Does Eating With Others Help Your Digestion?

When you eat alone in a stressed state, hunched over your desk or ingesting the news cycle on your phone, you miss a natural opportunity to decompress.

Focusing on news or work during a meal can trigger stress hormones, says functional nutrition­ist Jesse Haas, MS, CNS, LN, even if you’re not in full fight-or-flight mode. These hormones shift energy away from the digestive organs to your muscles and brain, which can slow down gastric motility and decrease digestive juices. This may lead to indigestion, bloating, abdominal pain, heartburn, and other issues.

Conversely, a friendly, food-focused dinner with others is likely to be relaxing. Not only does it help stimulate your nervous system’s rest-and-digest response, which supports a full range of your body’s digestive functions, but enjoying a meal at a slower pace also makes it more likely you’ll chew your food thoroughly.

“Chewing is an important part of diges­tion,” says Haas. “It breaks food down into smaller pieces, so our digestive juices can be more effective.”

This slower pace is ­important for satiety, too, she adds. When you attend to the sensation of pleasure, you’re more likely to hear your body when it tells you it’s had enough.

Consider these digestive-supporting practices:

• Step away from the screen. Put your phone away during meals.
• Chew each bite thoroughly. Set your fork down between bites. Breathe.
• Save heavy ­topics for later. Unless a tough topic is time-sensitive and this is the only chance to bring it up, do your best to keep the dinner-table talk relaxed and peaceful so digestion-stalling stress hormones remain at bay.