How Your Nervous System Affects Your Digestive & Mental Health

Your gut (digestive system) is in constant communication with your brain (nervous system). The health of our gut influences the health of our brain, and vice versa.

Understanding this connection is the key to whole body health. 

And if you have been struggling with your digestive and/or mental health for a while, I would bet that you need to be addressing your nervous system health. 

The most important part of the nervous system we want to pay attention to is the Autonomic Nervous System, and its two branches: Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) & Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS).

These systems regulate all the basic functions of our bodies & controls our physical & emotional reactions to our external environment. 

In a healthy nervous system, there will be cycles between the charge (SNS) and the discharge (PNS). 

Unfortunately, there are many stressors that can cause a person to become over activated in the SNS or PNS response, or both.

While the symptoms can be different for individuals, there are some common symptoms we do see in the physical, mental, and emotional bodies. 

Here I've listed the common symptoms that we see in the gut-brain connection. This is just the surface of how our nervous system impacts our digestive and mental well-being. 

Do you notice yourself in any of these?

Follow along if you would like to learn more about the gut-brain connection, and how your nervous system health is the key component.