Lifestyle

Why is it important?
Obviously, what we put into our digestive system is crucial to its functioning, but external influences can have a significant effect, too. Stress can disrupt the gut, whilst insufficient sleep can negatively affect bowel function.

How to do it:

• De-stress:During stressful situations (such as exams or job interviews), adrenalin pumps around the body and speeds everything up including the rate at which food is passing through. A common result can be the dreaded 'nervous' diarrhoea. Try to minimise stress by making time to relax and factoring leisure pursuits into your weekly schedule. These can be very simple (going for a walk or a swim) or more luxurious - perhaps indulging in a regular massage or other treatment.

• Sleep well: The quality of your sleep can affect your bowel function, appetite, body weight and mental function. In general, adults need one hour asleep for every two awake, so aim for eight hours' sleep each night. Improve sleep by avoiding fatty foods, alcohol and caffeine prior to going to bed.

• Don't smoke: Apart from increasing the risk of any cancer, smoking is responsible for many changes in the digestive system. It contributes to common disorders such as heartburn and peptic ulcers, and also can increase the risk of Crohn's disease and gallstones. Try very hard to stop - ask your local pharmacy for advice on how to go about this.

• Go to the toilet: Make a habit of going first thing in the morning. Putting off going to the toilet can trigger constipation.
  
  
  

Did you know that ongoing stress can harm your digestive system? Here, gastroenterologist and psychotherapist Dr. Nick Read explains how - and shares tips on minimising stress:

Stress may be defined as the things that happen to us that make us feel unwell. Stressful life events are usually about loss or the fear of loss. Moving home, leaving a job, the breakdown of a relationship, the death of a friend or family member are among the most stressful life events we experience, but what we find stressful is highly individual and depends on our previous experience. It rekindles an emotional memory.

If we have IBS or a gut condition, we tend to feel what happens to us in our guts, with pain, wind, bloating and irregular bowels. This happens naturally without us thinking about it. Digestion and bowel function needs a relaxed emotional environment which favours the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system. Stress activates our alarm system, the sympathetic nerves, causing spasms, distension and altering absorption and secretion. If we recognise what is happening, we can put our gut feelings and gut reactions into context instantly and deal with them by turning them into emotions. Emotions encourage us to think and act and sort things out and if we can do that successfully, then the feelings vanish and we feel better.

But if too many things are happening at the same time, if what happens is so serious that we can't put it right or can't even think about it, if it rekindles a traumatic memory we thought was long buried, then the gut feelings and reactions will persist.

Whether we gets ill in response to what happens depends on what that situation means for us and our capacity for dealing with it. Our emotional capacity is largely determined early in life with the guidance of our parents. We not only need to learn how to deal with novel situations, we need sufficient space to practice. If we have not had sufficient training in coping with a range of situations, then novel situations are most likely to make us ill. But of course, even the most well adjusted of us, may respond to severely traumatic situations, such as divorce or abuse, by becoming ill.

How to do it:

• Lead a balanced life. Find a job that interests you and makes you feel valued, but don't make work your life. Try to instil a regular pattern or work, rest and play into your life, because if you can begin to regulate your life, then your will regulate your bowels as well. Take time off to relax, listen to music, read a book, meet friends for lunch, take a walk in the country. Buy a relaxation tape and give yourself time to listen to it.

• Do not shoulder the burden of everything. Try to delegate some of your responsibilities. If there are problems that you can't manage, talk about them. This will help you get them into perspective and create new opportunities to sort them out.

• Listen to your body. If you are exhausted, stressed out and barely coping, 'it is your body that keeps the score'. Your irritable gut is your alarm bell. Pay attention to it. Take a break.

• Try to find out what is making you and your bowels upset. It may be related to something that happened a long time ago that has been rekindled by recent events. If you can identify the underlying problem, then you are well on your way to finding a solution. Remember how everyday anxiety often domesticates a much bigger insecurity. Work out what you are really worried about.

• Do not let your illness rule your life. Get out and do things. Talk to your friends. Join in. Having IBS can make you feel very lonely. Family and friends may be very sympathetic at first, but they may lose patience if they feel that your illness is causing you to make excuses.