The new studies suggest that the vagus nervous system is strongly connected to the gut nerves, which explains the pathophysiology of several diseases, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), especially during acute flareups where stress leads to digestive symptoms.

 

We are each born with a unique nutrition and health ‘savings account’ – some are granted extra funds (via genetics, early diet, happiness, a healthy environment) while others enter the world already depleted. Each time we experience stress it draws on our reserves, syphoning credit away and gradually eating into our squirrelled stash. Eventually we enter the red – the timing is different for everyone, and once ‘bankrupt’, illness can emerge.

We recognise how stressful thoughts are linked to physical stress, like imagining a future situation creating tension in the body. The question is; does thinking create stress, or does stress create thinking? Do our minds create fear, or does fear create our thoughts?