Several of my clients who live busy lives can’t eliminate the last of their IBS symptoms no matter how accurately they implement the low Fodmap diet. So, we have to sort their lifestyle. Just because you have conquered the diet does not mean that you can sit back on your laurels and leave everything else the same. Far from it.
Ariana Huffington Woke in a Pool of Blood Ariana, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, wrote a book called Thrive on her personal experience of burning out. She woke up on her study floor in a pool of blood. She had passed out from exhaustion and hit her head on the edge of the desk. Ariana is a particularly driven woman but many other men and women also spend their lives in a whirlpool of activity that threatens their health and their ability to focus and make rational decisions.
The Effect of a Whirlwind LifestyleThe level of permanent stress in the body from having no real downtime increases your chance of stroke, heart disease, lowers your immune system allowing illness to be more prevalent, causes mood changes and, of course, increases your IBS symptoms.
People who live a hectic life sleep less, spend a minimum amount of time peacefully by themselves or with their families. Many don’t exercise at all or only a couple of times a week. They often have nothing tangible to show when they crawl into bed and yet they have been running from pillar to post all day.
“I am so busy I can hardly think.”This is said these days as a badge of honour, as if it makes them more worthy, smarter, more successful. And they are quite right to say they can’t think. The ability of the frontal lobe to analyse and rationalise can be severely affected when the body perceives itself to be under stress.
A Wild Animal on the Path Ahead
When our distant ancestors were under stress, it was usually a real threat to their lives – perhaps a bear on the path ahead or a wild tribe attacking. When this happened, the primitive part of the brain took over with the fight or flight response. The heart beat increased as did the breathing rate and adrenaline flooded the body ready to defend or flee. In order for them to act immediately, the frontal lobe – that part of the brain that rationalises and analyses – had to close down or they would die, still standing there trying to figure out the best plan of action. An instant response was essential for survival.
Insidious MenacesToday, we are usually not faced by a wild animal or tribe but by more insidious menaces, which are not life-threatening for most of us. At least, not in the short term.
However, our bodies react in exactly the same way as if we were faced by a survival situation, and our bodies flood with adrenaline, our heart and breathing rates increase and our frontal lobes close down.
Have you ever been in the middle of a heated argument with someone and you can’t think straight to respond appropriately? And later, upon analysing the event, you regret what you said or didn’t say? Of course. It has happened to all of us – because the rational part of our brain was not functioning to full capacity at that moment. Your primitive brain had taken over and perceived the situation as a threat to your life, and so you found yourself attacking or defending yourself in a way that you later regret.
Run Away!Then there are those of us who take the second instinctive option and run away. I do the second. If someone is verbally abusive to me, I close down completely and get out of there as fast as my adrenaline will take me. I can then calm down, get my breathing and heart rate under control and allow my frontal lobe to open up again. Then and only then will I respond to such an attack because at that point I will be more compassionate and less hurtful with my reply. Sometimes, I might decide that it’s not worth responding at all and so I have saved myself the grief of defending what would have been an instinctive reaction.
Permanent State of AlarmMany busy people are in a permanent state of alarm with their thinking power at half mast, unable to function at full capacity. Over time, this erodes away at their health, and they end up on the floor like Ariana Huffington.
Double TroubleNow, if you are this person and you have IBS, which is highly likely since stress can trigger IBS, then you have double 
trouble. Scientists don’t know a lot about IBS but they do know that your brain to gut connection is faulty, and your digestive system overreact to signals from your brain. If you allow that stress to reach your gut, which it inevitably will without intervention, then you are going to have horrible symptoms no matter how well you are implementing the low Fodmap diet.
It is time for you to examine every part of your life and figure out a way to cut back, condense, prioritize, make some hard choices and allow the adrenaline to ebb away and your frontal lobe to open.
“As her analyst had told her: the deeper buried the distress, the further into the body it went. The digestive system was about as far as it could go to hide.”
― Richard Matheson, What Dreams May Come
Surprise Coming
I have a great free surprise for you concerning this, which I have been working on very hard. I will tell you all about it soon.
“As her analyst had told her: the deeper buried the distress, the further into the body it went. The digestive system was about as far as it could go to hide.”
― Richard Matheson, What Dreams May Come
In my 4th week of the program I find I am regaining my energy as well as my equilibrium – I had been beginning to feel that I had lost both.
The diet is a wonderful way to start getting your energy back, and lifestyle changes get the equilibrium sorted.
I look forward to your surprise! I am beginning to think that my lifestyle is the last little piece of the puzzle that I need to work out.
I believe that I’ve discovered that the Lifestyle is almost as important as the diet and am amazed at the difference I feel when I have used the deep breathing and other techniques.
The surprise is not far off now, Karol. Lifestyle is a very necessary piece of the puzzle.