Can anxiety cause diarrhea?
Yes, anxiety can cause diarrhea, cramping low in the belly, and a sudden urge to go. In alert mode, stress hormones make your large intestine squeeze faster and harder, so food moves through before your body can draw water back out of it.
Try the practice nowWhat happens in your gut
Your gut and your brain are wired together through the vagus nerve and the gut's own large network of nerves. Worry can be felt in your body as a sudden urge to go.
Alert mode is built for running from a threat, so it drops what does not help you run, including calm digestion. Stress hormones make your large intestine squeeze faster and harder than it does at rest.
When your large intestine speeds up, food moves through more quickly and there is less time to draw water back out of it. Stool comes out loose or urgent, along with cramping low in your belly. This often happens before an exam, a flight, or a big meeting.
Why the urge builds up
Worrying about having an accident or about finding a toilet in time raises the alarm again, which speeds the gut up. Many people start planning their day around toilets.
Anxiety diarrhea is not dangerous in itself. It usually settles once the stress passes.
Why it keeps coming back
After weeks of anxiety, your body can stop switching between rest mode and alert mode and stay in alert mode. Because your body holds that state, symptoms can show up on days you do not feel anxious, or first thing in the morning.
This state is trainable with daily practice. A long, slow exhale signals the body to move back toward rest.
Try Cadence Breathing right now
- Sit upright, or lie on your back if that is easier. Relax your jaw and close your eyes or keep a soft gaze.
- Breathe in lightly through the nose for a count of 3, hold gently for 3, then breathe out smoothly and slowly for 6, without straining.
- If you run short of air, use 2, 2 and 4 instead.
- Continue for ten rounds.
When to check with a doctor
- You see blood in your stool, or your stool is black and tar-like.
- You have signs of dehydration: very dark pee or hardly any, feeling dizzy or very thirsty (call emergency services if you are confused or have not peed all day).
- You have severe belly pain or a high fever.
- It has lasted more than 7 days.
- Your bowel habits have changed for 3 weeks or more, especially if you are over 50, or you feel very tired for no reason.
- It wakes you at night, or you are losing weight without trying.
- It started after travel abroad or a course of antibiotics.
Practice with the Stateshift app
Common questions
What should I eat or drink when anxiety gives me diarrhea?
Sipping water replaces the fluid you lose when stool moves through too quickly. While your gut is unsettled, it helps to skip caffeine, alcohol, and fatty or very spicy food, because all of these can make loose stools and urgency worse.
Could recurring loose stools be IBS?
Anxiety and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) often go together. If loose stools, cramps, and bloating keep coming back for months, a doctor can check for IBS, which is common and treatable.