Transcript*:

Hello dear friends. It’s Dr. Sarah. As I am recording this video, we are right in the middle of the holiday season!

This time of year can be beautiful and joyous, but it can also be hectic and stressful. Besides the usual daily hassles, the extra hustle, bustle, holiday triggers, and diet culture messages can rob us of our holiday cheer and cause emotional and digestive distress.

This is why I started a series of tips to help you calm your brain and body. In this way, you can better appreciate these precious times and all the deliciousness it brings.

In my first video, I explained the bidirectional relationship between stress and the gut. I also provided you with a few simple tools to help soothe the mind and digestive tract. These included eating nurturing foods, taking probiotics, and relaxation. Finally, I revealed the most evidence-based essential oil for relieving holiday bloat and an upset belly, peppermint oil.

In my previous video, I dug deeper into getting to the root cause of chronic gut problems. I explored some important basic and functional labs to consider for assessing digestive function. Next, I summarized several naturopathic and functional medicine interventions to ease irritable tummies. These included digestive enzymes and supportive nutrients, lifestyle practices, and foods that support microbiome health. Most importantly, I reiterated why balance with food, and not giving into the blame-shame-game of diet culture, is the healthiest dietary option of all.

Now, I will finish off this series discussing some of my favorite digestive herbs, supplements, essential oils, and holistic tools to calm a stressed-out gut and mind.

As a gentle reminder, all the links to the resources, studies, and previous posts and articles will be at the end of the video transcript.

So, let’s get started.

Herbs and Supplements for Stressed-Out Guts

Herbs have a very interesting relationship with the gut. They interact with the gut microbiome, the residential flora in our intestines, in two distinct ways.

First, our “belly bugs” “digest” the plant material into metabolites. These compounds act as signals to influence biological functions. Secondly, these metabolites alter the composition of the GI microbiota and their secretions. This leads to physiological changes as a result of the gut-brain connection via the vagus nerve and/or through the metabolites being assimilated into circulation.

Herbs and plant compounds can produce a variety of effects on the mind and body due to these shifts. In fact, the National Institute of Medical Herbalists states, “Recent preclinical and clinical evidence shows that herbal medicine can treat depression by reducing anxiety resulting from chronic stress, decreasing inflammation, restoring sleep and disrupted circadian rhythms, promoting healthy gut bacteria, and balancing thyroid and ovarian hormones.”

I will now share some specific herbs and supplements I have used in my own practice to relieve stressed out guts and calm the brain.

• Clove, turmeric, and ginger which all act as antimicrobials, anti-inflammatories, and antioxidants. They can help to ward off infections and calm inflamed intestines.
• Demulcent herbs, such as licorice and slippery elm. These soothe irritated tissue of the stomach and GI tract in those with GERD, ulcers, and inflamed guts.
• Nutrients and supplements can additionally be helpful to replenish deficiencies from malabsorption and modulate intestinal health. For example, we discussed minerals and digestive enzymes in our last video.
• Another favorite supplement of mine is one that you may not think of for the gut. It’s the sleep hormone, melatonin. It has evidence in human trials to support a healthy stomach and digestive tract lining.
• Finally, probiotics deserve another mention. Those in the genus lactobacillus and bifidobacterium have clinical studies demonstrating their ability to alleviate several gastrointestinal conditions. They also have been found to favorably alter the gut and brain to decrease symptoms of stress and anxiety.

Essential Oils for Digestive and Gut Health

As previously mentioned, essential oils have many properties that aid digestion. They are antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidants (alleviating cellular stress), soothing to the mucosa, and support the mind-body connection.

Essential oils have also been shown to be beneficial to the microbiome. Evidence is pointing to the fact that they tend to decrease pathogens and detrimental microbiota overgrowth while sparing, or enhancing, beneficial microbes.

Some of my favorite essential oils for overall gut health include:

• peppermint
• frankincense and myrrh
• cardamom
• oregano and thyme
• ginger
• fennel
• juniper
• tarragon
• copaiba

Essential Oils for the Mind-Body Connection and Taming Stress

Essential oils are known to calm the brain, which is another way they can soothe gut irritation. Previously, I discussed nine ways that certain essential oils have been found to support our bodies during stress. These include:

1. reducing cortisol, the stress hormone
2. modulating brain signals (neurotransmitters)
3. shifting our brainwaves
4. calming our emotions
5. enhancing cognition
6. supporting cellular physiology
7. working directly on our emotional brain, causing an immediate shift in our perception (imperative for modulating stress)
8. evoking memories and transforming our mood through their aroma
9. interacting with odor receptors throughout our whole body, influencing our biochemical pathways and physical state

Three specific essential oils that have small, yet impressive human clinical data on lowering cortisol, the stress hormone, include lavender, clary sage, and bergamot. I have also used several essential oil blends in my practice to tame cortisol. My favorites are the Stress Relief Blend and the Joyful Blend.

Starting at the level of the mind, and balancing the physiological effects of stress, essential oils can be a powerful way to keep calm, refresh the mind-body, and to achieve better overall wellness.

Holistic Stress Relief

Along with supporting digestive health with herbs and supplements and using essential oils to support the gut and brain, several holistic modalities can also favorably rescue the cellular (epigenetic) pathways that can get hijacked by stress. Adding them to any health protocol can be beneficial. They include:

• mind-body techniques
• laughter
• relaxation
• lifestyle practices (sleep, habits, etc.)
• self-care techniques

Summary: Herbs, Supplements, Essential Oils, and Stress-Relief for Calmer Holiday Minds and Bellies

The holidays can be just as overwhelming as jubilant. Stress impacts everything from our gut to our brain. Thankfully, we have tools to calm our minds and support our digestion.

Using targeted herbs to calm inflammation, ward of infections, and soothe irritated tissue can bring relief to stressed-out guts. Digestive enzymes and probiotics can further support assimilation of foods and nutrients which can be altered from stress physiology. Additionally, the multi-faceted actions of essential oils can address digestive issues as they ease our minds and shift our perception. Finally, adding holistic stress relief can round out these supportive measures.

All these modalities can be appropriately incorporated into a wellness practice. In this way we can achieve balance and fully immerse and enjoy our holidays, without guilt, shame, or tummy aches.

I hope this information can help you to feel comfortable in your belly and brain.

As a reminder, if you have tried the basics and still can’t get to the bottom of your chronic digestive issues, consulting with a naturopathic and/or functional medicine doctor may be the next step for you. They will assist you in finding and remediating the contributors to a stressed-out gut while offering personalized support for your mind-body health.

Many blessings for a beautiful holiday season ahead and I’ll be back soon.

If you like this content, please spread the word by subscribing to my YouTube channel and newsletter. This will allow us to reach more people and help to empower them with natural health information and safe, evidence-based essential oil education.

As a subscriber yourself, you’ll stay up to date on my latest clinical tips, blogs, news, and podcasts. You will also be the first to hear about the release of my upcoming brain health program!

Resources:

• Stressed-Out Holiday Guts Part I: How Stress Impacts Digestion and the Go-To Essential Oil for Holiday Bloat and Upset Bellies (My clinical tip with references)
• How Stress Messes with Your Gut (The Gut-Stress Axis) (My article and video with references)
• How Did Diet Culture Take Over Healthcare, the Fitness Industry, Nutrition, and Society? (My article with references)
• Naturopathic and Functional Medicine for Optimizing Digestive Health and Soothing Stressed-Out Guts (My article with references)
• Your “Gut Brain” – Why You Need to Know About Your “Second Brain” and How it Influences Your Mood (My article with references)
• Essential Oils for Digestion & When Bugs Go Awry (My article with references)
• An Update: Do Essential Oils Harm Our Microbiome? (Ep. 394 of the Essential Oil Revolution podcast)
• Why Can’t I Focus? Part 2: Five Essential Oils to Boost Focus, Energy, and Cognitive Health (My clinical tip with references)
• Exploring the Gut-Stress Connection (Integrative Practitioner)
• The impact of peppermint oil on the irritable bowel syndrome: a meta-analysis of pooled clinical data (BMC Complementary Alternative Medicine. 2019)
• Systematic review and meta-analysis: efficacy of peppermint oil in irritable bowel syndrome (Aliment Pharmacology Therapy. 2022)
• Peppermint oil for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis (Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology. 2014 July)
• Antibacterial and antioxidant activities of Mentha piperita L. (Arabian Journal of Chemistry. 2015)
• A review of the bioactivity and potential health benefits of peppermint tea (Mentha piperita L.) (Phytotherapy Research 2006)
• Herbal Medicine: A Multi-targeted Treatment for Depression (National Institute of Medical Herbalists. 2020)
• 5 Essential Oils to Lower Stress and Increase Happiness Over the Holidays (and Every day) (My article with references)

*Transcript has been edited for grammar and ease of reading.