Metabolizing Emotions: What Your Body's Physical Symptoms Are Trying to Tell You

I recently had the great pleasure of being on Sara Stansberry’s podcast, How to Blow Up Your Life. We discussed the intersection between emotional health and physical symptoms, the impact of expression on bodily inflammation, and how to begin to metabolize emotions. I’m sharing some highlights below, but I highly encourage you to listen to the full podcast here!

Physical Symptoms as Emotional Messengers

Beyond textbooks and continuing education learning, we as doctors often come to understand our patients more through personal experience. On the podcast, I shared a personal experience about how unprocessed grief from my mother’s death and inability to have the funeral manifested as physical symptoms in my body. When the emotion was finally allowed the space to process, the physical symptom vanished almost instantly. This phenomenon isn’t uncommon. 

Unprocessed emotions commonly show up as vague physical symptoms, including: 

• Generalized abdominal pain 

• Fatigue 

• Headaches

• Insomnia

• … And so many others. 

To be clear, it’s not that these symptoms aren’t real; it's that the root cause was not likely something biological but instead emotional. 

The Hidden Cost of Unexpressed Emotions

How many times have you sat in a meeting while you listened to your boss yammer on about something absolutely wild? Or stifled your laughter when you realized nobody else thought it was funny? 

Those moments of stifled emotion, or as we call them in medicine, “expressive suppression,” have been associated with higher levels of CRP, a key marker of inflammation in the body. 

Likewise, the reverse is also true; properly expressing and processing emotions is associated with lower levels of inflammation. 

Additionally, greater suppression of emotions independently predicted: 

• Greater depressed mood and fatigue

• Lower self-esteem and life satisfaction

• Less felt acceptance from close others and greater distancing by close others

So, what does that all mean? We live in a world that loves quick fixes when it comes to inflammation reduction. We’re happy to take a supplement or start an anti-inflammatory diet in our attempts to feel better in our bodies. But the cheapest (but not always the easiest) way to reduce inflammation may be feeling your feelings all the way through to the end!

Expand Your Emotional Vocabulary: The Emotions Wheel

For many folks, the concept of feelings may seem entirely foreign. We have been conditioned in this culture to suppress and ignore any feelings, particularly ones we deem as “negative.” But all feelings are for feeling. 

Becoming aware of what they are, what you call them, and where they live in your body can be the first step in moving the needle toward metabolizing them. 

I often use the “Emotions Wheel” with my patients, which is a tool that lists a wide variety of feelings. Starting on the outside of the wheel, you move towards the center until you find the “core” emotion. 

The more we can expand our vocabulary of the sensation we are experiencing, the better able we are to allow that feeling to move through us. However, the ability to name the sensation with a specific word is not necessary to process the emotion…

Short on Time? 90 Seconds Is All An Emotion Needs!

The most surprising fact Sara and I discussed is that an emotion only actually lasts 90 seconds in your body. The experience that an emotion will last forever is based on the stories and ruminations we make up about it. Understanding this fact may allow the emotion to pass through and process fully! 

How to Begin Metabolizing Emotions:

Sara and I discussed so many different ways one can begin to metabolize emotions. Here’s a sneak peak: 

• Write a complaint letter. I detailed the benefits of a complaint letter in my Substack post, here. You don’t have to send the letter but, the process of clarifying how you feel and what you need or want to move forward can be incredibly cathartic. 

• Setting a timer for a dedicated “feelings time”. The recent Apple TV show, Shrinking shows this process well. For folks who may have a ‘backlog’ of emotions, it can feel overwhelming to know where to begin. Setting a timer for 1 or even 5 minutes and sitting with the sensations in your body can be an easy practical strategy. 

• Working with a skilled healthcare provider. There are many tools that can be used with the help of a healthcare provider including but not limited to: EFT, NET, EMDR, Brainspotting, Emotion Code. A skilled provider will help guide you towards the tool that may be best utilized for your particular circumstances. 

A Personalized Approach is Required:

Lastly, Sara and I emphasized that the most important part of the process of moving through the full extent of a feeling is finding what works for YOU. As with everything in medicine and emotional healing, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Learning to metabolize emotions is at the core of complete wellbeing and finding the tools that work for you may take some time but the journey is worth it!

To hear more of our conversation, you can listen to the full podcast here! 

If you don’t know where to start working through your feelings, I’d love to work with you. Book a free 15-minute consultation here!

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Please note that this post is for informational purposes only, is not medical advice, and does not constitute a doctor-patient relationship. Please speak to your physician before implementing any changes related to your health.