Discover how childhood trauma affects your nervous system and digestion, and learn practical strategies for healing both systems together. This episode explores the brain-gut connection and offers comprehensive recovery pathways.

Healing trauma isn't just about processing memories or changing thought patterns—it's also about restoring healthy nervous system function. Your body's responses make sense given what you've been through, and healing is absolutely possible.
doctors told me that my disgestion issue (leading to big lost of weight) is due to the nervous system. When digging i realized that the cause might a be a sexual abuse when I was around 3 years old. What can I do to solve this? And what can I do to heal the nervous system? I want the most exhaustive list of things that I can put in place to heal and be able to digest and absorb food well


Criado por ex-alunos da Universidade de Columbia em San Francisco
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Criado por ex-alunos da Universidade de Columbia em San Francisco

Lena: Hey everyone, welcome to today's episode. Miles, I've been dealing with some digestive issues lately that my doctor says might be connected to stress. It got me thinking about how our emotional state affects our physical health, especially digestion. Is that really a thing?
Miles: It absolutely is, Lena. What you're experiencing touches on something fascinating called the brain-gut connection. Did you know that trauma, particularly early childhood trauma like sexual abuse, can actually rewire how your nervous system functions and directly impact your digestion?
Lena: Wait, seriously? That seems like such a strange connection—from emotional trauma to physical digestive problems.
Miles: Right, but it's backed by solid research. Our gut actually has its own nervous system with about 100 million nerve cells! Scientists call it the "enteric nervous system" or sometimes the "second brain." And get this—trauma can disrupt the normal communication between your brain and gut, leading to everything from IBS to difficulty absorbing nutrients.
Lena: That's wild. I had no idea these systems were so interconnected. So people dealing with unexplained digestive issues might actually be experiencing the physical effects of past trauma?
Miles: Exactly. And what makes this particularly challenging is that many people don't even realize the connection. Let's explore how this brain-gut pathway actually works and what science tells us about healing both systems together.