Over the years, clients have come to see me for stress management and to treat their physical symptoms. Common physical symptoms include; high blood pressure, weight gain, headaches and stomach issue like IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). The symptoms of IBS can be debilitating. Some of these symptoms include; bloating, depression, anxiety, abdominal pain, and difficulty having bowel movements. Many people do not realize that IBS can drastically be reduced with stress reduction techniques. My clients have experienced less cramping and less pain after implementing these new techniques into their lives. IBS goes hand in hand with stress, anxiety disorders and depression.

A few basic and helpful skills that can help reduce symptoms include; learning breathing techniques, effective confrontational skills and effective eating habits. A very simple way to start incorporating breathing techniques into your life is to do 10 deep breaths 3 times a day. The key to effective breathing is to breath using your diaphragm and inhale with a 5 second count, then exhale with a 5 second count . Another method of managing stress is to start looking at how much you internalize your feelings. If you find that you do not express yourself when something bothers you, it may be helpful to start changing this pattern.

Changing the way you express your feelings can be done simply by implementing something called the WIN formula. This stands for WHEN (you did this) I (felt this) and NEED ( you to this). For example, let’s say you had plans with a friend and they cancelled on you at the last minute. If you were non-confrontational you would tell your friend that it is not a problem. This results in them holding all the frustration and anger inside. Instead of approaching the situation like this, a positive approach to this would be to call the friend up and say: "When you cancelled on me I was really upset that you did not give me more notice and I would really appreciate that in the future you could let me know ahead of time". People who do not confront tend to not realize how much this can impact their IBS, but time and time again I see the difference it makes.

Eating is another area that can affect this, emotional eating is a big trigger. Writing down your feelings before you emotionally eat is a great way to start learning to decipher when you are emotional eating and when you are truly hungry.


Natalie Shay is a National Stress Management Coach and Career Counsellor. She has experience working with hundreds of large Canadian Organizations. Natalie has helped her clients improve their life and learn how to be happy in their career by learning and implementing new stress coping skills. Call 416.579.9105 to arrange a complimentary 30 minute stress health assessment. Available for a limited time only.