Constipation And Anxiety

Treatment

When other factors cause or aggravate constipation, addressing the specific cause can reduce and eliminate it.

When hyperstimulation (chronic stress) causes constipation, eliminating hyperstimulation will bring a return to normal bowel movements.

You can eliminate hyperstimulation by:

• Reducing stress.
• Containing anxious behavior (since anxiety creates stress).
• Regular deep relaxation.
• Avoiding stimulants.
• Regular light to moderate exercise.
• Eating a healthy diet of whole and natural foods.
• Passively accepting your symptoms until they subside.
• Being patient as your body recovers.

Visit our “60 Natural Ways To Reduce Stress” article for more ways to reduce stress.

As the body recovers from hyperstimulation, it stops exhibiting symptoms of hyperstimulation, including constipation.

Symptoms of chronic stress subside as the body regains its normal, non-hyperstimulated health.

However, eliminating hyperstimulation can take much longer than most people think, causing symptoms to linger longer than expected.

As long as the body is even slightly hyperstimulated, it can present symptoms of any type, number, intensity, duration, frequency, and at any time, including this one.

Even so, since constipation is a common symptom of stress, including anxiety-caused stress, it's harmless and needn't be a cause for concern. It will subside when unhealthy stress has been eliminated and the body has had sufficient time to recover. Therefore, there is no reason to worry about it.

Anxiety symptoms often linger because:

• The body is still being stressed (from stressful circumstances or anxious behavior).
• Your stress hasn't diminished enough or for long enough.
• Your body hasn't completed its recovery work.

Addressing the reason for lingering symptoms will allow the body to recover.

Most often, lingering anxiety symptoms ONLY remain because of the above reasons. They AREN'T a sign of a medical problem. This is especially true if you have had your symptoms evaluated by your doctor and they have been solely attributed to anxiety or stress.

Chronic anxiety symptoms subside when hyperstimulation is eliminated. As the body recovers and stabilizes, all chronic anxiety symptoms will slowly diminish and eventually disappear.

Since worrying and becoming upset about anxiety symptoms stress the body, these behaviors can interfere with recovery.

Passively accepting your symptoms – allowing them to persist without reacting to, resisting, worrying about, or fighting them – while doing your recovery work will cause their cessation in time.

Acceptance, practice, and patience are key to recovery.

Keep in mind that it can take a long time for the body to recover from hyperstimulation. It's best to faithfully work at your recovery despite the lack of apparent progress.

However, if you persevere with your recovery work, you will succeed.

You also have to do your recovery work FIRST before your body can recover. The cumulative effects of your recovery work will produce results down the road. And the body's stimulation has to diminish before symptoms can subside.

• Reducing stress.
• Increasing rest.
• Faithfully practicing your recovery strategies.
• Passively accepting your symptoms.
• Containing anxious behavior.
• Being patient.

These will bring results in time.

When you do the right work, the body has to recover!

Short-term strategies

Even though eliminating chronic stress (hyperstimulation) can eliminate anxiety-caused constipation, some people have found the following strategies helpful in reducing incidences of constipation.

However, keep in mind that each person can have a unique symptom experience since each person is somewhat physically, chemically, psychologically, and emotionally unique. What might work for one person might not for another.

• Increasing physical activity can release tight stomach and abdomen muscles, which in turn can allow the return of normal intestinal movement.
• Increasing fluid intake is one of the most important. When the body is sufficiently hydrated, the intestines have sufficient fluids for normal digestion and assimilation.
• Make healthy food choices. Natural and raw foods, such are raw fruits and vegetables, that are high in fibre can prevent constipation.
• Regular deep relaxation can reduce body tension, allowing the intestines to function normally.
• Increasing exercise can increase metabolism, which can also have a positive effect on the intestines. But one needs to ensure this increase isn’t too dramatic as to cause an elevation in anxiety symptoms.
• Change your food combining order so that simple foods are eaten first then followed by more complex foods, such as proteins. Eating foods in the right order can enhance the digestive process.
• Over-the-counter stool softeners can also be helpful in overcoming a bout of constipation.

If you’ve tried many or all of the above and are still experiencing persistent constipation, you may want to connect with Liliana Tosic, our recommended Nutritional Science Practitioner. She could provide an assessment and make recommendations for healthy change.

Moreover, you may want to talk with your doctor. A medication change could be required if medication is a factor.

Nevertheless, eliminating hyperstimulation and adopting a healthy lifestyle should eliminate issues with constipation.

Therapy

Unidentified and unaddressed underlying factors cause issues with anxiety. As such, they are the primary reason why anxiety symptoms persist.[6][7][8]

Addressing your underlying factors (Level Two recovery) is most important if you want lasting success.

Addressing Level Two recovery can help you:

• Contain anxious behavior.
• Become unafraid of anxiety symptoms and the strong feelings of anxiety.
• End anxiety symptoms.
• Successfully address the underlying factors that so often cause issues with anxiety.
• End what can feel like out-of-control worry.

All our recommended anxiety therapists have had anxiety disorder and overcame it. Their personal experience with anxiety disorder and their Master's Degree and above professional training gives them insight other therapists don't have.

If you want to achieve lasting success over anxiety disorder, any one of our recommended therapists would be a good choice.

Working with an experienced anxiety disorder therapist is the most effective way to treat anxiety disorder, especially if you have persistent symptoms and difficulty containing anxious behavior, such as worry.

In many cases, working with an experienced therapist is the only way to overcome stubborn anxiety.