Does stress really affect digestion?
Does stress really affect digestion?
Anonim

Life hacker found out from gastroenterologist Anna Yurkevich why I don't feel like eating before exams and interviews.

Does stress really affect digestion?
Does stress really affect digestion?

Some people have a stomach ache from stress, someone just won't get a piece in their throat. Reactions vary, and we asked an expert why this is happening and how our belly is related to experiences.

What is stress? For some, this is a journey in the subway, for others - a flight by plane. In any case, the gastrointestinal tract will somehow react to excitement due to the action of the autonomic nervous system.

The autonomic nervous system is responsible for the work of internal organs, it functions autonomously and constantly. With the power of thought, we cannot influence the functioning of the intestines, stomach and other organs. Therefore, whether we like it or not, but in response to experiences, stress hormones are produced, such as adrenaline.

Under its influence, the muscles of the gastrointestinal tract relax, the motility slows down, the sphincters contract. Here is one of the explanations for the pain in the right hypochondrium after stress: in this area, the bile ducts with their sphincters are projected, which are sensitive not only to errors in nutrition, but also to stress.

As for the digestion itself, at the moment of stress, under the influence of all the same hormones, the "fight or flight" mode is activated. The main blood flow goes to the heart, brain, muscles, so that if something happens to have time to escape or to fight back. In such a situation, the gastrointestinal tract does not receive adequate blood supply, therefore, the digestion process slows down.

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