The stress hormone- cortisol plays a pivotal role when anxiety hits you. It contributes positively to all varied kinds of discomforts that you experience, including stomach-related discomfort. Basically, anxiety does not restrict itself to your mind. It triggers a sort of chain reaction, activating all kinds of unpleasant feelings. It includes nauseating sensations, stomach-churning experiences, and much more.
But cortisol is essential for human beings to survive, so how does this worsen your experience with anxiety? In simple terms, overproduction of cortisol is the real issue, and here we explore the role it plays.
Understanding Basics About Cortisol
Cortisol is commonly associated with regulating stress, thereby dictating the body’s fight-or-flight response in stressful situations. This hormone is produced by the adrenal glands. It plays a critical role in a range of common bodily functions, including regulation of blood sugar levels, metabolism, inflammation, blood pressure, and immune response.
Cortisol is also responsible for detecting when the body is experiencing stress, and in such situations, there is an overproduction of this hormone, which is essential for the body to handle stressful situations.
In these conditions, cortisol provides the body with a surge of energy. However, in cases where it is overproduced by the body for a prolonged period, a person can suffer from its extensive side effects, which impact a lot of organs and bodily functions, most critically, the stomach and the digestive system.
Role Of Cortisol In Anxiety-Induced Stomach Distress
When a person is experiencing anxiety, their brain gets the signal that there is a threat present. This threat is not always real, but the signal leads the body to believe that there is a challenge that needs to be dealt with. This is when cortisol is released.
It is, thus, the body’s natural response to stress and stressful situations. As far as its impact on the stomach is concerned, elevated cortisol typically only has a negative effect on the stomach when it is overly released for a long period of time. In such cases, cortisol can impact the stomach in numerous ways, including the following:
Disrupting Digestive Ability
The most prominent impact of elevated cortisol on the stomach is that it negatively impacts the digestive system, spoiling the efficiency of the gut to digest food.
This happens because cortisol causes all the energy in the body to be redirected for dealing with stressful situations and focus on the really essential functions. As such, the digestive processes get disturbed, which causes issues like indigestion, general discomfort, and bloating.
Spoiling The Stomach Lining
Another grave negative impact that high cortisol levels can have on the stomach is weakening the stomach’s internal lining. Cortisol can make the lining in the stomach increasingly permeable, which in turn leads to a condition known as ‘leaky gut’.
This hampers the body by allowing toxins to escape from the stomach, preventing them from being filtered out of the body, and instead, enables them to enter the bloodstream. This leads to severe complications like inflammation, as well as worsening the discomfort that is already being experienced.
Increasing Acid In Stomach
Yet another common side effect of cortisol on stomach discomfort caused by anxiety is that elevated levels of cortisol in the body, especially for prolonged periods, can trigger the overproduction of stomach acid. Stomach acid is needed for digestive processes. However, its amount is very regulated in the body.
If the acid in the stomach is excessive, it leads to discomfort and challenges such as heartburn as well as acid reflux. The trickiest part about this is that the issues caused by increased levels of acid, in turn, amplify anxiety-related distress.
How To Manage Cortisol To Minimize Stomach Distress
One positive that can be derived from all this is that cortisol-related stomach distress can be effectively managed. How? It involves including some lifestyle changes that can be helpful for reducing stress. Practices such as stress reducing exercises and use of targeted products that can help in managing stress can be helpful.
Additionally, try to identify what causes stress, and try to steer away from activities which are stressful for you. By reducing stress caused by increased cortisol levels, you can manage the health of your stomach.
Stress management techniques such as controlled breathing exercises and taking deep breaths is one way to reduce stress which is extremely beneficial. Another very helpful technique is meditation and mindfulness practices. Starting with just ten minutes of meditation in a day can help you see significant reduction in your stress levels.
Get Guided Assistance
Do you need more help than home remedies to manage your stress levels that are elevated due to high cortisol? If the answer is yes, then connect with our compassionate seasoned team of experts at Mindspa Psychiatry. We offer comprehensive mental health care services through telemed solutions, ensuring that you receive the help and assistance you need, from the comfort of your home.
Our experts bring long-standing experience, and we offer our services across Florida, so, even if you are not in Boynton Beach, our services will not be away from you. But if you are in this region, you can have a complete patient experience and receive the best personal care from us. What’s more, our services are available to everyone alike, even if you do not have insurance. Our cost-effective services make mental health care affordable for all.
Conclusion
Anxiety causes a whole bunch of associated challenges, which are experienced in physical forms, such as stomach discomfort. The release of stress hormones such as cortisol further exacerbates the issue, which in turn leads to a continuous cycle of stress, discomfort, body’s response, and a reaction of more stress.
To break this cycle, it is essential to include stress-reducing strategies and techniques into your routine, which can help prevent the overproduction of cortisol, thereby minimizing the ill effects that it has on bodily functions, including your stomach. Seeking professional help can further help in managing the condition better and handling stomach-related issues effectively.
