Revisiting Stress

Stress is a subject that I write about from time to time because I see all too often the damage it does to our health and well-being.  I see it from clients and I see it with friends.  And we happen to live in a society where the demands made upon us are unreasonable.  Whether your stress originates in the workplace, school, family relationships, or a host of other areas, what we do know for sure is that long-term activation of the stress response system can disrupt almost all of the body’s processes and increase the risk of numerous health problems.

Max is a client who came for weight loss.  It became very apparent at our first meeting that he was under a lot of stress. He couldn’t control his twitching and his body was tensed up all of the time.  After a few sessions we began to discuss his high stress level and the impact it was having on his weight and general health.

The latest facts and figures on stress out of the United States are indeed frightening.  Let’s start with financial stress.  In a survey of 3,000 adults over the age of 18, 75% reported feeling stressed out about money at some point, with some respondents saying they sacrificed health care because of finances.  But it is job-related stress that sit at the top of the list.  80% of workers say they feel stress on the job and nearly half say they need help in learning how to manage their stress. 42% notice and say that their co-workers need help with stress.  The cost?  Workplace stress causes healthcare expenditures of roughly $150 billion per year.  That is about 7% of all health care expenditures per year.

Certain kinds of stress can indeed be healthy. If we had no stress at all, we wouldn’t get things done and deadlines would mean nothing to us.  But when the reaction goes beyond the types of responses discussed above, not only can it be debilitating, it can be dangerous.  If your stress response is turned on too much of the time, and certainly ALL the time, it will almost always lead to serious issues – both psychological and physiological.

Stress has been linked to a long list of sickness, including heart disease, depression, insomnia, anxiety and if we take the research of Dr. Kenneth Pallatier’s (Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine) research, 85-90% of all illness is stress induced or stress exacerbated.  We now have evidence that chronically elevated stress shrinks the brain.  One of the biggest negative effects of stress is that it almost always causes sleep deprivation, which in turn intensifies our stress levels and that becomes a terrible cycle where one just gets more and more stressed and gets less and less sleep. 

How do we deal with stress and improve our wellness?  Although for many people this is something that needs work and needs professional help, there are certain things we can all do to help keep our stress in check.  There is an analogy I like to use with my clients who are working on stress management.  Imagine a very heavy chain around your neck—too heavy to take off by pulling over your head.  The only way to take that chain off is to remove one link at a time.  It might take some time, but ultimately after enough of those links are taken off, the chain is light enough to deal with.  And so it is with our stresses.  We might be overwhelmed with our problems and issues, but it is only with tackling them one at a time that we can find a solution.

You might have seen this list before of stress reducing steps, but it is worth taking a look again to see which of these will be helpful to you in order to help you control your stress:

• Stay healthy. Maintain a program of healthy eating, good health habits and adequate sleep.
• Exercise! You might not feel like this right now, but exercise anyway. This promotes physical fitness as well as emotional well-being.
• Balance work and play. All work and no play can make you feel stressed. Plan some time for hobbies and recreation. These activities relax your mind and are a good respite from life’s worries.
• Help others. We concentrate on ourselves when we’re distressed. Sometimes helping others is the perfect remedy for whatever is troubling us.
• Take a warm shower or bath. This will soothe and calm your nerves, and relax your muscles.
• Have a good cry. Tears of sadness, joy or grief can help cleanse the body of substances that accumulate under stress, and will also release a natural pain-relieving substance from the brain.
• Learn acceptance. As we mentioned, a difficult problem can be out of your control. When this happens, accept it until changes can be made. This is better than worrying and getting nowhere.
• Talk out your troubles. It sometimes helps to talk with a friend, relative, or mentor. Another person can help you see a problem from a different point of view.
• Do relaxation exercises daily. Good ones include visualization (imagining a soothing, restful scene), deep muscle relaxation (tensing and relaxing muscle fibers), meditation and deep breathing.
• Budget your time. Make a “To Do” list to prioritize your daily tasks. Avoid committing yourself to doing too much.
• Change your attitude. As difficult as it might be right now, develop and maintain a positive attitude.
• Change your environment. Modify your environment to get rid of or manage your exposure to things that cause stress whenever possible.

Implementing any or all of these tips can make a big difference in your stress level. However, please keep in mind that sometimes help is needed from a professional psychologist, therapist, or coach who deals with stress management.

One thing is for sure—DON’T ignore your stresses; deal with them.  Exercise, deal with one problem at a time, treat yourself to some down time that you can enjoy and when you need help, seek it out. Keeping our stress under control will “add hours to your day, days to your year and years to your life.” 

Just When the Going gets Tough

We are in the thick of it now.  It’s that time of year when the seasonal stressors can take their toll if we allow them to.  It’s the Purim-Pesach season. This means all the Purim preparations– arranging a Purim Seuda, buying everything you need, preparing and delivering your Meshloach Manos — and the second Purim is over, it is EREV PESACH!  Cleaning, Kashering, cooking, Seder preparations, Chol HaMoed plans, guests, sleeping arrangements—and only 30 days to have it all done.  Now let’s throw in something no one wants to hear—if you want to get through this period of time and enjoy Purim and Pesach, then make time to use our number one stress manager—EXERCISE!

This is the time of the year when I see many of my clients tense up and develop a sense of hopelessness.  “I’ll never get it all done” is a common feeling and that, in turn, brings the feeling of “overwhelmed” into our lives.   As a coach, when I hear that from a client or sense that this is the case, the first thing is to put things in order and perspective.  What is the plan and how is it to be executed?  When there is a plan and a person figures out what he or she has to do and they schedule it, that overwhelming feeling can quickly disappear.  Also, it is essential not to try to control things that we just can’t control.   Pesach is going to happen on the 15^th of Nissan, you can’t change that.  But the number of guests you invite to your Seder is under your control as is how much food you intend to prepare and serve.  But no matter how much you plan and schedule, putting exercise into that schedule can be the key.

75% of the general population experiences at least “some stress” every two weeks according to the National Health Interview Survey.  In response to acute stress, the body’s sympathetic nervous system is activated due to the sudden release of hormones. The sympathetic nervous system stimulates the adrenal glands triggering the release of adrenaline and noradrenalin. This results in an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate. After the threat is gone, it takes between 20 to 60 minutes for the body to return to its pre-arousal levels. The fight-or-flight response is also known as the acute stress response. Essentially, the response prepares the body to either fight or flee the threat. It is also important to note that the response can be triggered due to both real and imaginary threats. Imagine yourself driving along a road near your house. Suddenly a car zooms out of nowhere. You slam on the brakes just in time to avoid an accident. That’s the stress response at its best.

There are three regions of the brain that control the stress response:  The Amygdala, which detects, treats and triggers the fight-or-flight response; the Prefrontal Cortex, which helps us deal calmly with stress, and can shut down the fight-or-flight response; and the hippocampus, which supports our stress recovery.  Neroscientists now know that chronic stress can change these brain regions in a way that makes us more sensitive and less resilient to stress.  When we have stress all the time, these areas weaken and the brain gets worse at managing stress.  When this goes on for a prolonged period of time, these changes in the brain can lead to depression, cardiovascular disease and accelerated aging.  But exercise can be a way to manage or even cure stress.  Let’s see how that works.

Numerous studies in 2011 and 2012 have shown that exercise has shown tremendous promise as a neuroprotective intervention.  Exercise protects our brains from stress in several ways.  When we exercise (and the more intense we can exercise the better the result) we increase something called Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which maintains brain health.  Not only does exercise give us more BDNF, it also triggers the brain’s self-repair processes.  And last, exercise also activates the brain’s self-calming system by releasing a neurotransmitter called GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid) in order to restore balance in the autonomic nervous system.  Perhaps the most encouraging research is that for someone who makes exercise a part of his or her life, exercise can create a STRESS RESISTANT BRAIN! (Fleshner et. al. 2011).

The question is how much does one need to exercise and at what intensity?  Intense exercise is good, but intense exercise for a prolonged period of time is not good for our cardiovascular system, our immune system or our brains.  So it seems that moderate exercise for less than an hour at a time brings the best results.  Over training, meaning intense exercise for a prolonged period of time can have the opposite effect of what we are trying to achieve.  An over-trained athlete can actually develop exaggerated stress response and fail to recover between his workouts.  That results in elevated stress hormones, and instead of exercise giving us long-term protection against stress, it amplifies our stress.

Remember that exercise in all of its forms, aerobic and resistance training does help us manufacture more of the feel-good neurotransmitters in our brains, serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine.  These are the same hormones that anti-depressant medications work on!  The now famous SMILE (Standard Medical Intervention and Long-term Exercise) study at Duke University in 1999 the researchers followed 156 patients between the ages of 50 and 77 who had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD). They were randomly assigned to one of three groups: exercise, medication or a combination of medication and exercise.

The exercise group spent 30 minutes either riding a stationary bicycle or walking or jogging three times a week. The anti-depressant used by the medication group was sertraline (trade name Zoloft), which is a member of a class of commonly used anti-depressants known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors.  To the surprise of the researchers, after 16 weeks, all three groups showed statistically significant and identical improvement in standard measurements of depression, implying that exercise is just as effective as medication in treating major depression and it doesn’t have the negative side effects of the various medications.

At a time when energy can run low, keep in mind that exercise will give you more energy when you need it most.  It will put you in a better mood and the frame of mind you might need to get all of your cleaning done.  We are all familiar with the wonderful physiological advantages of exercising that help prevent heart disease, cancer, diabetes and a host of other diseases.  But we now know that exercise can help us in our battle against all types of daily stress.  Reducing stress through exercise will “add hours to your day, days to your year, and years to your life.” 

The Stress-Exercise Connection—How Does it Work?

With today’s societal demands, there is no shortage of stressors in our daily lives. We deal with so many issues such as health, education, relationshps, finances, and more. Sometimes when things are stressful, we go for a walk, jog or swim and come back feeling calm and better equipped to deal with the issues at hand. Did the stress go away? It’s probably still there but something happened in your brain to be able to handle the information better in a less stressful way. What happened? 

75% of the general population experiences at least “some stress” every two weeks according to the National Health Interview Survey. Since psychological stress begins in the brain when we perceive a threat, let us first understand how the body handles that stress with something called the “fight-or-flight response.” The fight-or-flight response refers to a physiological reaction that occurs in the presence of something that is terrifying, either mentally or physically. The fight-or-flight response was first described in the 1920s by American physiologist Walter Cannon. Cannon realized that a chain of rapidly occurring reactions inside the body help mobilize the body’s resources to deal with threatening circumstances. In response to acute stress, the body’s sympathetic nervous system is activated due to the sudden release of hormones. The sympathetic nervous system stimulates the adrenal glands triggering the release of adrenaline and noradrenalin. This results in an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate. After the threat is gone, it takes between 20 to 60 minutes for the body to return to its pre-arousal levels.

The fight-or-flight response is also known as the acute stress response. Essentially, the response prepares the body to either fight or flee the threat. It is also important to note that the response can be triggered due to both real and imaginary threats. Imagine yourself driving along a road near your house. Suddenly a car zooms out of nowhere! You slam on the brakes just in time to avoid an accident. That’s the stress response at its best.

Stress and the Brain

There are three regions of the brain that control the stress response: The Amygdala, which detects, treats and triggers the fight-or-flight response; the Prefrontal Cortex, which helps us deal calmly with stress, and can shut down the fight-or-flight response; and the hippocampus, which supports our stress recovery. Neroscientists now know that chronic stress can change these brain regions in a way that makes us more sensitive and less resilient to stress.

When we have stress all the time, these areas weaken and the brain gets worse at managing stress. When this goes on for a prolonged period of time, these changes in the brain can lead to depression, cardiovascular disease and accelerated aging. But as we mentioned at the beginning of this article, exercise can be a way to manage or even cure stress. Let’s see how that works.

Using Exercise to Combat Stress

Numerous studies in 2011 and 2012 have shown that exercise has shown tremendous promise as a neuroprotective intervention. Exercise protects our brains from stress in several ways. When we exercise (and the more intense we can exercise the better the result) we increase something called Brain-Dirived Neurotphic Factor (BDNF), which maintains brain health. Not only does exercise give us more BDNF, it also triggers the brain’s self-repair processes. And last, exercise also activates the brain’s self calming system by releasing a neurotransmitter called GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid) in order to restore balance in the autonomic nervous system. Perhaps the most encouraging research is that for someone who makes exercise a part of his or her life, exercise can create a STRESS RESISTANT BRAIN! (Fleshner et. al. 2011).

How much does one need to exercise and at what intensity?

As previously stated, intense exercise is good, but intense exercise for a prolonged period of time is not good for our cardiovascular system, our immune system or our brains. So it seems that moderate exercise for less than an hour at a time brings the best results. Overtraining, meaning intense exercise for a prolonged period of time, can have the opposite effect of what we are trying to achieve. An over-trained athlete can actually develop exaggerated stress response and fail to recover between his workouts. That results in elevated stress hormones, and instead of exercise giving us long-term protection against stress, it amplifies our stress.

Remember that exercise in all of its forms, aerobic and resistance training does help us manufacture more of the feel-good neurotransmitters in our brains, serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. These are the same hormones that anti depressant medications work on. The now famous SMILE (Standard Medical Intervention and Long-term Exercise) study at Duke University in 1999 the researchers followed 156 patients between the ages of 50 and 77 who had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD). They were randomly assigned to one of three groups: exercise, medication or a combination of medication and exercise.

The exercise group spent 30 minutes either riding a stationary bicycle or walking or jogging three times a week. The anti-depressant used by the medication group was sertraline (trade name Zoloft), which is a member of a class of commonly used anti-depressants known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors. To the surprise of the researchers, after 16 weeks, all three groups showed statistically significant and identical improvement in standard measurements of depression, implying that exercise is just as effective as medication in treating major depression and it doesn’t have the negative side effects of the various medications.

We are all familiar with the wonderful physiological advantages of exercising, helping to prevent heart disease, cancer, diabetes and a host of other diseases. But we now know that exercise can help us in our battle against all types of daily stress. Reducing stress through exercise will “add hours to your day, days to your year, and years to your life.”

Using Nutrition and Exercise for Stress Management

Baruch recently came to see me to talk about an exercise program.  Baruch isn’t overweight-not at all.  However he had been “foggy” for an extended period of time and was having digestive issues—all due to stress.  But he had read an article about how exercise can help and wanted to hear what I had to say.

Stress permeates our society.  The main causes of stress include job stress, financial stress, relationship problems, overwhelming family responsibilities, and daily hassles. Stress can be caused by life events such as divorce, the death of a spouse, or losing a job, environmental changes such as changes in temperature, overwork, or unresolved problems the expectations that you place on yourself and others place on you.

Certain kinds of stress can indeed be healthy. But when the reaction goes beyond the types of responses discussed above, not only can it be debilitating, but it can be dangerous.  If your stress response is turned on too much of the time, and certainly ALL the time, it will almost always lead to serious issues – both psychological and physiological. This article will define the negative impact which stress has on us, and will offer tools to help combat stress getting the better of us.

It may be surprising to know, but according to Stress Researcher Dr. Kenneth Pelletier (Sound Mind, Sound Body – A New Model for Lifelong Health; Fireside Books; 1995), an astonishing 80-90% of all illness is stress-related.  Among the physical symptoms you may experience from stress are pain of any kind, heart disease, digestive disorders, sleep disorders, depression, obesity, autoimmune diseases and skin conditions such as eczema.

Stress has to be dealt with or it can become something debilitating and incapacitating.  The most common ways to deal with stress are talk therapy with qualified psychologist or therapist or medications under the care of a psychiatrist.  However, both the way we eat and exercise can have a very pronounced role in stress management; even to the point of possibly not having to engage in therapy or drugs.

 

Fighting Stress with Food

A little stress in our lives is beneficial (Aschbachar et al. 2013). However, feeling too much stress too often or for too long is clearly harmful. Stress tells the body to unleash its “fight-or-flight” response, prompting the release of stress hormones—including cortisol, noradrenaline and adrenaline—to prepare for a physical feat.  Repeatedly triggering the stress response takes a toll in the form of high blood pressure, impaired relationships, anxiety, depression, addiction, obesity, and even chronic pain.

Several strategies for alleviating stress have been well studied and documented. They include making a concerted effort to minimize stressors, engaging in meditation and physical activity, and nurturing strong social relationships. Unfortunately, too many people turn to a detrimental coping method—eating—which leaves them feeling lazy and sluggish, depressed about their bodies and disappointed in themselves. This outcome contributes to weight gain and an increased risk of obesity. Stressed-out people recognize what’s happening but still have a hard time breaking the cycle (APA 2013).  While it is generally a bad idea to eat for psychological reasons, there are beneficial ways to use food to manage or prevent complications from stress.

Promoting Our Happiness Hormones

Chronic stress can reduce levels of serotonin, the body’s “feel-good” hormone. Serotonin is thought to be a key moderator of mood, appetite, sleep and memory. Some foods that may increase serotonin contain high levels of tryptophan, an amino acid needed to produce this “happiness hormone.” Incorporating tryptophan-rich foods into a daily nutrition strategy is often advised as a way of raising serotonin levels and countering stress and depression. It is particularly plentiful in chocolate, oats, dried dates, milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, red meat, eggs, fish, poultry, sesame, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, bananas, and peanuts. Additionally, vitamin D may enable the body to convert tryptophan to serotonin more effectively (Fox 2015).

 

 

Nutritional strategies may also be aimed at decreasing the intensity or effects of stress-induced conditions like high blood pressure, anxiety, depression and insomnia. For example, potassium-rich foods can assist in lowering blood pressure. High potassium foods from natural food sources include beans, dark leafy greens, potatoes, squash, yogurt, fish, avocados, mushrooms, and bananas. Some herbal substances, such as chamomile (Amsterdam et al. 2009), may lessen anxiety and depression, and there is some evidence that foods like tart cherries may improve sleep quality through production of melatonin (Howatson 2012).

Exercising to Lower Stress

Numerous recent studies have shown that exercise protects our brains from stress in several ways.  When we exercise (and the more intense we can exercise the better the result) we increase something called Brain-Dirived Neurotphic Factor (BDNF), which maintains brain health.  Not only does exercise give us more BDNF, it also triggers the brain’s self-repair processes.  And last, exercise also activates the brain’s self-calming system by releasing a neurotransmitter called GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid) in order to restore balance in the autonomic nervous system.  Perhaps the most encouraging research is that for someone who makes exercise a part of his or her life, exercise can create a STRESS RESISTANT BRAIN (Fleshner et. al. 2011)!

How much does one need to exercise and at what intensity?  Intense exercise is good, but intense exercise for a prolonged period of time is not good for our cardiovascular system, our immune system or our brains.  So it seems that moderate exercise for less than an hour at a time brings the best results.  Overtraining, meaning intense exercise for a prolonged period of time can have the opposite effect of what we are trying to achieve.  Remember that exercise in all of its forms, aerobic and resistance training does help us manufacture more of the feel-good neurotransmitters in our brains, serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine.

Carrying excessive stress is always harmful.  When I see how exercise and good eating can make such a large difference in my clients, I am truly amazed.  Baruch is only half way through his program but he will be the first to tell you how much better he is feeling after making exercise part of his daily life and seeing our dietician in order to change his eating.  He will feel even better in another month.  Using proper diet and exercise to lower stress will “add hours to your day, days to your year and years to your life.”

The Stress-Exercise Connection—how does this work?

With today’s societal demands, there is no shortage of stressors in our daily lives. We deal with so many issues such as health, education, relationshps, finances, and more. Sometimes when things are stressful, we go for a walk, jog or swim and come back feeling calm and better equipped to deal with the issues at hand. Did the stress go away? It’s probably still there but something happened in your brain to be able to handle the information better in a less stressful way.

What happened? 

75% of the general population experiences at least “some stress” every two weeks according to the National Health Interview Survey. Since psychological stress begins in the brain when we perceive a threat, let us first understand how the body handles that stress with something called the “fight-or-flight response.” The fight-or-flight response refers to a physiological reaction that occurs in the presence of something that is terrifying, either mentally or physically. The fight-or-flight response was first described in the 1920s by American physiologist Walter Cannon. Cannon realized that a chain of rapidly occurring reactions inside the body help mobilize the body’s resources to deal with threatening circumstances.
In response to acute stress, the body’s sympathetic nervous system is activated due to the sudden release of hormones. The sympathetic nervous system stimulates the adrenal glands triggering the release of adrenaline and noradrenalin. This results in an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate. After the threat is gone, it takes between 20 to 60 minutes for the body to return to its pre-arousal levels.

The fight-or-flight response is also known as the acute stress response. Essentially, the response prepares the body to either fight or flee the threat. It is also important to note that the response can be triggered due to both real and imaginary threats. Imagine yourself driving along a road near your house. Suddenly a car zooms out of nowhere! You slam on the brakes just in time to avoid an accident. That’s the stress response at its best.

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Your Brain Too!

The benefits of exercise and good nutrition are certainly well known.  Not only can a balanced and consistent exercise program and healthful eating lead to a better quality of life and even lengthen your life, some recent research indicates that it is also great for your brain, especially in avoiding and curing depression.

Have you ever noticed how much better you feel about life after a brisk half-hour walk?  Recent studies have shown that exercise is just as effective at fighting depression, as anti-depression drugs are. Our brains are composed of nerve cells known as neurons.  The gaps between these neurons are bridged by chemical neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, also known as the “mood” chemicals.  These are the chemicals in the brain that effect alertness, vitality, tranquility and euphoria and more importantly, they stave off depression. A recent study lead by Dr. Monika Fleshner at the University of Colorado at Boulder has shown that exercise works to improve depression and that it increased serotonin and dopamine levels in the brain. And for those who must take medications, exercise in conjunction with anti-depressant drugs seems to cause the drugs to work more effectively.

Exercise also helps the brain in other ways such as cognitive functions.  Children who engage in aerobic exercise score higher on tests, says Dr. Charles H. Hillman at the University of Illinois at Urbana.  In addition, he also discovered that aerobic exercise not only increases the levels of serotonin and dopamine, but also actually increases the size of your brain, particularly the hippocampus, which is the part of your brain that controls emotion.  Also, it seems that exercise allows the brain to retrieve latent memories.

Anyone who has exercised knows how much better you feel after a session.  The “runner’s high” is a well know phenomenon that distance runners can often experience. It is difficult to know exactly how much exercise we need to do in order to achieve these positive feelings and effects, but Dr. Fleshner feels that 70% of the program should be cardio (aerobic), 20% strength training, and 10% flexibility training (stretching).

Looking at the nutrition side of this equation, we know that just like poor eating can harm normal blood circulation to your heart, the same is true of the brain. The better blood flow is up to your brain, the more oxygen and nutrients are available in order to sustain itself.  Therefore, an eating program that is vegetable and fruit dense and low in trans fats and saturated fats, and yet includes monounsaturated healthy fats will help keep your arteries from clogging.  But there is even more.  Lately, vast amounts of research has been done on the effects of omega 3 oils on brain function.

We all know that the sedentary lifestyle of the last two generations has brought on a whole host of medical problems. It seems that this lifestyle is partly responsible for the increase of depression in the world as well.  So, get off the couch and away from the computer, put on those running shoes, get outdoors and go for a walk, do some strength training and start to feel great about life!  Keeping your brain in shape as well as the rest of your body is another way to “add hours to your day, days to your year, and years to your life.”

Gut Check! (Part 2)

In Gut Check! part 1 (http://wp.me/p4wldG-H) I talked about the 41 million people in the US alone who visit their doctor for GI issues.  Do you suffer from unexplained stomach aches?

Lactose Intolerance

Someone who is lactose Intolerant doesn’t necessarily have to give up milk products entirely. Different people have different levels of tolerance for how much lactose they can consume.  Eating yogurt is not a problem because it contains lactose, and tends not to cause problems. 

Natalie Digate Muth, MPH, RD, is a registered dietician at the University of North Carolina and she suggests the following 9 steps to prevent common digestive ailments.

1. Eat more Fiber.  Consume 20-35 grams per day to prevent constipation, diarrhea, and symptoms of IBS.  Good Sources include fruit, vegetables, beans and whole grains.
2. Make good food choices.  Avoid junk food and snacks that are high in fats, sugars and refined carbohydrates.
3. Drink lots of fluids.   Eight glasses of water per day will aid mineral and vitamin absorption and will ease constipation.
4. Limit your alcohol intake.  If you drink, keep your limit to one glass per day.  Alcohol can cause esophageal bleeding, diarrhea and acid reflux.
5. Eat moderate portions.  Eat more often, but less at each sitting.  Smaller meals are digested more easily.
6. Relax when you eat.  Eating too quickly causes you to chew less and swallow more air, which causes heartburn, belching, bloating and gas.
7. Control your stress levels.  Stress can decrease the release of digestive enzymes and divert blood and oxygen from the digestivesystem to other parts of the body. This leads to heartburn, bloating, and constipation.  Stress can also worsen an ulcer, irritable bowel syndrome and ulcerative colitis. 
8. Use medications cautiously.  Many anti-inflammatory medications like aspirin and ibuprofen can cause digestive disturbances.
9. Don’t eat right before going to sleep.  Studies have found that acid reflux sufferers are more likely to experience reflux symptoms if they eat within 3 hours of going to sleep.

Exercise Plays a Big Part

Regular exercise helps the digestive system work more effectively.  Low to moderate intensity exercise actually helps digestion. Eating large meals, fats, and protein right before you workout can cause much gastric discomfort while you workout.

Be sure to drink sufficient fluids before, during and after your workout.  Also, make sure that you eat a good well-rounded meal after your workout to replace energy stores.

Having a gastrointestinal disorder can be uncomfortable, painful, or even debilitating.  But, making the appropriate dietary changes and keeping up a balanced and consistent exercise routine can help alleviate some or most of this discomfort.  Consult your doctor about possible medications that can help you and remember that taking care of your digestive system is another way to  “add hours to your day, days to your year, and years to your life.”