Sleep, Stress and Digestion

A six-day study guide from Dr. Raj Dhadwal, MBBS, 25 years in practice.

Sleep, stress and digestion are one system wearing three names. Fix one and the other two move. Six days, one lever each.

Day 1. See the loop

A bad night makes you reach for sugar and coffee. Sugar and coffee unsettle the stomach. An unsettled stomach and a wired mind make the next night worse. Most people attack the symptom that is loudest that week. The loop does not care.

Do this: for one day, write down when you slept, when you felt stressed, and when your stomach complained. Look for the order.

Day 2. The evening cut-off

Do this: no caffeine after 2 p.m., no large meal within three hours of bed, screens off thirty minutes before. Three rules, one evening.

Day 3. Breathe like you mean it

Stress lives in the breath. Short, high, fast breathing tells the body there is a threat, and a body under threat does not digest or sleep.

Do this: three times a day, six slow breaths: in through the nose for four counts, out through the mouth for six. Before meals is the best time.

Day 4. Feed the gut, not the craving

Do this: one fermented food a day (yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi) and one extra serving of vegetables. Whole fruit instead of juice.

Day 5. Move the stress out

Stress that is not moved is stored.

Do this: a twenty-minute walk in the evening, without headphones, without a phone in your hand. Let the day settle.

Day 6. Protect the morning

How the night ends is decided by how the morning starts. Read The Morning Reset if you have not.

Do this: water, outdoor light and ten minutes of movement before the first screen. Run all six days together for a week.

Where a consultation comes in: if the loop has been running for years, it usually has a cause underneath it. In a consultation we look for it together and write the plan. Specialists share education, not medical advice; bring what you learn back to your own doctor.