Why stress can cause diarrhoea and what you can do about it

While you might associate stress with chest pain, a racing heartbeat or symptoms of a mental health condition, stress can also cause gut-related symptoms, including diarrhoea.

Stress can cause diarrhoea by activating your body’s fight-or-flight response.

It can also speed up the pace of food passing through your gut and increase how much fluid your gut secretes. Each factor can lead to frequent, loose, watery poos.

In this article, we explore what happens when stress causes diarrhoea. We also describe how to treat and manage both stress and diarrhoea when they happen.

Other symptoms that could appear

When you have diarrhoea, your poo is loose and watery, and you may need to go more often than usual.

You may also be experiencing some of these symptoms of stress:

• headaches
• dizziness
• muscle pain
• chest pain
• a racing heartbeat
• reduced sex drive
• difficulty concentrating
• difficulty making decisions
• increased worrying
• forgetfulness
• feeling overwhelmed
• irritability

If you have diarrhoea but none of these symptoms, something other than stress may be causing changes to your poo.

How long does stress-induced diarrhoea last?

If your diarrhoea results from stress, you may continue to have loose, watery poos until the stress has gone away.

Diarrhoea from an infection, on the other hand, tends to last for up to 1 week.

If it lasts longer than this, you should speak with your doctor.

What’s the link between stress and IBS?

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a condition that affects your digestive system.

While experts aren’t sure what causes it, some think that stress can play a role in some cases.

There’s some evidence of an association between stressful events early in life and the development of IBS. Also, stress can worsen IBS symptoms for some people.

Diarrhoea is one possible symptom of IBS, so if you have this condition, stress could lead to more frequent toilet visits.

Learn more about IBS flare-ups.

Treatments for diarrhoea

One of the most important strategies, when you have diarrhoea, is to drink plenty of fluids. You run the risk of dehydration if you don’t replace the fluids you lose while pooing.

Diarrhoea also causes you to lose electrolytes. These are minerals that your body needs to function properly, and they include sodium and potassium.

Normally, you’ll get your electrolytes from food, so it’s important to have solid foods when you feel able to.

You can also get electrolytes from oral rehydration solutions. These are usually powders you can mix with water, and you can find a number of options at shops and pharmacies.

In terms of your diet, try eating bland, easy-to-digest foods, such as:

• bananas
• toast
• porridge
• white rice
• soup

If your diarrhoea lasts longer than a week, your doctor may consider medication to treat it. For instance, a medicine called loperamide works to reduce the movement of your gut muscles.

However, the treatment largely depends on what’s causing your diarrhoea. Doctors usually aim to address this cause, so if they think it’s stress, they’ll focus on trying to manage that.

Learn more tips for dealing with diarrhoea.

Managing stress

Stress is how your body responds to what it thinks is a threat. 

While small amounts of stress are important for dealing with these threats, too much stress can take its toll, leading to many negative physical and mental health effects.

The gut-brain axis is the two-way communication between your gut and your brain. These areas of your body are connected by a network of nerves that runs from the brain to the gut. 

So, if you’re experiencing mental stress, your gut will feel physically stressed, and this affects how it functions.

Identifying the cause of stress is key to managing it – this can be the first step towards figuring out what helps.

In the meantime, try to eat healthily when you can. It can be tempting to turn to things like caffeine, alcohol and comfort foods – which are typically higher in fat, salt and sugar – to feel better. 

But evidence shows that they can all lower your mood. They could also worsen gut symptoms, including diarrhoea.

Things that can help relieve some stress include:

• physical activity, like walking, yoga, pilates and other forms of exercise
• relaxation techniques, such as breathing exercises and meditation
• distracting yourself with something you enjoy, like reading a book or magazine, watching a film, having a bath or baking 
• booking something to look forward to, like a concert, an afternoon tea or a massage
• challenging negative thoughts
• focusing on things you can change, rather than those you can’t
• talking to someone, such as a friend, a family member or a doctor

Learn more about how stress can affect your gut.

Prevention tips

Identifying what’s triggering stress is the first step towards preventing stress-induced diarrhoea.

While you might not be able to avoid every trigger, knowing what they are can make them easier to manage and reduce their effect on you.

Stress can arise when you feel like you’re losing control of a situation. As a result, doing things that give you a sense of control can make a difference.

Try planning ahead when you know you’ll face something that might cause stress. Making to-do lists, planning out journeys and rehearsing things to say can help you feel more in control when the time comes.

Meanwhile, an infection is another common cause of diarrhoea. You can reduce your risk of infections by:

• washing your hands thoroughly after going to the loo
• washing your hands thoroughly before prepping or eating food
• disinfecting the loo after someone with diarrhoea has used it
• making sure food is properly cooked
• trying not to share towels or cutlery (without cleaning them first)

Other reasons for diarrhoea

As we just mentioned, stress isn’t the only factor that can lead to diarrhoea. Other possible causes include:

• an infection from bacteria, a virus or a parasite
• a food intolerance
• medication – over 700 types are associated with diarrhoea
• a course of antibiotics
• an underlying health condition, like IBS or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
• recent surgery

If a week passes, you still have diarrhoea, and it doesn’t seem related to stress, your doctor can look into other possible causes.

When to speak with a doctor

If your diarrhoea lasts longer than 7 days without getting better, you should speak with your doctor.

You should also contact a doctor if you notice any blood in your poo, if your poo is really dark or black, or if you’re also vomiting a lot and unable to keep down fluids.

When it comes to stress, speak with your doctor if you’re finding it hard to cope, for example, if what you’re doing to manage stress isn’t making any difference.  

Summary

Stress can cause diarrhoea. You may experience this (or other gut symptoms) due to the effect of your body’s fight-or-flight response on your digestive system.

While diarrhoea from an infection tends to clear up within a week, stress-induced diarrhoea can last until the cause of your stress has been resolved.

If you have diarrhoea, be sure to stay hydrated by drinking fluids regularly. 

Try to eat small amounts of soft, bland foods when you can. If you’re still having frequent, loose, watery poos after a week has passed, get in touch with your doctor. 

To learn more about IBS and other gut health topics, visit Symprove’s Gut Hub.

Sources

Chronic diarrhea. StatPearls. (2023). Link.

Diarrhea. StatPearls. (2022). Link.

Diarrhoea. (2023). Link. 

Diet, stress and mental health. Nutrients. (2020). Link.

Impact of psychological stress on irritable bowel syndrome. World Journal of Gastroenterology. (2014). Link.

Irritable bowel syndrome. (2021). Link.

Stress. (2022). Link.