How Stress Hormones Mess Up Your Gut Health

Can we talk about the role that stress plays on gut health?

Maybe you’ve never thought about that relationship before—after all, when we think about gut health, we think moreso about what we’re consuming and what it’s digesting. But the truth is, there’s a very strong connection between stress and its impact on healthy gut function.

So if you feel like you’ve been doing everything right (eating the right gut-friendly foods, taking probiotics, limiting processed foods) then stress might be part of the problem.

The Gut-Brain Axis: How Your Gut Communicates

Did you know that your brain and gut had a direct way of communicating? This is your gut-brain axis, and it’s connected together by a long nerve called the vagus nerve.

What’s interesting is that this communication runs both ways: not only does your brain send signals to your gut (for example, it can send stress signals which then trigger gastrointestinal issues), but you gut can communicate with the brain!

In fact, your gut contains 500 million neurons, or brain cells.(source) It also contains neurotransmitters (up to 95% of serotonin, which helps boost mood, is found in the gut).(source)

The reason this connection is important is because of that two-way communication. Your gut bacteria can directly affect your brain health and your mood. And large amounts of stress can negatively impact your gut bacteria.

Stress Hormones + Gut Relationship

So now that we’ve talked a bit about the brain and gut and how they communicate, let’s talk a minute about stress. Your stress response is regulated by the HPA-axis (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis), which is something I’ll dive into in a later post. But this HPA-axis is what regulates stress in the body.

Under stress, your adrenals respond by releasing cortisol, as well as catecholamines (like adrenaline and noradrenaline). Cortisol helps to make glucose and free fatty acids more available to body (woo, more energy!) and also to direct blood flow away from digestion and towards muscles, limbs (so we can run away from any danger)and the brain.

Cortisol, in response to stress, is needed—it’s a good thing. However, with chronic stress, cortisol levels remain high in a way that it’s not meant to, which can negatively impact the body, including gut health.

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3 Ways Stress Hormones Mess Up Your Gut Health

1. It Can Increase Leaky Gut

Cortisol works by providing extra energy during times of stress. It does this by mobilizing glucose reserves (in other words accessing stores of glucose)—that way we have all the energy we need to run, if needed. (It’s that “fight-or-flight”.)

Chronic stress can actually cause hyper-permeability in the gut, meaning that large particles of undigested food pass through the tight junctions in the gut and end up in the bloodstream (where they’re not supposed to be). This can lead to digestive issues, but also to autoimmune issues. (source)

2. It Can Decreases Secretory igA

Secretory igA are the antibodies found in mucosal mucus, saliva and tears, and basically its job is to protect the body from pathogens. (source)  But psychological stress has the ability to decrease the production of secretory igA, and therefore increase the risk of pathogenic bacteria in the body. (source, source)

3. It Disrupts Good Gut Bacteria

Ever find yourself craving more sweets during times of stress?

Stress can actually reshape your gut microbiome composition, due to influence of stress hormones, leading to an increase in cravings for hyperpalatable foods. By doing this, it can cause certain bacteria to thrive (those that feed off refined carbs, for examples) and allow other, more beneficial bacteria to starve off. (source)

Stress can also cause an increase in inflammation and in pathogenic bacteria, meaning the bad bacteria overrule the good bacteria. (source)

Long-term this can lead to chronic issues like dysbiosis and leaky gut, both of which can cause digestive troubles and increase inflammation in the body. What this means, is that even you’re doing everything right and eating all the right foods, you may still struggle with digestive health if you’re not looking at your stress levels. Holy moly.

What To Do About It

• Manage Stress. Take an honest look at your stress levels. If nothing else is working for you, ask yourself if you have too much on your plate or need to make some healthy changes. Maybe that means finding a new job, working with a therapist or putting stress management practices into place.
• Reduce inflammation. Stress can also mean the foods you’re eating (like processed foods, refined sugar and industrial seed oils), the toxins in your household, smoking, alcohol. These can all be added stressors in your body. You might need to consider adding more anti-inflammatory foods into your meals, and addressing any underlying food intolerances or sensitivities.

If you’re looking for a place to start, be sure to check out my free Well-Fed Guide, which you can download below!

With love,