Stress and your pelvic floor.
Stress is inevitable to life… we cannot control the world around us. That stress has real effects on our bodies, which is also inevitable… it’s biology! It effects our muscles, joints, GI tract, bladder function, pain perception, pelvic floor health, sexual response… really, everything!
But. We have a superpower.
We have the world’s greatest pharmacy between our ears. And we can use it to our advantage to keep our bodies healthy despite the world around us.
So. Let’s break it down.
How does stress effect our body?
I like to explain this in black and white, easy to understand analogies.
Imagine you are on a hike, and you see a growling grizzly bear.
When you see the bear, your brain senses danger, and your nervous system kicks into full gear to protect you. Through hormone communication (cortisol), your sympathetic nervous system (aka the “fight or flight” response) takes over. Your body’s resources are shunted to your limbs and muscles to help you run away or fight, rather than to organ systems like your GI tract or reproductive system.
Which makes sense right?
If you were running from the grizzly bear, you wouldn’t want your body spending energy digesting your lunch or making sure you ovulate/produce sperm.
So to put it simply, the stress response exists to keep us alive. And it effects nearly every system of our body (nervous system, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, genito-urinary, musculoskeletal systems). Below is a simple schematic to remember!
Luckily, we don’t run into bears very often. But we do run into stress quite a bit.
So here’s the kicker… this stress response system doesn’t really know the difference between a bear encounter vs. a stressful event during your daily life. So when you have a chaotic work day or stressful family situations, your nervous system is releasing cortisol and your body is responding all the same (though likely to a lesser extent compared to an actual life-threatening situation).
How does stress effect the pelvic floor?
Your pelvic floor muscles are uniquely tied to the emotion regulation centers of your brain. So when you are nervous, stressed, or scared- your pelvic floor muscles respond by contracting. This is part of the protective mechanism detailed above! Think: your pelvic floor surrounds vulnerable openings to your body. Contracting the muscles, closes the openings as a protective mechanism.
You can even test this out… next time you feel nervous or on high alert, tune into your pelvic floor. See if you are clenching the muscles like you are holding urine or gas.
Is this a problem?
It’s not really a problem in short term… but chronic stress can become problematic to your pelvic health. Again, we can’t live in a vacuum free of stress. It’s physiology that your pelvic floor responds to stressful events. But if you have excessive stress in your life and you don’t have good coping techniques, your sympathetic nervous system might be working on overdrive. When the sympathetic nervous system is chronically overactive, it chronically affects all of those bodily systems (GI tract, cardiovascular, reproductive system, musculoskeletal system).
(This is why chronic stress is so bad for us in general, resulting in higher rates of cardiac events, chronic pain, chronic constipation/diarrhea, and much more).
So, chronic and uncontrolled stress typically results in a pelvic floor that does not relax. And what we simply call: non-relaxing pelvic floor dysfunction or overactive pelvic floor dysfunction.
Here are some symptoms of pelvic floor tightness:
- Pelvic floor pain (pain in or near the vagina, rectum, anus, tailbone)
- Pain with sexual activity or intercourse
- Pain or difficulty inserting tampons/undergoing gynecological exams
- Chronic hip pain
- Low back pain
- Abdominal pain
- Bladder leakage, frequency, and/or painful urination
- Difficulty emptying bladder
- Bowel leakage, frequency, and/or pain with BMs
- Excessive straining to poop
- Feelings of vaginal/rectal heaviness
How to protect your pelvic floor from stress?
The best thing you can do for your whole body is to find a way to manage your daily stress. This can look so different for different people, or even the same person on different days!
One tip I have, is to think of stress management like snacking throughout your day- rather than eating a Thanksgiving meal at the end of it. If you manage your stress throughout the day, it’s going to be easier to tackle!
Here are some ideas that might help:
- Practice 1 minute of breathing every 1-2 hours. Set a timer to remind you! Try this technique: inhale for 4, exhale for 6. Do 10 rounds.
- Get up and stretch for 1 minute every 1-2 hours.
Try: deep squats + breathing, neck stretches, spinal twists, or cat cow. - Practice zone relaxation. Here is a link for my own program!
Try this: practice at night before bed, then incorporate into your day every 1-2 hours. - Move your body in any way you please! Movement is a huge benefit to stress management. It resets your brain and nervous system through hormone release from your brain.
My tip: movement is movement. It doesn’t matter what it is. Dancing in the kitchen, a walk around the block, parking in the “far spots” at the grocery, taking the stairs, at home yoga, stationary bike. Every bit adds up, I promise! - Try getting out of your head. Be creative like cooking/baking a new recipe, painting, drawing, coloring books, writing. Read a “hard-to-put-down” book. Practice meditation and mindfullness (use a guided app!).
- Tune in with your pelvic floor and your body.
Try this: every 1-2 hours during your day, turn your mental focus towards your pelvic floor. Assess whether you are holding tension (are you holding a non-existant fart?). Try to breathe and release your muscles.
I hope this post is helpful. These are topics I talk with my patients about on a daily basis, as this issue is so prevalent in pelvic floor issues.
If you still have questions, feel free to send a message via our contact page. If you are local to SLC and interested in understanding your body better, click below to schedule a free consult or evaluation.
Cheers, to managing stress!
Sam