Understanding the Link Between Stress and Digestive Problems: Tips for Managing Both
Do you ever find yourself feeling a knot in your stomach during stressful times? Or notice that your digestive system seems out of sorts when you’re under pressure? If so, you’re not alone. The intricate connection between stress and digestive issues is more than just a coincidence—it’s a well-established reality backed by scientific research. Welcome to Tao to Wellness, where we unravel the mysteries of the stress-digestive connection and provide you with practical tips for managing both aspects of your health. 1. Stress-Digestive Connection: Exploring the Gut-Brain Axis The relationship between stress and digestive problems is often attributed to the gut-brain axis—a complex communication network between the brain and the gastrointestinal system. When you experience stress, your brain releases hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which can disrupt the normal functioning of your digestive system. This disruption can lead to a range of gastrointestinal issues, including bloating, cramps, diarrhea, or constipation. Furthermore, stress can alter the composition of the gut microbiota, the community of microorganisms living in your digestive tract. An imbalance in gut bacteria can contribute to inflammation and compromise digestive health, exacerbating existing conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). 2. Digestive Health Management: Prioritizing Gut Wellness To effectively manage digestive issues, it’s crucial to prioritize gut health. Start by incorporating fiberrich foods, probiotics, and prebiotics into your diet to promote a diverse and healthy microbiome. Additionally, staying hydrated and avoiding trigger foods like spicy or greasy items can help prevent discomfort and inflammation. Regular exercise is another key component of digestive health management. Physical activity not only reduces stress but also promotes healthy digestion by stimulating bowel movements and improving gut motility. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week to reap the benefits for your digestive system. 3. Stress Reduction Techniques: Finding Your Zen Managing stress is essential for both your mental well-being and digestive health. Incorporate stress reduction techniques into your daily routine to help calm your mind and ease tension in your body. Practice mindfulness meditation, deep breathing exercises, or progressive muscle relaxation to promote relaxation and alleviate stress-related symptoms. Engaging in hobbies and activities you enjoy can also serve as effective stress relievers. Whether it’s painting, gardening, or listening to music, carving out time for self-care can significantly impact your overall stress levels and, consequently, your digestive health. 4. The Gut-Brain Connection: Nurturing Mental Wellness In addition to managing stress, nurturing your mental health is essential for restoring balance to the gut-brain axis. Seek support from friends, family, or a mental health professional if you’re struggling with chronic stress or anxiety. Talking about your feelings and emotions can provide perspective and help alleviate psychological stressors that may be impacting your digestive system. Incorporating relaxation techniques like yoga or tai chi into your routine can also promote mental well-being while simultaneously benefiting your digestive health. These mind-body practices focus on breath awareness, gentle movement, and mindfulness, fostering a sense of calm and tranquility that can positively influence the gut-brain axis. 5. Coping with Digestive Issues: Seeking Professional Guidance If you’re experiencing persistent or severe digestive problems, don’t hesitate to seek professional guidance. Whether it be a Chinese or Western medicine doctor, both can assist in assessing your symptoms, performing diagnostic tests, and developing a personalized treatment plan tailored to your needs. By utilizing both medicines, we can treat the whole body which will create total healing on all levels. In conclusion, the link between stress and digestive problems is undeniable, but it’s not insurmountable. By understanding the gut-brain axis and implementing strategies to manage stress and support digestive health, you can take proactive steps towards achieving overall wellness. Remember to prioritize self-care, seek professional guidance when needed, and be kind to yourself as you navigate the complexities of stress and digestion. Your journey to optimal health starts with a balanced mind and a happy gut. At Tao to Wellness, we’re here to support you every step of the way on your path to well-being. Stay tuned for more insightful tips, resources, and guidance to help you live your best life, inside and out.
The Joy and Necessity of Travel
The Joy and Necessity of Travel Travel is healing, travel is about exploring new places but also ourselves, travel is the best way to shake things up when things are stale or stressed. I recently just got back from Italy, namely Rome, Tuscany and Positano. My first time to Italy and my first BIG trip in about a year and half! Italy is well, Italy! Warm, friendly, a food lover’s paradise, a wine lover’s dream and a cultural mecca to say the least. Here are four amazing reasons to travel that you might not have considered before… Expands our awareness and minds… This goes without saying I think… but people live very differently then we do here in the States. I have such a curiosity around that and love seeing how things are done elsewhere. While visiting Tuscany we were so lucky to book an excursion with a large family just outside of Florence. In their villa and 20 acres, they make olive oil, red wine and hunt for truffles. The grandfather and grandson took us hunting for truffles up the hill with their dog Fifi (the grandfather has been a licensed truffle hunter for 50 years), while the matriarchs (mother and grandmother) of the family prepared our lunch which was beyond delicious! The father gave us a tour of their very tiny wine and olive oil operation- tiny in the way of the mass production giants you find in Napa. It was lovely and they were lovely, it was interesting to witness how they interacted with each other and you can feel the history of land under your feet. Invites us to get lost for a second and face the unknown… I arrived in Rome alone and would be for three days. I have traveled alone before, but it’s been a very long time. I have to admit, I was nervous. I don’t speak but two or three words of Italian and had no real set plans but to wander. I realize that energy could also be called Excitement, it’s the same frequency! I took on my three days as an adventure and had an amazing time—clocking in Rome with about 60,000 steps or 30 miles. I witnessed, I people watched a ton, I learned, I conquered and by the time the rest of the crew arrived, I knew my way around town pretty good! Gives us time to heal, de-stress and regain enthusiasm for life… One of the people in my travel crew is having a huge breakthrough in his life because of this trip… he’s noticing things that don’t make sense about his life and since he’s been home is ready for big and exciting change! Travel takes you outside of yourself, outside of your life for just a blip of time so you can see clearly again. And inside of that, new ideas and new awareness occur. It helps our Flow in life… We tend to do the same things every day, we drive the same route to work, we grab our morning coffee at the same place, we even wear our watch on the same wrist or put our shoes on in the same order. For the most part, we are so routine. Travel puts a big stop sign on most of those things. Travel shakes things up. Travel interrupts the brain, stokes curiosity and awakens our inner child. Travel helps the flow in our body and in our life and can also break habits that don’t serve us any longer. Travel is a necessity and even if you don’t have the money or time to travel internationally, jump in the car and take a road trip or explore a different neighborhood you’ve never been to, get out of the normal, routine of life just for a second and give yourself a priceless gift that keeps giving.
Unintentional Meditation: You’re Already Engaged!
Accidental Meditation: You are already doing it! Beginning a new year always brings a desire for change & creating ourselves anew. Exercising, eating well and putting down old habits usually always top the list of New Year’s Resolutions. Beginning a meditation practice is often on those long list of new habits we would love to adopt. It’s typically one of the last practices that we get to due to our busy lifestyles and a very common theme of just not having enough time. Great news! You will be pleased to know that you may already have a strong meditation practice in place. You know that feeling when you are taking a shower, and the warm water pours over your body, and you forget what you were rushing to get ready for? Time disappears for a moment, and when you step out of the shower you snap out of it. Maybe you’ve driven down a long empty road with no traffic, and suddenly you’ve hit the next town. This feeling of time lapsing and your thoughts flowing freely happens all the time: on walks or runs, in the moments before you fall asleep, when you are staring out a bus window, or daydreaming in a waiting room. When accidental meditations happen, the left brain is occupied with a repetitive task that’s familiar enough that it doesn’t require a full engagement. Showering, walking, or figuring out where to put your foot in a yoga class can give your analytical left brain something to do, which frees up the right brain to have a physical, present-moment experience. Even forms of classical meditation, like repeating a mantra over and over in your mind, are essentially techniques for occupying your left brain so that you can slip into a different state. Much love, Amanda Amanda Self wears a variety of hats at Tao To Wellness. From Social Media to Medical Billing, she brings healing energy to all that she touches. Amanda is a Reiki Master, a jeweler and is currently studying Herbalism, both in the classroom and out in the fields.
Self-Care in Times of Stress ~ Deanna Tasi
Self-Care in Times of Stress ~ Deanna Tasi We all go through periods of intense stress in our lives. How we approach these stresses makes all the difference in how we move through them. For many people, it is easy to become overwhelmed by these experiences and lose sight of our individual needs. During times of intense stress, it becomes even more important to keep self-care at the forefront. Here’s five ways to help manage your self-care in times of stress: Go for a walk or hike. Getting outside into fresh air, allowing your eyes to relax on the horizon, and moving your body, are all good ways to lower your stress level. If your work involves sitting in front of a computer, it’s even more important to take breaks throughout your day to move around. Walking not only improve your circulation and mood, but allowing your eyes to gaze along the horizon gives the tiny muscles in your eyes a chance to rest and relax, which can also help relieve neck tension and headaches. Eat more vegetables. It’s easy when we’re crunched for time to start eating on the run, often this looks like packaged / premade foods. When our body is under stress we burn through the vitamins we consume at a faster rate. In Chinese medicine each of the emotions is said to effect different organs of the body. Stress that includes frustration and aggravation impacts the liver’s ability to function well. One of the main duties of the liver is to keep all of the “qi” (or energy) moving smoothly through out the body. When the liver’s energy gets stuck, we feel irritable, impatient, and tension in our body, especially the neck and shoulders. One way to help the liver smooth the flow of the qi in the body is to consume move green vegetables, such as broccoli and dark-leafy greens. Pesto is another amazing food, packed with delicious, aromatic greens that help stimulate your immune systems and circulation. Make sure you are drinking enough water. Signs of dehydration can include headaches, fatigue, constipation, muscle cramps, dry skin, and irritability. Drink a glass of water in the morning upon waking, whenever you are thirsty, and during intense workouts. If you’re under more stress than usual, you may need to drink more water too. If you feel agitated at the end of your day, drink a couple of glasses of water, especially if know you neglected to during the day. Get an adequate amount of sleep, at minimum. Some people require even more sleep during times of stress. When we are well rested, we think more clearly, our memory works much better, and our response to external stresses is less reactive and more grounded. We are much more likely to keep an optimistic outlook on life’s challenges with a good night’s sleep under our belt. It’s best to be asleep by 11p at the latest, this allows your body to be in it’s deepest sleep from 1-3a at night, when our liver is at it’s most active. Part of the liver’s function is to clean out waste from our blood, including stress hormones that we may have generated the day before. A good night sleep can make a world of difference on how we see the world the next day. Schedule regular acupuncture treatments. With all of the known adverse effects of long-term stress on our health, it’s good to know that acupuncture is incredible for helping to reduce stress. It’s a reset button unlike anything else. With moderate to high stress, once a week is very helpful. During times of intense stress, treatments every three to four days can make a huge difference. When you feel more relaxed, you’ll make better decisions and the people close to you will benefit from your happiness. In Health, Deanna Tasi L.Ac. Tao to Wellness 809 Hearst Ave Berkeley, CA 94710
Woods…more than just beauty…A powerful stress buster! (Berkeley-Acupuncture)
Woods…more than just beauty…A powerful stress buster! Stress, stress, stress…… We are surrounded by it. Most of us are so used to it that we no longer realize how stressed out and anxious we really are. Sadly it’s become a way of life. We been conditioned to think that we must always be in constant motion, always on the go, always looking for the next thing to do. We walk around with little computers in our pockets, looking at them constantly, all day long, to make sure we are up to speed to with what everyone is doing on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, email, text, Instagram, you tube….the list goes on and on. How often do you look to these sources when you want to relax? What is the answer to reducing all this stress? One of best ways to wind down and reconnect after a stressful day is by taking a walk. Though any walking is good, walking in the woods or in nature has been proven to be even better at reducing stress and improving your health. Research out of Japan shows that walking in the woods also may play a role in fighting cancer. Plants emit a chemical called phytoncides that protects them from rotting and insects. When people breathe it in, there is an increase in the level of “natural killer” cells, which are part of a person’s immune response to cancer. When we walk in a forest or park, our levels of white blood cells increase and it also lowers our pulse rate, blood pressure and level of the stress hormone cortisol. If you want to wind down, stay away from electronic screens as they activate the mind. Electronic devices stimulate brain activity and someone’s post on Facebook or a story on the evening news might cause more stress. Reading, yoga, deep breathing and of course acupuncture are all excellent ways to calm your mind and reduce your stress levels. Life is too short to spend it stressed out. Laugh! Play! Love! Much Love, Amanda Amanda Self wears a variety of hats at Tao To Wellness. From Social Media to Medical Billing, she brings healing energy to all that she touches. Amanda is a Reiki Master, a jeweler and is currently studying Herbalism, both in the classroom and out in the fields.
