How Stress Affects Your Gut Health – And What You Can Do About It

If you're feeling bloated, foggy, fatigued, or constantly on edge, you're not alone — and you're not imagining things. For women in their 30s, 40s, and beyond, juggling work, family, hormones, and everything else life throws at you, stress is a silent disruptor. And one of the first places it shows up is in your digestion.

The Gut-Brain Connection: Why Your Gut Feels Stress

Your gut and brain are constantly talking via the gut-brain axis — a two-way communication system that includes your nervous system, immune system, hormones and microbiome. Think of it as a feedback loop. What happens in your mind impacts your gut, and what happens in your gut affects your mood, energy, and stress response.

When you're under chronic stress, your body prioritises survival over digestion. That means less stomach acid, less enzyme production, reduced blood flow to your digestive organs, and changes in gut motility. All of this can disrupt your microbiome and digestion, often leading to uncomfortable symptoms.

Stress-Induced Digestive Issues: What They Look Like

You might be surprised by how many gut symptoms are linked to stress. If you've noticed any of the following, your nervous system might be playing a bigger role than you think:

Bloating after meals

Constipation or loose stools

Acid reflux or indigestion

Food sensitivities that seem to come and go

Nausea, especially in the morning or before big events

Feeling full quickly or having no appetite

Symptoms worsening during times of high stress

 

These are all signs that your body is stuck in "fight or flight" and not getting the chance to rest and digest. The problem with stress is that we don't often recognise that we are in a constant state of low-grade stress. We can recognise larger stressful episodes and often think that only these episodes are true stress. It is the constant low-grade state of stress that we are in that impacts long-term gut health.

Stress and Gut Microbiome

The gut microbiome plays a vital role in everything from digestion and immunity to hormone balance and mental wellbeing. When you’re under ongoing stress, it can disrupt the diversity and balance of these gut microbes. This imbalance, known as dysbiosis, has been linked to digestive issues, increased inflammation, fatigue, and even mood changes like anxiety and brain fog.

Recent research shows that midlife women may be particularly vulnerable to these shifts due to hormonal changes during perimenopause and menopause. Lower oestrogen levels combined with high cortisol (your stress hormone) can compromise your gut barrier, slow down digestion, and reduce the abundance of beneficial bacteria. It’s a perfect storm for bloating, irregular bowel movements, and feeling “off” — even if all your blood tests look normal.

 

Why Stress Wreaks Havoc on Digestion

Here’s a closer look at how chronic stress impacts gut health:

Reduced stomach acid

Stress lowers your production of stomach acid (HCl), which is essential for breaking down food and killing off harmful pathogens. Without enough acid, food sits longer in the stomach, leading to bloating, gas, reflux, and nutrient malabsorption.

Slowed gut motility

Stress can either slow down or speed up the movement of food through your gut. Sluggish motility causes constipation, while hypermotility leads to loose stools or urgency. It also affects how well your body absorbs nutrients.

Microbiome disruption

Your gut bacteria are highly responsive to stress. Chronic stress reduces the diversity of your microbiome and can allow more opportunistic bacteria or yeast to thrive, throwing your gut ecosystem out of balance.

Weakened gut barrier

Stress increases intestinal permeability (aka "leaky gut"), allowing partially digested food, toxins and bacteria to enter the bloodstream. This can trigger inflammation, immune reactions, and more food sensitivities.

 

Getting off the Merry-go-round

Whilst stress can cause digestive disturbances, digestive disturbances can increase your reaction or perception of stress. Sometimes we can tell that it is stress driving our symptoms, because the symptoms worsen or present after times of stress. Alternatively, you might find your stress levels creeping up after you have had a period of poor digestive health. Either way, healing the gut and managing stress levels are the two pillars to supporting your health. You can't do one without the other.

 

Managing Stress for Digestion: 8 Strategies That Work

You don’t need to overhaul your life to see results. Small, consistent changes can make a real difference. Here’s what I recommend to clients in clinic:

Eat in a calm state

Sit down, take a few deep breaths before eating, and chew your food thoroughly. Avoid eating on the go or while multitasking. It helps your nervous system shift into "rest and digest" mode.

Balance your blood sugar

Skipping meals or living on coffee and carbs spikes cortisol, which worsens stress. Include protein, healthy fats and fibre in every meal to support balanced energy and a calm nervous system.

Bring in calming foods

Leafy greens: rich in magnesium, a natural relaxant

Fermented foods: like kefir, sauerkraut, yoghurt to support your microbiome

Bone broth: soothes the gut lining and supports repair

Chamomile or lemon balm tea: naturally calming and gut-soothing

 

Use your breath

Deep belly breathing, especially before meals or during stressful moments, activates your vagus nerve and supports digestion. Try 4-7-8 breathing or box breathing for a few minutes daily.

Move your body (gently)

Gentle movement like yoga, walking or stretching helps regulate your stress response and supports healthy gut motility. No need for high-intensity workouts if you're already feeling depleted.

Limit caffeine and alcohol

Both can irritate the gut lining and spike cortisol. If you're dealing with ongoing gut issues, try reducing or swapping for gentler options like matcha, herbal teas or adaptogenic drinks.

Support your microbiome

Include prebiotic foods (onions, garlic, leeks, asparagus, green bananas) and consider a high-quality probiotic that supports the gut-brain axis. Look for strains like Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG or Bifidobacterium longum.

Create a wind-down routine

Sleep is when your gut does most of its repair work. Aim for 7–8 hours of good-quality sleep with a consistent bedtime and calming habits (like reading, journaling, or herbal tea).

Try some stress-busting herbs

My favorite go-to herb for stress management is Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera). This ayurvedic herb helps our body to adapt to stress, rather than to just numb our response to stress. You want a supplement that contains around 400-600mg of active withanolides (this is the active ingredient), and to ensure you are getting a good quality supplement, look for registered extracts such as KSM-66 or Sensoril. Ashwagandha is best taken at night.

My other favourite herb for stress, especially in women, is Rhodiola Rosea. This Siberian herb has been clinically shown to reduce stress response and improve energy levels in women after 8 weeks. You need to take 400mg consistently, and I find this herb works best in the morning.

Want a combo - Rhodiola in the morning to keep you calm, but energised, and Ashwagandha at night to calm you down and promote a good night's sleep.

When to Seek Support

If you've tried the above and you're still dealing with bloating, irregular bowels, foggy thinking or fatigue, it might be time to dig deeper. Functional testing can help uncover underlying imbalances like gut dysbiosis, parasites, SIBO or HPA axis dysfunction.

Working with a practitioner (like me!) means you don’t have to guess. You get a personalised plan that supports both your gut and nervous system.

Final Thoughts

You can’t heal your gut while living in a constant state of stress. But the good news is, you have more power than you think. By supporting the gut-brain axis, calming your nervous system, and making small food and lifestyle tweaks, you can ease stress-induced digestive issues and get back to feeling like you again.

Because the truth is: a calm gut is a happy gut – and a happier you.