Are you constantly doing all the things and still feeling wired, tired, and on edge? You’re not alone.
Chronic stress has a way of sneaking up on all of us with deadlines, full calendars, and never-ending to-do lists. It doesn't take long for overwhelm to kick in and you’re stuck in the negative cycle of pushing yourself to do more and not making time to support your body with what it needs.
Stress also tends to be the supervillain of our adult lives, zapping our energy, wearing us down, and constantly reminding us of how off our body feels.
Beneath the surface, stress is also doing a number on our gut health. When stress manifests in the body that can look like:
- Fatigue
- Irritability
- Bloating
- Trouble Sleeping
- Fierce cravings
Does any of this sound familiar at all?
If it feels like the stress cycle in your life is never-ending, keep reading because we’ll be talking more about how burnout impacts your gut health and a simplified way to keep it all under control.
What Is Stress?
Look, burnout can get the better of any of us - at any time. But that tense, tightly wound feeling in your body is not something that can easily be driven away with just a few deep breaths and positive thoughts. Those things can help, but there’s more to it!
Medical researcher Hans Selye coined the term ‘stress’ in 1936. He said, “Stress is the nonspecific response of the body to any demand…”. Simply put, stress is your body's natural response to demand [1] .
Sometimes that demand is physical, and sometimes it’s emotional. Either way, it’s how your body perceives and reacts to that demand that matters the most.
When the demand begins to weigh heavily on your body, your stress levels start to affect your adrenals, cortisol levels, and gut health.
Good Stress vs. Bad Stress
Did you know, there are two kinds of stress? Good stress and bad stress - yes, there actually is such a thing as good stress!
The good kind keeps us motivated, excited, and feeling accomplished. To you, it might be the feeling you experience after a challenging workout, the thrill of meeting a deadline, or even the excitement you experience trying something new that gets your heart pumping.
That’s because our bodies are built for good stress. Good stress comes to us in short bursts and leaves us feeling invigorated and encouraged.
The bad kind? Not the same, by a long shot. Bad stress lasts all day, every day (aka chronic), and our bodies are constantly sending signals alerting us that we need to get things back under control…
What if we told you that the solution to reducing stress didn’t have to involve restrictive diets, workouts, or guidelines on how to live? We know you don’t need to add to the fatigue you’re already feeling by building a new wellness routine into your life. What if the solution to managing stress is hidden in supporting your gut health?
How Your Gut Microbiome Handles Stress & Cortisol Levels
When chronic, ongoing stress begins to creep into your life, it can shift your gut bacteria in multiple regions [2].
Once that happens, it forms this reaction:
- Cortisol is released
- Excessive cortisol levels can cause inflammation
- Cortisol levels push your body into dysbiosis (an imbalance in your microbiome)
- Your body has less energy for digestion
- Less digestion = fewer nutrients absorbed and decreased enzyme production
Yep - burnout causes inflammation in the gut, affecting your microbiome and creating an imbalance of gut bacteria, disrupting your entire ecosystem of microbes.
How does this happen? Stress levels negatively impact digestion because they pull your body's energy away from absorbing all the good stuff (enzymes and nutrients) while slowing your metabolism. Stress is the gift that keeps on giving, that nobody asked for - return to sender, please!
Unlocking the Power of Enzymes: Read the Blog
Can Stress Wipe Out Your Gut Flora?
When gut microbiome shifts occur due to stress, it can affect your gut flora - the microorganisms that make up your gut microbiome.
The microorganisms in your gut flora are responsible for digestion, immunity regulation, vitamin production, and metabolic health. A pretty big deal when it comes to balancing your gut health.
The cortisol levels released in your gut can wipe out your gut flora. The goal when maintaining gut health is to have well-balanced gut flora, which will help you steer clear of dysbiosis (remember this guy?) and provide your body with the support it needs to do more than just ‘survive’ during times of burnout.
Stress, Gut Health, Cortisol Levels, and Adrenal Fatigue - Oh My!
Now, not only are you stressed out, but your body has lost its ability to digest properly, and your gut floral has been wiped out.
So where does that leave you? Adrenal fatigue. Have you heard of it? It’s when prolonged stress begins to impact your adrenal glands - these glands that have a cozy home right on top of each of your kidneys.
When adrenal fatigue hits, your adrenal glands need a little extra support to help prop them up and claim victory.
Here’s what your adrenals are looking for: Vitamin C, Potassium, Zinc, and B-Vitamins. All of these good-for-you vitamins and minerals support gut health and your adrenal glands when you’re feeling burnout.
But your adrenals have another request. They want those good-for-you vitamins in their natural state, not in pill form.
The best part is that you can find every one of those vitamins and minerals in our delicious, fermented foods.
OMP has 40+ varieties of ferments, just for that reason - explore the collections.
All these tasty ferments pack a punch with probiotics, supporting your microbiome and adrenal fatigue with every crunchy, flavor-filled bite!
Your Gut Matters More Than You Think
If adrenal fatigue and a disrupted microbiome weren’t enough to consider when reducing stress, there's another element to add into the mix: your brain.
Like a best friend whose text messages you never ignore, your gut is constantly talking to your brain. It’s known as the gut-brain axis. A two-way street in your body, which runs along the vagus nerve - the longest nerve in your body.
Read More: The Gut-Brain Axis - the ultimate text thread happening in your body.
Those text messages and conversations happening between your gut and your brain are constantly ongoing, and the chatter never dies down.
That’s because your gut has all kinds of juicy gossip to share with your brain, including this... Did you know that over 90% of Serotonin is made in your gut? [3]
Serotonin is one of the most heavy-duty chemical messengers. It has major work to do as a hormone in the gut with a non-stop flight to your mood, sleep hygiene, and anxiety levels.
You can only imagine the number of notifications going off in the chat between your gut and your brain when stress levels are at an all-time high and Serotonin production has slowed.
When your gut’s out of balance, stress hits harder and sticks around longer. However, you can silence the notifications in the gut-brain axis chat by adding fermented foods like pickles, olives, and kimchi to your plate every day. Eating your way to a healthier gut and launching a counterattack when burnout hits.
Stress and Digestion: How Gut Health Reduces Stress
Now that you know more about the connection between your gut health and stress levels, adrenal fatigue, and the distribution happening in your microbiome, let’s talk about how you can avoid burnout.
Having more diverse microbes in your gut will send the right signal to your brain, because when your gut’s happy, your brain gets the memo! And the best way to diversify your microbiome? Probiotic-rich, fermented vegetables for the win!
How Fermented Foods Help You De-Stress
You don’t need a shelf full of supplements or a workout that runs your body ragged.
Read the blog: Real Food > Pills, probiotic foods vs. supplements
What your gut needs to help reduce stress is fermented foods. Adding some fermented pickles and sauerkraut to your daily diet can help restore your microbiome, making your body more resilient and better able to handle stress.
They’re full of probiotics, enzymes, vitamins and minerals that help your body thrive and feel its best. Here’s a few ways they can keep you from reaching burnout:
- Probiotics to rebalance the gut and aid the immune system
- Enzymes that improve digestion (less energy on digestion = more energy for you)
- B & C Vitamins to support adrenal function
Every bite you take is hard at work, creating a more diverse microbiome in your gut, lowering cortisol levels, and reducing stress and anxiety.
Fermented foods also give you a boost with butyrate (a fatty acid in the gut), helping you calm the inflammation going on in your gut microbiome thanks to those high cortisol levels.
Read the Blog: Learn More about Butyrate & The Best Fiber for Gut Health
Easy, Gut-Friendly Ways to Reduce Stress
At OMP, we believe that small changes can equal big wins when it comes to supporting gut health. You can combat cortisol levels, support your microbiome, and allow your flora to flourish through small, easy steps that fit into your life.
Here’s five easy, gut-friendly ways to reduce stress levels:
- Eat a serving of ferments 3x a day. This can be as simple as a shot of LiveBrine in the morning, a few olives for an afternoon snack, and a forkful of sauerkraut with dinner!
- Breathe deeply before meals to help activate digestion.
- Eat fat, fiber, and ferments at each meal (the gut health trifecta).
- Cut down on gut villains like sugar, ultra-processed food, and alcohol.
- Take a short walk after meals to improve digestion and clear cortisol levels.
Real Stress Relief Starts in the Gut
Managing burnout might feel impossible - especially when you’re running on empty. You don't have to incorporate a whole new wellness routine to see progress - we’re giving you full permission right now to start small.
Your gut is a powerful tool for managing stress, and taking care of it through small daily habits can keep you from experiencing adrenal fatigue, dysbiosis, and a disrupted microbiome. We’ve heard it time and time again from our customers, eating ferments daily has changed their life!
Start taking small steps today to support your gut health with fermented foods! It’s easier to do than you think and can make a big difference in how your body handles stress.
References
- Ramanathan R, Desrouleaux R. Introduction: The Science of Stress. Yale J Biol Med. 2022 Mar 31;95(1):1–2. PMCID: PMC8961711. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8961711/
- Madison A, Kiecolt-Glaser JK. Stress, depression, diet, and the gut microbiota: human-bacteria interactions at the core of psychoneuroimmunology and nutrition. Curr Opin Behav Sci. 2019 Aug;28:105-110. doi: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.01.011. Epub 2019 Mar 25. PMID: 32395568; PMCID: PMC7213601. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7213601/
- Appleton J. (2018). The Gut-Brain Axis: Influence of Microbiota on Mood and Mental Health. Integrative medicine (Encinitas, Calif.), 17(4), 28–32. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6469458/
DISCLAIMER: THIS WEBSITE DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE
The content on this website is for informational or educational purposes only and does not substitute professional medical advice or consultations with healthcare professionals. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider(s) with any questions you have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen.
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