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Understanding IBS & the Gut–Brain Connection

Clear, practical articles to help you understand IBS and other disorders of gut–brain interaction, the gut–brain connection, gut-directed hypnotherapy, anxiety and stress.

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Understanding IBS

Gut Directed Hypnotherapy

Gut Brain Connection

IBS Anxiety and Stress

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What Is irritable bowel syndrome?

Gut-directed hypnotherapy

- an effective IBS treatement

Your Gut Has Its Own Nervous System

FREE IBS ROADMAP

Is It Just Stress?

IBS is not “just stress”, but stress and anxiety can influence how gut symptoms are experienced. This article explores the gut–brain connection, why symptoms can become harder to ignore, and where gut-directed hypnotherapy may fit within a broader IBS treatment approach.

Tony Yuile 11/26/25 Tony Yuile 11/26/25

How chronic stress and IBS are related

A large body of research tells us that chronic stress poses a serious risk to our health. Long term exposure to cortisol wreaks havoc on our body and disrupts our digestive systems causing conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Tony Yuile 6/9/21 Tony Yuile 6/9/21

Stress and IBS

One of the main goals of the Freedom From IBS program is to reduce activation of the Stress (Threat) Response and increase activation of the Rest and Digest Response. Achieving this helps break the IBS related stress cycle and enables the digestive system to return to normal functioning again.

Tony Yuile 6/9/21 Tony Yuile 6/9/21

Less Stress Equals Less IBS Symptoms

One particular trigger that many IBS sufferers have in common is stress. Stress is not only a trigger, it can also make symptoms worse. This can create a vicious cycle in which stress triggers IBS symptoms and then the symptoms themselves cause stress and anxiety thus exacerbating the symptoms, and on and on … .

Tony Yuile 6/2/21 Tony Yuile 6/2/21

Stress is the number one cause of digestive disorders

Stress is the number one cause of digestive disorders so it pays to know what stress is and where it comes from.

With an understanding of what stress is and how we come to experience it, we are better placed to acquire the skills and tools we need to prevent and to manage our stress to best effect.