#111 Why Trauma Affects Your Gut | Nervous System & Digestion

#111 Why Trauma Affects Your Gut | Nervous System & Digestion

How do people cope with the challenges of staying sober or simply calmer when their own body seems to be working against them? This episode of *The Trauma Recovery School* zooms in on a question many anxious, traumatised people quietly ask: why does my stomach go haywire the minute life gets stressful? Master trauma recovery therapist Bonita Ackerman du Preez breaks down the gut–brain connection in plain language.

She starts with a familiar scenario: you feel stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed and your stomach reacts almost instantly. Bloating, nausea, unpredictable digestion… and years of diets, supplements, and appointments that never quite fix it. As she puts it, "your stomach is not just reacting to what you're eating, but how unsafe your body feels." Bonita explains how the nervous system constantly talks to the digestive system.

When the brain senses danger, the body shifts into survival mode and digestion is pushed to the bottom of the priority list. Energy is diverted to staying safe rather than breaking down food, digestive enzymes reduce, and the gut becomes more sensitive and irregular. You’ll hear how trauma and PTSD can keep the nervous system stuck in this survival state for long periods, making digestive issues feel random when they’re anything but.

Everyday triggers like a difficult conversation, work pressure, or emotional arguments often line up with stomach symptoms, showing how "this stuff isn’t random. This is your nervous system influencing your digestion." The hopeful message running through the episode is that change is possible. As the nervous system starts to feel safe again, digestion can settle too.

Bonita talks about helping clients understand their behaviour patterns, past trauma and PTSD, and using a structured process to retrain the nervous system so the body can find balance again. If your gut has been screaming while your tests are "normal", could it be time to ask what your nervous system is trying to say?