The 5 Powerful Ways to Reduce Stress Bloating
Are you a woman who carries her stress in her gut?
Your gut tightens when you get stressed, and your stomach gets hard and bloated. You find yourself worried about it and thinking about it constantly. You end up even more bloated from your stress bloat. It feels like a never-ending cycle. You are frustrated because your clothes don't fit well. You feel uncomfortable and self-conscious.
The good news is you can do something about it.
Why do you feel bloated when you are stressed?
Our gut is an integral part of the nervous system, and it is closely connected with our brain. When we are stressed, blood supply gets redirected from our digestive system to other organs of the body that are crucial for our survival. When we are in the fight-or-flight state, our heart starts to beat faster to pump more blood and oxygen to muscles, so we can run faster and feel stronger as we face danger.
At the same time, our digestion slows down because digesting food is not necessary when we try to run from a tiger. It takes lots of energy to digest food, and this energy is needed to survive when you are in a fight-or-flight situation.
As a result, you may experience constipation or diarrhea, stomach cramps, and bloating.
What can you do to ease these symptoms when you are stressed?
Follow these five steps to get relief from your stress bloat.
#1 Start by eating mindfully
When you are a busy mama, it is easy to forget to eat on time or eat while working. But your digestion starts before you even put food in your mouth. Just by looking at your food, your brain gets signals to begin the process of digesting food. When you are busy working and eating without paying much attention to what you eat, you are missing the crucial step of your digestive process. Your body doesn't produce enough enzymes and digestive juices to break down the food you eat. This may lead to indigestion, heartburn, and bloating.
When you eat while working or being on the go, you keep your body stressed and digestion slow. Therefore, it is essential to try to calm down your nervous system right before you eat. Try to eat away from your desk, sitting and not running to take care of your errands.
Look at the food before you start eating. Chew your food to release enzymes that help you break down the food. Take time to smell the food, feel the texture and flavor of your meal. Be fully engaged.
#2 Use deep breathing to calm your nervous system
Deep breathing has many benefits for the body and mind. One of them is calming your nervous system. Breathing can help you deactivate the sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight state) and activate the parasympathetic nervous system (rest-and-digest state).
Belly breathing, also called diaphragmatic breathing, is especially beneficial for your gut. This type of breathing massages gently the internal organs like the intestines and stomach. It calms your nervous system, decreases your heart rate, and increases blood oxygenation.
Combining deep breathing with mindful eating is a powerful way to improve your digestion, reduce stress and bloating.
Before you start eating, sit comfortably on your seat.
Place one hand on your abdomen and one hand on your chest
Inhale slowly through your nose into your belly to push your hand up. Your chest should not move.
Pose for 3 seconds and exhale through your mouth.
Your abdomen should rise as you breathe in and fall as you breathe out.
Repeat these steps 5 to 10 times until you feel calm and relaxed.
#3 Stimulate your digestion
During stress, you may not be producing enough digestive enzymes and juices. But, you can take steps to stimulate your digestion to help you break down foods and avoid bloating.
Consuming bitter vegetables like endives, dandelions, or arugula helps stimulate digestive juices. Also, lemon juice and apple cider vinegar help to stimulate stomach acid, digestive enzymes, and bile. You can drink lemon water with some apple cider vinegar 15 minutes before your meal to boost digestion.
If you don't break down your food properly, you're not getting the nutrients your body needs. And if you don't eliminate the waste regularly, you're creating an environment for harmful bacteria and fungus to thrive.
#4 Increase fiber intake
Fiber is vital in eliminating waste products from your body. If you feel increasingly constipated, fiber may ease your symptoms. If you are not used to eating much fiber, you should go slow because too much of it may increase bloating and flatulence. Give your body time to adjust by slowly increasing the amounts.
Fiber also slows down the digestion of sugar from your meals, helping you keep your blood sugar stable. High fluctuations in blood sugar levels can lead to more stress hormones in the body, energy crashes, and mood swings.
To increase your fiber intake, focus on eating more vegetables, fruits, and whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, whole wheat if you can tolerate it.
#5 Avoid foods that increase bloating
Since your body doesn't break down foods properly when you are stressed, eating certain foods that are normally hard to digest can increase boating even more. Foods high in artificial sweeteners, flavor enhancers, and preservatives are usually hard to process. Consuming these types of products can increase bloating.
But even healthy foods like legumes, grains, dairy, or other foods that you might be sensitive to can lead to more bloating.
Keeping a food journal may help you determine which foods cause you digestive problems.
CONCLUSION
When you are stressed, you may experience a variety of physical symptoms. Bloating can be one of them. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to reduce this unpleasant effect of stress. If you want to learn further how stress can affect your body, read my article 5 Unexpected Long Term Effects of Stress on Women.
Hi! I'm Kinga Zerhouni.
I am a functional health coach. I work with stressed-out and tired working moms who feel like they are drowning in the thousand things they have to do between work and home.
I help them learn how to nourish and listen to their bodies to figure out which lifestyle changes are right for them, so they can regain their energy and feel calm again.