Latest / The Body Rhythm: Nervous System Health, Digestion & Daily Rhythms for Women / Why Stress Makes You Constipated

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Why Stress Makes You Constipated · The Body Rhythm: Nervous System Health, Digestion & Daily Rhythms for Women

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Then we say, oh, we'll just do it for one day because this came up, and then one day becomes two, and two days becomes three.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: And before you know it, it's become our new routine.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then before you know it, we're feeling constipated.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you, we can't feel sexy if we're constipated, right?
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: When's the last time you were constipated and felt like you wanted to be sexy for your man?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Body Rhythm Podcast, the podcast for women who are ready to stop pushing through and start feeling like themselves again.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm CJ, Ayurvedic Wellness Guide, helping women reconnect to the natural rhythm their bodies have been craving.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: But it wasn't that long ago that I was exhausted in a way that sleep didn't fix, loaded no matter what I ate, and lying awake at 3 a.m.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: with my mind already running tomorrow's to-do list.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: I thought I just needed to be more consistent, more disciplined.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize that my body wasn't feeling me.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: It was completely overwhelmed because you're not broken.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: You've just been living outside your natural rhythm for a long time.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to another episode of The Body Rhythm.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: So good to have you here today.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: And if you haven't already, please like and subscribe.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to have you back.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: So imagine it's 1.45, right?
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: You miss your lunch, a meeting came up, something else came up, you were answering all the emails.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so you finally get a chance to eat lunch.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: You open whatever it is that you packed in the morning, and you balance it next to your keyboard as you continue to answer the emails, go to the online Zoom meeting, and you eat half of it between the two emails and the Slack message.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then three o'clock comes, maybe you're tired, you're bloated, and at 8:30, you're eating dinner, standing at the counter, too tired to taste it.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: And somewhere in all of that, your digestion just stops moving.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And if stress is making you constipated, you are not imagining it, you're not doing anything wrong, but your body is telling you something about its inner climate.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: And today I'm gonna explain what that means.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Body Rhythm Podcast, the podcast for women who are ready to stop pushing through and start feeling like themselves again.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm CJ, Ayurvedic Wellness Guide, helping women reconnect to the natural rhythm their bodies have been craving.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: But it wasn't that long ago that I was exhausted in a way that sleep didn't fix, bloated no matter what I ate, and lying awake at 3 a.m.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: with my mind already running tomorrow's to-do list.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: I thought I just needed to be more consistent, more disciplined.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize that my body wasn't feeling me.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: It was completely overwhelmed because you're not broken.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: You've just been living outside your natural rhythm for a long time.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I, often on throughout my career, I have lived this exact scenario.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: And most recently, um I lived this when I was helping my dad through his cancer treatment, and my meals became whatever I could grab in between emergency room visits, doctors' visits, driving from here to his house on the road for two hours at a time.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I was eating bars and McDonald's.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: I was eating anything I had in my bag, and dinner was whatever I could find.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it was very late at night.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Usually I would order food and have it delivered, or I would stop at the local fast food place and get something quick so I could eat before I go to sleep.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then when I worked at a corporate job, I was most definitely at my desk doing the emails, eating in between the meetings, the messages.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: One, it's what I thought was expected of me, and I didn't want to say no, and that's what everybody else was doing, right?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: And two, I was just getting away from what a good routine would look like.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that can be so easy to get away from, right?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then we say, oh, well, just do it for one day, because this came up, and then one day becomes two, and two days becomes three, and before you know it, it's become our new routine.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then before you know it, we're feeling constipated.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you, we can't feel sexy if we're constipated, right?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: When's the last time you were constipated and felt like you wanted to be sexy for your man?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's probably not often.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I see this pattern frequently with the women that I work with, right?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: We have a busy mind, a busy day.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Meals are often eaten in front of the screen at the countertop, and then what happens, our guts finally stopped working.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Or they stopped working the way that we want them to.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: In Ayurveda, we have the three mind-body patterns.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: The three mind-body patterns are vata, pitta, and kappa.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And vata is a quality of movement.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's light and dry and quick and cold and mobile, it's windy.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: It is the breath and the movement and nerves and the nervous system.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: And pitta is the quality of heat and transformation, it's intensity and ambition and drive and focus.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And kappa is the quality of stability and structure.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's heavy and dense and nourishing.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: And all three of these mind-body types, they live within our body at all times, but they also shift depending on the season that we're in, depending on what we're doing, what we're eating, how we're feeling, what we're carrying, our emotional load.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: When we are busy, when we are working, when we experience anxiety, when we experience fear and overwhelm, when the mind is constantly racing, it increases that vata element internally.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: It increases the mental activity.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: It increases the dryness within.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: So in Ayurveda, this vata mind-body type has a home, and its home is the large intestine.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: And the large intestine is usually one of the first places where we notice we're out of balance.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: And how do we notice?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Through dry, hard, slow, irregular stools, through constipation, a gut that is sitting heavy and won't move.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it's because our internal climate has shifted due to what's happening in our external climate.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: For life to survive, right, the climate has to be right.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: And in our body, there's an internal climate.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: We have a microbiome, and it is this community of organisms in the gut, which influences how we feel.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the microbiome, the gut, wants homeostasis, it wants balance, it wants to be steady at all times.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so Ayurveda has a word for health, svasta.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: And svasta is not just the absence of symptoms, but svasta is the state in which your mind-body patterns, your soul, your senses, your digestive fire, everything is content.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: And for that state of sfasta, of health, our inner climate needs to be warm and moist.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's think about what stress actually feels like.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Stress is hot and dry, anxiety is dry, fear is dry.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Fear doesn't always look like we think of fear, like being scared, right?
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Fear can also be dressed up as procrastination, as always planning, as self-judgment, of not wanting to take the next step because you're not in control.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then if we think of the opposite qualities of qualities that are warm and moist, those are love and gratitude and compassion.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: In Ayurveda, that dry quality, that vata quality, the stress, the anxiety, the fear, the overwhelm is a destroyer of life.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because nothing can thrive in a dry and brittle and cold environment.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, those qualities are what we associate with aging.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Depletion.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: When things dry out and they're brittle, right?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think of my grandmother, maybe your grandmother, and her bones.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Her skin is very dry, very thin.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: The bones creak or crack, very delicate, right?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: My grandmother fell, she broke her hip.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, she was very uh brittle.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so think of that happening internally in the body when we experience stress and anxiety and overwhelm.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Recreating an internal environment that is a destroyer of life.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what balances that out, what destroys those vata qualities, is warm, wet, and moist.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Our external climate is always impacting our internal climate, how we live, how we eat, how we think, how we speak to ourselves and to others, all of it shapes what is happening inside.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So when we're stressed, what do we reach for?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Usually, if we are the mind-body connection type that tends towards anxiety and overwhelm and fear, we might reach for the potato chips and the bars, the Lara bars, the nuts, the granola, the raw celery, the raw carrots.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: All of these are dry foods.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: They're crunchy foods.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: They're foods we can eat with one hand while we type our next email.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: But all of these foods carry the very qualities that we're already overloaded with, which is cold, dry, and brittle.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: And these foods that we're reaching for that soothe what's happening in the mind are actually bringing more dryness and brittleness and coldness into our body.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's aging us more.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: So what do we do?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: If our external environment impacts our internal environment that wants to be warm, wet, and moist while everything outside of us is dry, cold, and brittle, what do we do?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's not really a supplement for that, right?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: There's not a perfect routine for that.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: But it's begin creating warmth and moisture and how we eat and how we live.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's doing small things every single day so that we can begin to mirror what's happening externally to what we want to happen internally so we get our gut moving again in a healthy way.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, one, we can create small moments of pause.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Three slow breaths before your first bite of a meal, maybe closing the eyes, inhaling the scent of a meal.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: So that dry, brittle, rigid quality of the gut, the large intestine of constipation.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: It loves irregularity.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: It loves when our routine is scattered, when we wake up at different times every day, when we don't eat at the same time every day, when we go to bed at different times every day.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: It just increases the cold, dry brittleness within us, which continues to lead to us feeling constipated and difficult bowel movements.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the antidotes is to begin to create a regular routine.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Start with meals roughly at the same time every day.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Breakfast at the same time, lunch at the same time, and dinner at the same time.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you begin to teach your body what to expect.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: And a body that knows what to expect begins to feel safe and supported and begins to let go of what it's been holding on to.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Also eating away from screens when our focus is externally.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Not only are we taking in what we're looking at, but we also aren't really in tune with what is happening within.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Take your meals maybe out in nature, looking at something beautiful.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Turn away from the computer screen.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Don't answer the emails.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: They'll be there when you return.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's just turning your chair away, letting your body begin to register that it's time to be nourished and nurtured and fed.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Next thing we can do is begin to change what we're eating.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is not a big change, but it's incorporating foods that are also warm, wet, and moist.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Soups, we're coming into fall season.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great time to begin incorporating more soups into your daily diet.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Foods that have gravies with them or sauces with them are great to begin incorporating into the diet.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Foods that have dressings on them.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a nice uh shakti dressing over some cooked grains and vegetables.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: You're beginning to bring more moisture into the body through the foods that you eat.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Also, remembering drink liquids that are room temperature or warmer, right?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Think of the opposite of a dry bar or, you know, some almonds at your keyboard.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Stay away from fried foods.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: Fried foods create more dryness in the body and they already strain an already stressed-out gut.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then reduce stress.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps go for a short walk.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: So stand outside, stand in nature, feel the sun on the face, feel the breeze on your skin, feel your feet grounded on the earth.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Allow a little bit of warmth and softness back into your body.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is how we begin to create a life that's warm and moist, a life that's filled with love and compassion and gratitude.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: From Ayurveda, constipation would be a symptom of we're out of balance.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: That something that we're doing is not balanced within our system.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it can be a combination of stress and what we're eating.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: And those are actually the two best places to start because they're immediate when we see the changes.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you implement one of these changes and just begin to notice, you're automatically bringing the warm and moist qualities into your body.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're standing out in nature, you're also changing your external environment.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so maybe this week, as you think about something to incorporate into your life if constipation is persistent, maybe get a sheet of paper and write down all the adjectives that describe the climate of your body.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Is it dry?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Is it brittle?
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Is it hot, inflamed, is it cold?
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, what is actually happening?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's easier to see what's happening when we write it down than just to think about it.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then that list inform which of the practices I just mentioned would be best to begin incorporating and take the least amount of time for you to incorporate them.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Another excellent thing that you can do is begin adding some good fats into your diet.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: The good fats would be ghee, olive oil, and coconut oil.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Although now that we're heading into fall, I would uh stick more with ghee and olive oil.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: But these also begin to bring more moisture and good qualities into our internal climate.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: And once we get the internal climate warm and moist, then we begin to feel like sexier, right?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: More connected to ourselves.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: More connected to others.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: And this is how we begin to go deeper, to feel better, to live longer.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're ready to go deeper or discover how these patterns might be showing up in your body, I offer a free embodied wisdom session where we look at what's actually happening in your life in your body, and find some real solutions to help you today.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll put a link in the show notes.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining me on this episode of The Body Rhythm.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Have a wonderful week.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: I will see you next week.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Be well and nourished.