LATEST NEWS: Stress is more than just a state of mind

In 2023, IBD impairs the lives of around 1.6 million Americans, and stress has been speculated to be a leading cause. More evidence has been uncovered regarding the physiological effects of stress on the human body. University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine recently used animal models to identify links between chronic stress and inflammatory gastrointestinal (GI) tract diseases in the bowels. Symptoms of stress - difficulty breathing, panic attacks, sleep problems, etc - manifest into symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) - rectal bleeding, anemia, fatigue, abdominal pain, etc. The journey of cell communication in begins in the central nervous systems, where glial cells communicate stress signals to the enteric nervous system in the GI tract. When stress is constantly communicated, ENS function is impaired, causing malfunction of the system accompanied with painful symptoms.