The Mess of Stress

Life is a snow globe of sorts. When things get shaken up into a frenzied blizzard, we often can’t see what’s ahead of us or what’s behind; we’re just lost in the maelstrom. When it comes to gut health, information overload combined with our desire to feel better can lead us down a path that often misses one of the most crucial pieces of the puzzle: Stress.

Stress is the blizzard. It literally changes our microbiome, clouds our habits and choices, alters our relationship to food and the world, and keeps us trapped in patterns that understandably leave us a little lost about where to begin. Often, we want answers fast, but the quick fix often doesn’t give us sustained results.

In Chinese Medicine, there is no chicken or egg. Stress impacts the gut, poor gut health impacts stress. We can’t treat one without the other. (For autoimmune issues and infections, this is more complicated)

So how do we find ways to develop a healthier stress response and strengthen the foundational systems that have a direct impact on our gut?

Stress is inevitable. Here are a few things to keep in mind for your own healing path and stress reduction.

1. Find a daily practice that you enjoy that is regulating to your nervous system. This could be a walk, a breathing exercise, gardening, a podcast you love, or cooking, to name a few. But something you enjoy!
2. Focus on the good days and try not to panic when bad days happen. Healing is not a straight line, ever. 
3. Exercise. Even if it’s a tiny stretch in the morning or at the end of the day. Find time to connect with your body.
4. Eat slowly. No matter what the food is, enjoy it, chew it. This gives your liver time to make bile and support the breakdown of food better. Chewing is Cueing.
5. Grieve the trigger foods, for now, and understand they may not be gone forever. But they might be. This is a kind of acceptance that helps us regulate our nervous system. 
6. Get acupuncture, somatic bodywork, cranial-sacral, whatever leaves you feeling calm and rested. Deep rest matters.
7. Nature regulates. Trees, water, a garden. Take it in.
8. Stay connected to your breath. Especially before meals. This encourages us to slow down and enhance digestion.

Taking all of our stressors into account and directly addressing them can feel daunting and truly become an act of bravery. Needing extra support to understand our individual and unique responses to stress is a part of managing our gut health.  

A happier and more supported nervous system leads to a more stable and balanced gut.

Tools build houses!
Angela Coon, L.Ac.

Do you need help navigating your gut issues? Angela is here to be your guide on this journey. Schedule online or get a 15 min complimentary consult to see if acupuncture is right for you.