explore some gastrointestinal conditions that can cause distress, and how to manage the symptoms and impacts of such conditions.