The Link Between Stress and Your Gut

We’ve all had that “gut feeling” before a big event—or felt our stomach tie in knots during a stressful time. It’s not just in your head. There’s a strong, well-documented connection between the brain and the digestive system. In fact, your gut has its own nervous system (the enteric nervous system) and is often called the second brain.

Here’s what’s happening when you’re stressed:

Stress Activates the Fight-or-Flight Response 🧠

When your body senses stress—whether it’s from a looming deadline, emotional conflict, or even overexercising—it releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones prepare you to “fight” or “flee” by prioritizing survival-based functions.

Digestion Takes a Back Seat 🚨

During this fight-or-flight state, your body temporarily redirects blood flow away from the digestive tract and toward the muscles, heart, and brain to deal with the perceived threat. This is helpful short term—but when stress becomes chronic, it can wreak havoc on your digestion.

What This Means for Your Gut 💥

If your nervous system is always in fight-or-flight mode (also known as sympathetic dominance), your digestion can slow down or shut off.

This contributes to symptoms like:

Heartburn or acid reflux (due to poor stomach acid regulation)
Gas and bloating (from slower transit time and fermentation)
Constipation or diarrhea (because the gut’s motility is thrown off)
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) flare-ups
Food sensitivities (due to weakened gut lining and poor enzyme output)

Chronic Stress = Poor Nutrient Absorption 🌿

Ongoing stress not only disrupts digestion—it also reduces your ability to absorb nutrients properly. You may be eating well, but if your body is in stress mode, you might not be breaking down or assimilating your food efficiently. This can lead to deficiencies in key nutrients like magnesium, B vitamins, zinc, and even protein—nutrients your body actually needs to manage stress.

A Vicious Cycle 🔄

Poor digestion can lead to gut inflammation, dysbiosis (imbalanced bacteria), and leaky gut—all of which increase inflammation and stress in the body. This creates a feedback loop that keeps you stuck in stress mode.

Several studies have explored how these factors interconnect, creating a feedback loop that perpetuates stress and inflammation in the body.

Stress, Depression, Diet, and the Gut Microbiota: Human–Bacteria Interactions

This review discusses how stress and depression can lead to gut inflammation and dysbiosis, which in turn may cause increased intestinal permeability ("leaky gut"). This permeability allows bacteria to enter circulation, triggering systemic inflammation and further stress responses.

Dangers of the Chronic Stress Response in the Microbiota-Gut-Immune-Brain Axis

This article highlights the positive feedback loop between chronic stress, dysbiosis, immune dysregulation, and inflammation. It emphasizes how these interconnected systems can exacerbate mental health issues and systemic inflammation.

Simple Tips to Break the Cycle 🛠

Practice “Rest-and-Digest” Eating: Take a few deep breaths before meals, chew slowly, and avoid eating on the go. This blog post may be helpful as well, The Power of Your Eating Routine.
Add Nervous System Support: Try vagus nerve-stimulating habits like humming, cold exposure, gargling, or deep breathing.
Avoid Stress-Eating Triggers: Sugar, alcohol, caffeine, and processed foods can make stress symptoms worse.
Include Gut-Supportive Nutrients: Magnesium, L-glutamine, zinc carnosine, and digestive bitters can help soothe and support digestion during high stress times.
Focus on Sleep and Blood Sugar Balance: Skipping meals or running on caffeine and adrenaline worsens the stress-digestion connection.

Your gut and your brain are in constant communication—when one is out of balance, the other feels it. If you’ve been experiencing bloating, gas, heartburn, or IBS symptoms and feel like they get worse when life is chaotic, it’s not all in your head. Chronic stress can interfere with your body’s ability to digest food, absorb nutrients, and maintain a healthy gut environment.

THE GOOD NEWS? You have the power to shift your body out of fight-or-flight and into a rest-and-digest state through small, intentional changes to how you eat, breathe, and live each day. Supporting your nervous system and digestive health doesn’t have to be overwhelming—it just takes the right plan and a little guidance.

When it's time to dig deeper ✨

If these tips don't ease your digestive symptoms, it may be time to dig deeper.Stress often drives gut dysfunction—and gut issues can perpetuate stress.

Functional testing, like the GI-MAP, can help uncover root causes such as:

Hidden infections
Low stomach acid or enzymes
Imbalanced microbiome
Leaky gut markers

This kind of insight helps us build a personalized plan that actually works—because you deserve answers, not more guessing.

Ready to Feel Better from the Inside Out?

If you're tired of managing symptoms and want to get to the root cause of your digestive issues, I’d love to support you.

Together, we’ll look at your symptoms, stress levels, and gut health to create a customized plan that gets results.

📩 Book a free 15-minute consultation to learn how I can help — let’s chat about your next steps

You deserve to feel calm, energized, and comfortable in your body.

Let’s make that your new normal.

The Link Between Stress and Digestion: Why You Might Be Feeling It in Your Gut