How Stress and Anxiety Can Aggravate IBS Symptoms

The causes of IBS are not well-understood. But connections between your brain and your digestive system can play a role in your IBS symptoms.

With irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), your symptoms can affect your mood, and your mood can affect your symptoms.

In your body, messages travel between your digestive system and your brain. This multi-way communication system is known as the gut-brain axis.

Through the gut-brain axis, stressful or emotional situations can trigger changes in your gut. And it goes both ways — your gut can send signals to your brain that could affect your mental health.

For now, no definitive cure exists for IBS. It’s believed to have many causes that are outside of your control. However, by reducing stress and caring for your mental health, you may be able to lessen your IBS symptoms.

Together, the brain and the nerves that control your body are called the central nervous system. This system operates on internal controls that seemingly run on autopilot.

The central nervous system is divided into two parts: the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

The sympathetic nervous system is your “fight or flight” side. Stress and anxiety activate this system. They set off a chain reaction of hormone release that increases how fast your heart beats, pumps more blood to your muscles, and slows or even stops digestive processes in your stomach.

The parasympathetic system is known as the “rest and digest” system. It controls body functions like urination, defecation, digestion, tear production, and saliva production — in short, many of the functions your body does in the course of daily life.

The sympathetic and parasympathetic systems usually work in tandem. Stress is part of your body’s response to danger. After the perceived danger passes, the body turns down the stress response to restore balance. However, with long-term stress, your body no longer returns to a balanced state.

If the behind-the-scenes work of your central nervous system gets out of sync, this can cause your digestive system to become underactive or overactive, which can contribute to digestive symptoms.

Your gut also sends signals to your brain. Researchers believe that this messaging could affect your mood and your digestion. The gut microbiome appears to play an especially important role here.

According to a 2021 review , intestinal bacteria in your gut communicate with both your brain and your digestive system. When the signals between bacteria, brain, and gut fall out of balance, your emotions, sensations, and digestive functions can all be affected.