About one in five Australians live with irritable bowel syndrome, a gastrointestinal disorder affecting the large intestine. While some patients consider it a slight nuisance, IBS is a source of great misery, stress, and disruption for many. Therefore, early diagnosis and management of the symptoms are essential to improving your quality of life. While IBS patients have access to many treatment options, most have turned to mindfulness meditation since it has proved to be an effective alternative. This article highlights how mindfulness meditation can help relieve and manage IBS symptoms.

Stress Reduction

According to experts, stress is causative and a resultant agent of IBS symptoms if you consider that the gastrointestinal (GI) tract has the second-highest number of neurons after the brain. Therefore, the GI tract is highly susceptible to stress factors that exacerbate IBS symptoms. Therefore, if you experience a lot of stress in your life, the chances are high that your IBS symptoms will be severe and difficult to manage. Thus, learning stress management techniques can help reduce the severity of IBS symptoms, which is what mindfulness meditation tries to achieve. For instance, techniques such as controlled breathing and improved posture help patients learn how to block out stressing factors; hence, improving issues such as bowel movements.

Improve Awareness

The average human brain focuses on the past and the future rather than the present. Unfortunately, reflecting on what has happened or could happen only worsens IBS symptoms. For instance, it is easy to focus on your past IBS experiences if you have lived with the disorder since childhood. Such experiences constantly put your nervous system in flight-or-fight mode as you anticipate the same bad experiences in the future. Since your mind continually lingers in the past and the future, it is difficult to focus on managing your present symptoms. Mindfulness meditation teaches your brain to concentrate all energies, thought, and emotions on the present and how you can manage IBS symptoms better.

Reduce Pain Sensations

Moderate to severe pain is a common IBS symptom, and it can easily disrupt your social and work life. Since IBS is a disorder of internal sensations, most people resort to medication for pain relief. However, mindfulness meditation is an equally effective pain management technique for IBS patients. While it trains the mind to focus on the inside, mindfulness meditation also teaches you to transfer attention to your immediate surrounding. Thus, mindfulness meditation helps block out bouts of pain sensation by focusing more on your external environment. Over time, you learn to lead a pain-free life for long periods, improving your quality of life.

To learn more about IBS treatments, talk to a medical professional.