Sounds pretty silly to think that our stress level and our brain activity are connected to the gut health we nurture for years. There is a vast research in the area of gut flora that proves the communication between our gut and brain. And such communication affects our mood, our stress level, and at the end, our well-being.
The bacteria that reside in our gut determine the power of our immune system and its reaction to the internal and external pathogens. Stress and the gut health are in direct correlation, hence everyone of us should be aware and do something effective about it.
I’ve invited Heather Anne Wise to share her journey to better health and her knowledge about gut health in women. It’s a fascinating subject to me. I do trust you will find this post not only interesting to read, rather significant for you to evaluate your gut flora health.
Stress And Gut Health Connection
At the end of a long day when you’re feeling worn out, do you crave a sweet snack or drink after work? Do your cravings for sweets or junk food multiply when you are in emotional turmoil or just plain stressed out?

This could be due to a number of reasons, but recent research included in my latest book, A Gut Feeling, suggests that chronic stress is largely linked to the microbes within our gut.
Our gut microbiome is the ecosystem of bacteria and fungi that makes up our immune system, breaks down our food, absorbs nutrients, and harvests neurotransmitters to protect against depression and anxiety among many other essential function.
This microbiome requires a balance of beneficial, neutral, and pathogenic flora.
When these three different types of flora aren’t in the right ratio this can lead to high cortisol levels, inflammatory conditions, weight gain, joint pain, and even chronic fatigue syndrome.
Yet, it wasn’t just experiencing many of these symptoms that clued me into the fact that something was wrong. For me, it was my insistent sweet tooth that uncovered the imbalance in my gut flora.
Stressed Gut Calls For More Sweets In Your Life
The composition of microbiota in our gut communicates directly with our brain both by building neurotransmitters like GABA and Serotonin (the calm chemicals) and by sending 90% of the messages in vagus nerve, the primary line of communication from our body to our brain.
But there’s actually a feedback loop going both ways. Our experienced and perceived stress also directly affects the health of our microbiome by altering the pH of our gut and making it more habitable for pathogenic flora to grow unencumbered.
One of the most common strains of pathogenic overgrowth is Candida Albicans. This microbe is predicted to affect more than 70% of the U.S. population, according to molecular biologists at Rice University. Candida is a member of the yeast family, so if you’ve ever baked bread you know what yeast loves to eat. Sugar.

Candida is not the only pathogenic microbe that likes sugar. Many strains of unhealthy bacteria overgrowth (which can lead to “Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth” or SIBO) love refined carbohydrates.
These simple carbs quickly and easily convert to glucose, a.k.a sugar, in our digestive tract. As a result many of the species of unhealthy flora in our bodies live off of excess glucose floating around that our bodies don’t readily need. Meanwhile, the majority of the healthy species within our gut lives off excess fiber from plant-foods in our diet.
How To Improve Your Gut Bacteria And Reduce Stress
One popular definition of the microbiome is the entire collection of genes found in our body.
While we inherit roughly 20,000 genes from our parents, we will acquire well over 3 million genes from our environment — the bacteria and other microbes we come into contact with. This means that 99.9% of our genes actually come from everything we touch, eat, and breathe into our bodies.
Your microbiome is as unique as a fingerprint to you.
But unlike a fingerprint, your microbiome is constantly changing in reaction to everything we come into contact with — food, medications, plants, people, pets — you name it. It all affects the composition of your microbiome.
This is why it’s so important we eat, drink, and get down and dirty with more of the things our beneficial flora love! Namely, any organically grown plants, foods, and dirt we may come into contact with.
We can also take measures to introduce more friendly bacteria and microbes by taking a daily probiotic supplement or prebiotic green drink like Green Vibrance. (affiliate)

Fermented foods like organic yogurt, raw, unpasteurized sauerkraut, kimchi, and kombucha are another great way to get more living strains of beneficial flora. Herbal and regular tea, and even coffee also all contain a ton of plant-based prebiotics.
NB: Prebiotics is basically food that feeds your good gut flora! Fiber is a great prebiotic found in raw vegetables.
Our gut microbiome is like our own mini ecosystem. Just like with any habitat, the more diverse the species, the greater its health. So the next time the doctor says, “it’s just stress,” you’ll know what to do.
If you doubt the connection between your mood, stress level and your gut, check out Heather’s book HERE.
46 thoughts on “Stress And Gut Health In Women Are Intricately Connected!”
Very onteresting post. Explains a lot since I have been really suffering from stress lately.
Wow, this is such a great read! Very informative indeed! I have no idea that they’re interconnected, now I know.
Ohhh I had no idea. I do suffer from stress and have faced similar problems in yje past. Never thought they might be connected.
Thanks for the advice and tips about stress and our guts. I didn’t know a stressed-out gut would want more sweets. I have learned a lot from this post!
OH wow this blog post is really very useful and helpful especially for me…well i haven’t any idea that these both are connected like it’s amazing to know more about..seriously thanks a lot for sharing such valuable information…
Health is really important to us and I am so much much concerned about it now that I used to be. Thank you for sharing this
Stress can affect every part of our body. My older daughter always comes up with GI symptoms when she is stressed. It’s amazing to see how the human body works and we need to care for all its parts.
True, Marjie,
Our cells are connected and communicating with each other. Or can stop this communication to cause a rebellion.
It’s really a need to take good care of your gut health, and to avoid being stressed. This is a nice post that reminds us of taking care of ourselves, I’m glad you shared these with us, thank you!
I can 100% believe that gut health has an impact in so many ways in our life. I definitely crave sweets more when I am stressed and gravitate towards something sugary (that in the end doesn’t even help ) I’ll have to try some of these tips!
Ashley,
What’s more impressive is that our gut communicates directly with our brain by building neurotransmitters like GABA and Serotonin (the calm chemicals).
Having a balanced gut flora can really affect how we react to life’s stressful situations.
Yes, I believe this wholeheartedly! I’ve had a lot of issues with it in the past.
Kristyn,
Those of us who have been through a gut turmoil can relate to this problem.
But it all can be avoided by improving our gut flora and taking care of the stress in our surroundings.
Great post! Gut health is so important and I’m happy people are learning more about it every day!
Maartje,
The gut health is in direct connection to our immune health.
I am into gut health. I think it’s important to take care of our gut. It affects so much of what we feel and what we are. Some even say it’s our second brain.
Jon,
The gut is our second brain. It is our immune response to everything we experience in life: pathogens, microbes, good and bad.
Such a great post and very informative. I definitely like this kind of post where everybody will learn something important that should be consider. Thanks for sharing such important article.
Gervin,
So happy this post brought something of value to you personally.
When we learn, we make this world more powerful and more beautiful, too.
Researchers are finding more and more evidence on how gut health influence our mental and cognitive health too. Interesting to consider the stress component.
Nancy,
Stress triggers some utmost unattractive and unhealthy processes in our bodies. All that spills out into the life we share with others.
Keeping stress within our awareness would make our well-being so much more robust and capable of doing more positive in this world.
This is not surprising at all to me. This information is absolutely awesome, thank you.
Krysten,
Stress can easily derail us from our plans and positive mood during the day.
So vital to know the how-to’s of living peacefully.
I know this for fact! I had my gallbladder removed last year during one of the most stressful times in my life…
Brandy,
Hugs, my awesome.
So vital for all of us to embrace peace inside and know hot to operate with when stress wants to poke though us.
Our family had to learn about gut health through a lot of difficulty and medical decisions. You have detailed it so perfectly here. I wish I had this resource when we were first learning.
Marie,
Hugs, my friend.
A second round of information like this makes a stronger point within you to cement what you have learned and stick to the principles of healthy gut.
After a bout with sepsis, which nearly killed me, I’ve been left with serious gut issues. It definitely gets worse with stress, and it definitely causes stress, so it’s a vicious circle.
Tamra,
Get back on track, awesome!
Just include more fermented foods into your daily diet: kefir, kombucha, tempeh, sauerkraut, kimchi, plus many grains like quinoa, chia, buckwheat.
I really feel the difference in how I feel depending on how I am handling the stress in my life. For sure healthful eating and exercise makes a difference.
Mia,
Stress can be debilitating. And it does it via our gut system, unballancing it, making it sway towards pathogens.
I one hundred percent believe stress has so much to do with our health. Thank you for this information.
Trisha,
Agree with you. Stress is a huge denominator when it comes to our health.
Need to decompress several times a day by walking and just getting away from a work desk.
It definitely makes sense that stress effects our health. I might have to look into prebiotics in the near future.
Carolyn,
Prebiotics are the food for good gut bacteria. Probiotics are the good gut bacteria themselves. Both Prebiotics and Probiotics can be found in fermented foods like unsweetend yogurt, kefir, kvas, kombucha, kimchi, tempeh and many more.
It definitely makes sense what the article says. I love sweets and tend to crave them more when stressed, then I get sick. It is a never ending cycle, but I found this very informative.
Michele,
Being aware is one thing. Knowing what to do is another.
Begin with tiny steps when trying to change your situation.
Add, say, a cup of green vegetables once a day to one meal. Keep doing it for a few weeks. Then, add two cups of veggies. Add something new only when the previous steps have outlived their novelty and have become your lifestyle. Your second nature, as they say.
Very informative – when stressed I love to eat veggies by the bowl full. always wondered why – maybe it is an earth connection. I take a probotic supplement daily to keep my body balanced. thanks for the good information – our bodies are always giving us clues as to what we need to change!
Kathy,
You are an exception when you eat a load of veggies when you are stressed. I guess you are truly connected with the cosmos. Keep this connection by eating wholefoods.
Wow.. I actually did not know this. This was a great read with very useful information. Thanks!!
Amanda,
Glad that you got something useful for yourself to support your lifestyle.
I’m glad I like organic yogurt and kimchi. I’ve haven’t tried kombucha but definitely will in the future.
Christine,
It is great you are including these fermented products into your life.
The key is a variety of such foods. When we add more variety, our gut flora boosts our immune system to the higher levels of protection and ability to fight infections and pathogens.
I can’t get past the bitter taste of tea no matter how healthy. I would have to do pill form.
Laura,
You don’t need to focus on just tea.
There are a lot of foods like green leafy veggies, colorful vegetables, ancient grains like quinoa, chia, buckwheat that have invaluable prebiotics, food for good gut bacteria to thrive on.
Great post! Health is so important 🙂