Understanding the links between IBS and stress
“You’ll notice,” says Kathy Somers of the University of Guelph Stress Management and High Performance Clinic (SMHPC) as she points to a handout, “that your heart rhythm is very similar to a healthy breathing pattern.”
To the roughly 20 attendees of the Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Stress talk hosted in the University Centre, this revelation seemed blatantly obvious, but only in retrospect, after Somers’ had explained the correlation between healthy breathing and a healthy heart.
We’re about half way through the seminar, and I can’t help but think how relevant the information is to those who experiences periods of high stress in their life – and presumably at a university, that includes everyone.
This seminar was the first of four seminars in a series that the SMHPC has set up for students and residents of Guelph alike.
“With over 100 million neurons, including a clump of 3 million neurons called the solar plexus, which is the largest group of nerves in our body outside of our brain, nicknamed the “little brain,” the GI tract is like a grand central station of nerves carrying our thoughts and emotions through the body,” reads one of a handful of handouts attendees received.
The theory that healing can come from the release of tensions in the body, particularly surrounding one’s stomach, is based somewhat off of bioenergetics – a branch of biology that theorizes that energy transformations and exchanges happen within and between living things and their environments.
In laymen’s terms, that tightness you get in your stomach when you experience high emotion or stress is your “little brain’s” physical reaction to an emotional trigger. When this happens, people tend to cramp up, feel discomfort in their gastrointestinal tract, and begin to breathe from their chest, as opposed to breathing “low and slow” from their stomach.
The first part of the lecture series focused on breathing techniques which involved breathing from the diaphragm in a comfortable and slow rhythm, working up to a count of four on the inhale and six on the exhale.
This “low and slow” breathing technique will lead to Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR), and will almost immediately begin to release tension in the abdomen, lower back, and hips. However, to get the full benefits of PMR, it is advised to practice “low and slow” breathing 15 minutes a day, twice a day, for a few weeks.
The following three seminars will be held weekly on Monday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and will cover diet, exercise, and autogenic training.
“Next week we’ll be talking about diet and things that release [stomach] constriction such as peppermint oil, and supplements. But there will also be talk about exercise – moving your body,” said Somers.
Coming seminars will also deal with more relaxation techniques for stress, and understanding how the nervous system responds to different environments.