Your toxic workplace could be affecting your gut health—I know from experience

Bloody, watery, and black. That’s what my stool looked like when I worked at a marketing agency. 

It was only after I experienced rectal bleeding for a full week that I thought something might be wrong. This led to a trip to the ER, visits to a gastroenterologist, blood tests with no concrete results, and adherence to a strict diet that changed nothing.

And then, four months into dealing with these symptoms, I got fired.

The next day, I had a normal bowel movement free of blood. I couldn’t believe it! The healthy poops happened the next day and the next day and every day after that.

I couldn’t figure out how I miraculously started having healthy, daily bowel movements. Then I remembered a question the gastroenterologist asked me in our initial appointment: “Is your work stressful?”

I had initially said no. I was a junior coordinator at a marketing agency, not saving lives. But then I remembered my boss constantly criticizing me, calling me “harsh, snarky, and aggressive,” and icing me out. I cried in the bathroom multiple times a week. I constantly disassociated while at work because I felt like such a shell of myself. 

Though I can’t say that my toxic workplace was the sole source of my problematic poops, Dr. Stephen E. Lupe, director of behavioral medicine at the Cleveland Clinic’s department of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition, says it likely contributed. And despite the state of one’s bowel movements being a private matter, the experience isn’t unique. Lupe says he sees many patients suffering from diarrhea, constipation, and rectal bleeding who also endure a toxic workplace. 

“That is a variable in many of the patients I see and it’s a really, really hard one,” Lupe says. “Sometimes it is a job change that needs to happen, but [there is] stress that can come out of that.”

The reason your toxic workplace affects your gastrointestinal system is because stress increases activity in the body’s sympathetic nervous system, also called the fight-or-flight response system. The system then sends signals to your gut, which can irritate it. The more stress you experience—whether in the workplace or elsewhere—the more inflamed your gut can become, which can lead to issues like rectal bleeding, Lupe says. 

“When someone is stressed, that sympathetic nervous system is more in control and it changes the way the gut functions,” Lupe says. “If someone’s in this chronic state, like with work, it tends to be more chronic stress, especially toxic workplaces. When you refer to a toxic workplace, this is not a one-off with your boss. This is constant stress, day after day after day, changing the functioning of your gut.”

Additionally, women are 41% more likely to experience a toxic work culture than men, according to a 2022 Massachusetts Institute of Technology study. Plus, women suffer from gastrointestinal disorders more than men.

Abby, who asked not to use her real name because of the sensitive nature of this topic, is one of these women. Abby asked for a raise after her first year as the office administrator at a small company in the greater Boston area. Suddenly, she says, her boss started criticizing everything she did, gossiped about her to other employees, and screamed at her.

Abby became nauseated all the time, couldn’t stomach any food or drink, and her doctor even ordered a colonoscopy for the otherwise healthy 29-year-old (it found nothing of concern). After nine months of abuse and stomach issues, Abby was fired.

 

“The next day I felt better,” she says.

Since that day in October, Abby hasn’t suffered those gastrointestinal issues, even as she goes through the difficult experience of finding a new job.

Trauma therapist Linda Crockett hears stories like Abby’s all the time. For the first few years of her practice, she says mainly young women came to her to discuss their toxic workplaces and the irritable bowel syndrome that often came alongside it.

Crockett understood. She herself suffered ulcers, acid reflux, and eventually Crohn’s disease when she worked in a toxic workplace. She founded the Canadian Institute of Workplace Bullying Resources because of her experience.

But Crockett has seen more gender parity in her work over the past few years. This is likely because of the increased awareness around toxic workplaces. The U.S. surgeon general recently declared that toxic workplaces are a public health concern, and Google has seen a steady uptick in searches for “toxic work environment” since 2004. MIT also found that toxic work culture is the number-one reason for employees of all genders to leave their jobs.

“This is an epidemic. Everybody needs to learn about this,” Crockett says, noting that many people go into “self-doubt mode” and don’t think their workplace is that bad—even when their body is telling them otherwise.

I felt this while writing this article. Was my boss really that mean? Was I really that anxious? Were my poops really that painful?

Lupe says he often sees patients blaming themselves for their gastrointestinal issues. These ailments are hard to diagnose and patients think they’re making them up. He quickly corrects them.

“This is not in your head,” he says. “This is in your body.” He suggests that the best place to start recovery is with deep breathing and seeking out mental health treatment, both of which will help calm your sympathetic nervous system and, in turn, your gut.

From a workplace perspective, Crockett advises documenting everything. Every time your boss yells at you or colleagues exclude you from an important email, write it down. She says you should even write down any possibly related physiological symptoms—bad BMs included. These notes will keep you from doubting yourself in the future, as well as provide credibility for HR.

I know my old journal entries helped me write this piece. Reading those tear-stained pages made me remember how anxious I felt, even outside of work.

“If it doesn’t feel right, start making notes,” Crockett says. “Trust your gut.”