Managing stress is essential for feeling mentally and physically well. Stress can directly affect many body functions, including digestive processes that can lead to or prevent constipation.
Stress occurs when your body and brain react to a challenge. During this process, your body releases hormones (chemical signals), which can raise your blood pressure, blood sugar, and heart rate, among other functions.
While stress can be helpful, chronic (ongoing) stress can cause your body to slow other processes as it focuses its energy on the stress response. This can affect your immune response, digestion, sleep patterns, and moods and create physical symptoms like headaches.
Stress can cause or exacerbate constipation. Research shows that constipation is tied to stress, depression, and other mental health conditions. Children and adolescents may be particularly prone to stress-induced constipation.
Your body is covered in and contains a wide range of microbes, or tiny bacteria, viruses, and other organisms that control and affect how the body digests particles, responds to outside threats like illnesses, and more.
The gut microbiome refers to the microbes living inside your digestive system, which control immune, metabolic, and nervous system functions.
The gut microbiome affects digestion and processes in other organs, such as the brain. Disturbances in the gut microbiome can directly affect how you think, react, or process emotions. Similarly, certain activities in the brain, such as stress, can directly affect the gut, causing digestive symptoms and imbalances in the gut microbiome.
The gut and brain communicate through the enteric nervous system via the gut-brain connection. Stress, anxiety, or depression affects nerves that communicate to the gut, influencing gut sensitivity, pain, and motility. Changes in motility—movement of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract—can cause constipation.
The brain and gut communicate through a range of pathways in the body. These include:
- Neurons (nerve cells that send messages in the body) throughout the brain and GI tract
- The release of hormones
- The immune system
When stressed, your body releases hormones, such as cortisol, that can affect the gut microbiome and change its function. Stress also lowers levels of serotonin, which helps facilitate gut motility and regular bowel movements. Lower serotonin levels can disrupt this process, leading to constipation.
Ongoing stress can also affect the gut barrier and make your intestines more sensitive to bacteria. These bacteria can then affect your immune system and your gut neurons.
Hormones released during stress can reduce gut motility (the ability of GI muscles to move). Gut motility is how food and waste move through the GI tract and how bowel movements exit the body. Slowed gut movements can slow the movement of waste, causing constipation.
People living with GI disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), often need to reduce their stress to help manage symptoms.
Stress can lead to increased inflammation of the GI tract, which can worsen IBS and IBD symptoms, such as diarrhea or constipation.
Stress can affect the full range of your GI tract and cause your bowel movements to slow, increasing constipation. It’s important to manage your stress to keep your symptoms in check.
To improve your digestive health and alleviate constipation, finding manageable ways to lower your stress levels is important. Think about what causes you stress and develop habits to help you cope. Here are some stress-reduction methods:
- Prioritize your time and set a schedule to help alleviate your stress associated with work, school, or family responsibilities
- Practice meditation or deep breathing to help you focus and calm your nervous system, which is good for your stress and your digestive system
- Exercise to help get your digestive system moving and produce hormones to reduce your stress
- Eat nutritious foods, such as whole grains or fresh fruits and vegetables, which can help improve your mood and provide fiber to resolve constipation
- Spend time participating in hobbies you enjoy, talking with a friend, or doing something else that will make you feel happy or calm
- Sleep an adequate number of hours per night to support brain health and improve your mood
- Reduce your alcohol and drug intake, which can exacerbate stress and upset your digestive system
If you feel like you’re struggling, consider reaching out to a trusted loved one or a mental health provider to help you make a plan to manage your stress.
Healthcare and mental health providers can support you if you are struggling with stress, constipation, or both. Specialists called psychogastroenterologists address the physical and psychological aspects of diseases that affect the gut-brain connection.
If you aren’t connected to this type of specialist, you can also reach out to your primary care or mental health provider.
For Constipation
If you experience constipation with any of the following symptoms, contact your healthcare provider:
- Bleeding in your stool or from your rectum
- Persistent pain in your stomach or intestines
- Being unable to pass gas
- Vomiting
- Fever
- Lower back pain
- Unexplained or unintended weight loss
For Stress
Reach out to a healthcare or mental health provider if you experience severe stress for two weeks or more. Some severe symptoms might include:
- Not being able to sleep or having issues with sleeping
- Eating less or more than usual, causing weight changes
- Feeling like it’s emotionally hard to get out of bed in the morning
- Trouble concentrating, focusing, or maintaining interest in things
- Struggling with your daily activities
If you feel unable to manage your stress, are coping through drug or alcohol use, or experience thoughts of suicide, reach out to a healthcare or mental health professional right away.
The gut and brain communicate with each other in a range of ways in the body. Stress can directly affect how the GI tract moves waste and increase constipation.
Stress can also cause imbalances in the gut microbiome and increase inflammation in the gut, worsening symptoms of gastrointestinal disorders like IBS and IBD.
To reduce constipation and other gastrointestinal distress, it’s important to find ways to manage your stress and respond to emotional triggers.
