Stress, the Gut Brain and IBS and Migraine.
We all know stress is bad for us most of the time. Clearly the stress response can be beneficial when it prepares our bodies to respond to a stressful situation. The doctors tell us that chronic stress can be detrimental to heart health, lung function and neurological function just to name a few. But why? What is it about stress that is bad for us…if it is a natural biological response to stimuli, why and how is it detrimental? And more importantly how can it be playing a role, notice I said role not direct cause, in the formation of migraine and/or IBS?
From my last post you will remember that the autonomic nervous system, the part that controls the functions of our bodies outside our conscious control, like breathing, heart beat, digestion, etc. is divided into the sympathetic system and the parasympathetic system. The sympathetic system is the one that responds to stress and the related hormones adrenaline and cortisol. It diverts the body’s energy to the large muscle groups for fight or flight.
The parasympathetic system is in control when we are relaxed and it directs the body’s energy away from the fight and flight systems to the body’s normal functions like digestion. With that reminder lets talk about stress and how it plays a role in chronic illness like migraine and IBS.
When our ancestors had a stressful event it is because they walked around a boulder and found themselves face to face with a saber toothed tiger. Immediately, the sympathetic nervous system took complete charge and high levels of adrenaline and cortisol diverted all the body’s energy to the muscular system, legs for running like hell, or the arms for beating the tiger over the head with a club. The caveman did not have to take a break in the battle to go to the bathroom. This is because in the heat of battle and full sympathetic control there is no energy going to the digestive system and so its function is essentially shut down.
Once our ancestors escaped from or defeated the tiger, their stressful event was over and the parasympathetic system regained dominance over the body. Blood pressure was lowered, heart rate reduced, muscle tension relaxed and the body’s energy was available for the functions that dominate when the human organism is relaxed. Principal amongst those would be digestion. It is estimated that some 30-40% of the body’s energy on an ongoing basis is utilized by the digestive function.
When you stop to think about it this estimate would even seem low. Nothing is more critical to the health and survival of the human body than digestive function. One of the main realizations I gained from Gershon’s book was a very deep appreciation for the complexity and remarkable ability of the digestive system, both its structures and functions. This appreciation is not simply for its role in digestive function which is complex enough, but also from the realization that some 80% of the body’s immune function is located in the digestive system and now with Gershon’s work we understand that there is a huge neurological component to the gut.
So here is the point, obviously we don’t run into saber toothed tigers today. Few of us face true live or death, full bore, fight or flight situations. So we never have a situation where the parasympathetic response is so severe that 100% of the body’s energy is diverted to the fight or flight muscles. However, many of us live with chronic levels of stress. We don’t have the same level of adrenaline and cortisol coursing our veins that our ancestors did, when confronted by the saber toothed tiger, but we have some level. We are worried about the kids or our jobs, or getting dinner ready or getting to soccer practice. We stress about our relationships and whether people like us or if we are doing our job to the satisfaction of our bosses, the list goes on and on. This type of stress is very evident in most of our lives, a lot of the time.
It seems logical that with chronic stress we put our bodies in a situation where instead of having 30-40% of the body’s energy available to our digestive systems we are trying to accomplish the intricate role of digestion with 15% or 28% or 23% or who knows what the number is but with chronic stress putting the sympathetic and parasympathetic system in confusion there is no ability for the digestive system to operate at optimum levels.
What does this mean? On the most simplistic level it means the body is not able to function normally. Stress literally causes the breakdown of normal function. In one person…they may not have the energy to properly digest their protein resulting in an inadequate supply of key amino acid building blocks that allow for the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin, by the way Gershon and his colleagues have shown that some 95% of the body’s serotonin is made in the gut. Another person may not be absorbing nutrients essential in the formation of hormones thereby affecting a women’s cycle in a way that may lead to migraine. Still another may suffer the direct affect of stress on the tissues of the gut and manifest the symptoms we call IBS.
Am I making a definitive claim about the role of stress in the formation of specific diseases…no. However what I am saying is that the doctors who have inspired my work, those who believe that all chronic illness is related to the human organism not functioning well, they certainly believe that stress is playing a role in the breakdown of normal function and they see stress has having a direct impact on digestive function.
I would appreciate your help in one area. It has become apparent to me that modern medicine thinks that digestive function just takes care of itself. I can find very little research within the dominant paradigm about the role of the digestive system in human health. I am not referring to research on digestive illnesses like IBS or colitis or Crohn’s but rather research that discusses what happens within the organism when digestive function is compromised, so any guidance anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated.
I hope I have helped you to understand the role that stress plays in creating conditions that may be leading to both migraine and IBS and frankly other chronic illnesses as well. In my next post we will get back to the gut brain and the discussion of Gershon’s work and the role the gut brain may be playing in migraine and IBS. As always your comments and questions are welcomed.
Tom
We all know stress is bad for us most of the time. Clearly the stress response can be beneficial when it prepares our bodies to respond to a stressful situation. The doctors tell us that chronic stress can be detrimental to heart health, lung function and neurological function just to name a few. But why? What is it about stress that is bad for us…if it is a natural biological response to stimuli, why and how is it detrimental? And more importantly how can it be playing a role, notice I said role not direct cause, in the formation of migraine and/or IBS?
From my last post you will remember that the autonomic nervous system, the part that controls the functions of our bodies outside our conscious control, like breathing, heart beat, digestion, etc. is divided into the sympathetic system and the parasympathetic system. The sympathetic system is the one that responds to stress and the related hormones adrenaline and cortisol. It diverts the body’s energy to the large muscle groups for fight or flight.
The parasympathetic system is in control when we are relaxed and it directs the body’s energy away from the fight and flight systems to the body’s normal functions like digestion. With that reminder lets talk about stress and how it plays a role in chronic illness like migraine and IBS.
When our ancestors had a stressful event it is because they walked around a boulder and found themselves face to face with a saber toothed tiger. Immediately, the sympathetic nervous system took complete charge and high levels of adrenaline and cortisol diverted all the body’s energy to the muscular system, legs for running like hell, or the arms for beating the tiger over the head with a club. The caveman did not have to take a break in the battle to go to the bathroom. This is because in the heat of battle and full sympathetic control there is no energy going to the digestive system and so its function is essentially shut down.
Once our ancestors escaped from or defeated the tiger, their stressful event was over and the parasympathetic system regained dominance over the body. Blood pressure was lowered, heart rate reduced, muscle tension relaxed and the body’s energy was available for the functions that dominate when the human organism is relaxed. Principal amongst those would be digestion. It is estimated that some 30-40% of the body’s energy on an ongoing basis is utilized by the digestive function.
When you stop to think about it this estimate would even seem low. Nothing is more critical to the health and survival of the human body than digestive function. One of the main realizations I gained from Gershon’s book was a very deep appreciation for the complexity and remarkable ability of the digestive system, both its structures and functions. This appreciation is not simply for its role in digestive function which is complex enough, but also from the realization that some 80% of the body’s immune function is located in the digestive system and now with Gershon’s work we understand that there is a huge neurological component to the gut.
So here is the point, obviously we don’t run into saber toothed tigers today. Few of us face true live or death, full bore, fight or flight situations. So we never have a situation where the parasympathetic response is so severe that 100% of the body’s energy is diverted to the fight or flight muscles. However, many of us live with chronic levels of stress. We don’t have the same level of adrenaline and cortisol coursing our veins that our ancestors did, when confronted by the saber toothed tiger, but we have some level. We are worried about the kids or our jobs, or getting dinner ready or getting to soccer practice. We stress about our relationships and whether people like us or if we are doing our job to the satisfaction of our bosses, the list goes on and on. This type of stress is very evident in most of our lives, a lot of the time.
It seems logical that with chronic stress we put our bodies in a situation where instead of having 30-40% of the body’s energy available to our digestive systems we are trying to accomplish the intricate role of digestion with 15% or 28% or 23% or who knows what the number is but with chronic stress putting the sympathetic and parasympathetic system in confusion there is no ability for the digestive system to operate at optimum levels.
What does this mean? On the most simplistic level it means the body is not able to function normally. Stress literally causes the breakdown of normal function. In one person…they may not have the energy to properly digest their protein resulting in an inadequate supply of key amino acid building blocks that allow for the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin, by the way Gershon and his colleagues have shown that some 95% of the body’s serotonin is made in the gut. Another person may not be absorbing nutrients essential in the formation of hormones thereby affecting a women’s cycle in a way that may lead to migraine. Still another may suffer the direct affect of stress on the tissues of the gut and manifest the symptoms we call IBS.
Am I making a definitive claim about the role of stress in the formation of specific diseases…no. However what I am saying is that the doctors who have inspired my work, those who believe that all chronic illness is related to the human organism not functioning well, they certainly believe that stress is playing a role in the breakdown of normal function and they see stress has having a direct impact on digestive function.
I would appreciate your help in one area. It has become apparent to me that modern medicine thinks that digestive function just takes care of itself. I can find very little research within the dominant paradigm about the role of the digestive system in human health. I am not referring to research on digestive illnesses like IBS or colitis or Crohn’s but rather research that discusses what happens within the organism when digestive function is compromised, so any guidance anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated.
I hope I have helped you to understand the role that stress plays in creating conditions that may be leading to both migraine and IBS and frankly other chronic illnesses as well. In my next post we will get back to the gut brain and the discussion of Gershon’s work and the role the gut brain may be playing in migraine and IBS. As always your comments and questions are welcomed.
Tom
posted by Tom Stav at 10:00 AM
1 Comments:
Thanks for the awesome information. I do have anxiety issues and have been really working on controlling this as I am aware that it is not at all healthy! I do take my Vidazorb chewable probiotics though since I know how important and great benefits they have for so many reasons. Thanks for the reminder!
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