STRESS AND DIGESTION

T

he importance of keeping a healthy digestive system is paramount when maintaining our health. The problem is we are often too busy to allow our systems to function correctly: we don't take the time to eat our meals in a relaxed manner away from screens and other stimulations, we have irregular mealtimes and many often skip meals altogether. These bad habits are equally as important as the food that we eat when encouraging our digestive function!

When we are stimulated or stressed its our sympathetic nervous system that kicks in and enables us to 'deal' with things. When we eat, we need our parasympathetic nervous system to switch on to allow our digestive function to operate efficiently. Any distraction, stimulation or stress will turn this off and activate your sympathetic nervous system, leaving your digestion bereft of positive guidance.

So if you're health conscious and have a 'good' diet, please consider your environment and make some decisions to engage with your food: regular meals, allowing 15 minutes to eat away from your daily routine. Yes that means NO screens.... You can do it!