The Beauty of Happiness in subsiding IBS symptoms

What is happiness and what does it mean to you?

This week, September 21^st to 26^th, we will be celebrating international week of happiness and are looking into what it means to be happy, the best strategies to maintain feelings of happiness, and what it looks like to find happiness while experiencing IBS.

Happiness is an important emotion we feel that contributes to our quality of life.  Happiness relates to and can range from feelings of contentment to feelings of intense joy. It is characterised by a feeling of fulfilment, contentment and satisfaction.

Feelings of happiness are different for everyone, and no one is expected to feel happy all the time. In fact, finding balance in your emotions from happiness to sadness, to everything between is an important element to our experience in life.

Our top tips for happiness are:

Finding freedom in happiness
Through our learned experiences, we are capable of feeling a range of emotions. With the overarching stressors of work, school, social life, and family, we can often get caught up in the negative emotions and can sometimes find ourselves longing for feelings of happiness. Therefore, it is important to grasp onto the feelings of happiness when they arise and find freedom in it. What this may look like is noticing a positive change in your mood and sitting with it, recognising where it came from and attributing time to maintaining it.

Practicing meditation is a simple way to do this. Meditation includes the act sitting in silence in a dedicated space and undertaking self-reflection to consider how you’re feeling at the time. Headspace has a great meditation for beginners and is helpful in forming a positive routine in achieving happiness at home.
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Setting routines that serve you and your happiness
Forming healthy routines are another great way of achieving happiness. This may include introducing exercise into your routine.  Whether that includes a daily walk with a friend, crushing a HIIT routine at the gym or introducing a yoga-flow every other day, it is completely individual and should be reflective of your work, social life and the many other elements of your daily routine.

Another example of setting a healthy routine is partaking in hobbies which fuel your happiness.  Hobbies help with maintaining positive mindset in your downtime. Completing hobbies, alone or with a group can help with stress management and achieving self-efficacy in your day to day life.

Happiness and IBS

There is no doubt that those who experience IBS symptoms may also experience low moods. We are here to tell you that, that’s okay. There is undeniable evidence relating gut health issues with poor mental health. However, that doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve happiness in your life.

Sometimes the first step in achieving happiness is recognising the impact of IBS symptoms on your daily life and coming to terms with it. This is not an easy process and you should give yourself credit for it. Recognising this impact provides you with clarity to help yourself, with dietary advice but also with social interaction, personal growth and professional help. Happiness is achievable for every person and it is normal to go through fluctuations at many points in the day.

The best strategies for managing mood when following a Low FODMAP diet:

1. 1. Recognise that food is not everything – you are more than your diet and your chronic condition(s)
   Following a low FODMAP diet can sometimes feel like it takes up your whole life, but it is important to acknowledge that you function beyond what you eat. As mentioned above, spending time doing things you enjoy – like hobbies, exercise or time with friends make up an important element to your life. We acknowledge that following a low FODMAP diet can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. Explore recipes that you enjoy on the FODMAP Friendly website here. These websites provide delicious, achievable recipes that make following a Low FODMAP diet easier and more enjoyable.

1. 2. Sleep and stress management
   Introducing a balanced sleep routine can help with managing stress levels, and thus happiness. Achieving a consistent sleep schedule in line with your routine calms and restores the body, improves concentration and problem solving in your day to day. These naturally help with achieving a positive mood in your life. It is recommended that adults achieve 7-9 hours of sleep a night for adequate management of your mood.

1. 3. Consider professional help
   – Gut health trained psychologist – Seeking professional help from a gut-health trained psychologists is a great option for those looking for additional assistance. Gut health trained psychologists provide treatments towards the gut-brain connection to improve symptoms management and coping skills to reduce stress.
   – Gut directed hypnotherapy – is designed to treat functional gut disorders like IBS. Gut directed hypnotherapy has recently emerged and is considered safe in influencing gut-brain axis. Gut directed hypnotherapy provide suggestions for the control and normalisation of GI function to subconscious part of the mind. Evidence suggests that it reduces GI symptoms and has sustained benefits of improved psychological indices including anxiety and depression.

In summary

Happiness is an important part of our day to day lives. Those experiencing IBS and IBS-like symptoms are not exempt from this.

Our top tips for achieving happiness while simultaneously experiencing IBS are to set a routine which helps with achieving happiness in you. This may include starting an exercise routine, maintaining and/or starting a new hobby and ensuring you maintain a good sleep routine specific to your needs. Seeking professional advice through gut health trained psychological help or gut directed hypnotherapy is also alternative options for achieving and maintaining a good mood.

Seek professional help for mental health support.

Written by Kelly Bramble, Accredited Practising Dietitian
Reviewed by Kiarra Martindale, Accredited Practising Dietitian