Although well-meaning friends and relatives may tell you “Just relax, you will be fine”, this is often easier said then done. Like any skill, learning how to calm your body takes practice. If you have IBS, learning and practicing relaxation exercises will be time well spent due to the complicated interaction between stress and our digestive systems. As you learn these skills, you will find that they may become some of the most important tools in your IBS toolkit.

Thoughts can be powerful things. They have the power to affect how we feel, both emotionally and physically. If you suffer from IBS, it may be worth your while to become aware of whether or not certain thoughts have the potential to trigger or exacerbate your symptoms. Once you begin to identify those thoughts, you can then replace problematic thoughts with thoughts that have a more beneficial effect on your digestive system.

Why are some thoughts problematic? Our brains are responsible for taking in and making sense of enormous amounts of information. In the process of synthesizing all of this information, our brains are prone to making certain cognitive errors, which cognitive therapists label as distortions or irrational thoughts.