That knot in my stomach, the black hole of my anxiety

Sometimes life settles there, at the epicenter of our body, like a ball that takes away the air, hunger and desire right in the stomach. They are not butterflies, it is the black hole of anxiety that traps everything and consumes everything, like a known enemy, at times ungovernable that accelerates life, blurs illusions and distorts our priorities.

Experts have been studying the traces that anxiety leaves on our body for quite some time. The topic, as curious as it may seem, is simply amazing. From the Johns Hopkins psychiatry area, for example, they discovered that those patients who suffered from generalized anxiety disorder accumulated chronic tension in the frontalis muscle -located right in the forehead-, as well as constant overloads in the gastrocnemius muscles -the calves. of our calves.

However, the most common symptoms, the most recognizable as well as annoying, are those that are located right in our digestive system: esophagus, stomach, intestines… Gastrointestinal pain and anxiety share a very close biological connection. We cannot forget that Our digestive system is “upholstered” by a very complex network of nerve cells.and although this neural network does not emit or produce any thoughts, what it does do is mediate our state of mind.

We must not leave aside that this “second” brain is responsible for regulating the production of serotonin, the so-called happiness hormone. However, if there is something it also does, it is react forcefully to stress. When we go through times marked by nerves, pressure, anguish or restlessness, the stomach reacts by releasing adrenocorticotropic, a peptide hormone that also acts as a neurotransmitter.

That’s when pain, visceral hypersensitivity, intestinal motility appear… That annoying knot in the stomach where the entire labyrinth of our problems seems to be concentrated.

Butterflies and black holes

Marta has two jobs and very little free time.. She only sees her 6-year-old son when he gets home, when he waits a little longer for his mother to say goodnight and tuck him in before going to sleep. Every day she asks her when they can do something together, play together, draw together, take a walk together… Marta always answers her on Sunday. “On Sunday we will do what you want, you’ll see…” But when that day arrives, Marta feels so exhausted that she is unable to get out of bed.

It is on those Sundays of stillness and bitterness when, tangled between the sheets, fatigue and despair, she longs for those days when only butterflies lived in her stomach. Before everything was illusions. Now everything is black holes, secret tears, fear of not making ends meet and that there are not enough hours in the day.… Her stomach is like a big ball of 20 knots that oppress her more and more every day….

It is very possible that for more than one person, and looking at this little story from the outside, they think that the solution to Marta’s problem is very simple: organize themselves better, leave a job or find a better job that allows them to have more time, quality with your child.

Decision making is a highly fine-tuned cognitive process that requires weighing risks, valuing rewards, and analyzing the relationship between our actions and their consequences. When someone suffers from high anxiety, all this heuristic ability fails. Because anxiety, we cannot forget, has a cognitive and a somatic component. The first is reduced to those thoughts that act as traps: “this is what it is, nothing can be changed”, “I am no longer useful, everything is lost…”

The somatic component, for its part, refers to all those physical processes that accompany the state of anxiety: dry mouth, tremors, muscle pain, headaches and digestive disorders. Thinking clearly, therefore, is something really complex in those vital moments.

Your digestive system and anxiety: a direct link

At the beginning we made a reference to the psychiatry unit at Johns Hopkins. It is worth saying that this center has been delving into this topic for decades, in fact in A study carried out by Dr. Jay Pasricha reveals a series of aspects that will be of interest to us.

First of all, that common stomach pain that appears when we are anxious or stressed, It is the result of a series of signals sent by our second brain. This second brain is neither more nor less than the intestine, which makes up what is known as the enteric nervous system a fascinating structure made up of two thin layers of more than 100 million nerve cells that line our gastrointestinal tract from the esophagus to the rectum.Flinders University, in Australia, has observed for the first time how this sophisticated nervous system works, as we can see ourselves in an article published in June 2018. Thus, something that experts like Dr. Pasricha reveal to us is that The enteric nervous system seems to communicate with our brain in an almost direct way. Besides, It is highly sensitive to emotional changes, to the point that stress, fear and anxiety cause it to respond in very specific ways: with stomach pain, diarrhea, inflammation…

It is also known that The enteric nervous system may be the cause of such a recurrent condition as irritable bowel syndrome.. This condition usually appears when we go through times of high anxiety. These are factors that reveal to us once again the intimate relationship between our digestive system and our emotions.

35 ways to cope with your anxiety

When we talk about what strategies to adopt to deal with our anxiety and those black holes that surround us, it is worth remembering once again that There is no same formula that works for all of us.. The approach is always multidisciplinary, covering the behavioral, cognitive and physical areas.

Likewise, and no less important, we should also consider the area related to food. We cannot forget that just as it reveals to us a study carried out by doctor Kim Huhman of the Atlanta University, Social stress and anxiety produce changes in the composition of the intestinal flora.

Therefore, it is recommended that we follow a diet that does not neglect probiotics, which are essential to strengthen the microbiota of our intestine.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

-Franklin D. Roosevelt-

That knot in the stomach that many of us drag so often in our daily lives and that instantly takes away our health and well-being, can be resolved by putting into practice several of the recommendations that we are going to detail below. You just have to be willing, be constant and remember that It is not advisable to leave for tomorrow the annoyance or concern that we feel today.

Practice slow, deep breathing.Speak out loud and to yourself about how you feel: I’m angry because I feel this and that happens.Go for a walk every day for half a day now.Paint mandalas.Let them give you a massage.Walk through a forest.Ask yourself: “What is the worst that could happen?” Then, ask yourself, “How should I act if that happens?” Take time to actively work on solving a problem and let your mind come to a solution calmly and without pressure. Take a relaxing bath. Forgive yourself. for not foreseeing a problem that has happened again. Clean your room, throw away things that you don’t use, that don’t serve you, that are from another stage of your life.Turn off your cell phone, the television, let the silence embrace you.Meet someone with whom you feel good. Do that thing today that you have been putting off for a long time. Meditate. Hug your pet. If you have made a mistake, create an action plan so it is not repeated in the future.Ask yourself if you are jumping to conclusions that are too negative about certain things.Ask yourself if your thinking approach is somewhat catastrophic. Make a list of the things you like about yourself. If there is someone who bothers you with their behavior, analyze why it happens and what you could do about it. Do yoga.Make a change in your daily routineBefore going to bed, read. Let it be your daily habit in that last moment of the day. Think about how you would like your life to be and what you could do to achieve it. Ask a friend what he does to cope with his anxiety. Learn to eat slowly, without rushCheck if you are falling into thinking errors: Do you personalize everything? Is life only in black and white for you? Does everything good happen only to others? Give yourself a gift every day: a walk, a movie, an hour of good music… Remember How you faced a difficult moment in the past. If you are imagining a negative result to something you want to do, change the route: imagine a positive result.Write down three things that worried you in the past and that never happened.Do some type of exercise that you have never tried before: swimming, Zumba, archery…

Do not hesitate to make most of these simple proposals yours. The change you can experience in your life can be amazing.

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