How Stress Affects Gut Health (and What to Do About It)
/
By: Mark Sisson
Stress is physical. It's caused by physical phenomena in the material world. It manifests as a physiological response using physical hormones and neurotransmitters and other chemical messengers in the body. It changes biomarkers, neurochemistry, behavior, appetites, and our perception of the world around us. Stress can make us fly off the handle at something that we wouldn't even notice in a normal state of mind. Stress can make us eat food we'd never normally consider eating.
And, like other physical phenomena our bodies interact with, stress can affect our gut health.
The first hint of this relationship lies in that split second sensation most people feel in high-intensity situations. You feel it right there in your gut. It's a cue from the environment that things are going to get hairy for a little while, and you should prepare yourself. The gut is so central to everything, it's our first real interface with the outside world. The gut is where food goes. It's where outside nutrients or pathogens or interlopers try to gain entry to our inner world. The "gut feeling" is a Primal one that we cannot ignore.
So what happens to our guts when we endure too much stress without relief?
Stress and leaky gut.They used to say "leaky gut" was a myth. It's not. In clinical trials, they call it "intestinal permeability," but it describes the same phenomenon: instead of the tight junctions that line our gut closely regulating the passage of toxins, allergenic particles, and nutrients into the body, the gates are thrown open to allow anything entry into circulation. This can increase or trigger autoimmune disease, allergic reactions to foods, and infiltration of toxins and pathogens. The end result is increased inflammation and oxidative stress, and there are a whole host o diseases and conditions linked to leaky gut. Stress is a major and reliable trigger for leaky gut.
