Stress puts the body into emergency mode, boosting strength, awareness, etc... to prepare for a fight or flight response. Less urgent processes like digestion c

Stress puts the body into emergency mode, boosting strength, awareness, etc... to prepare for a fight or flight response. Less urgent processes like digestion can wait, and they are effectively put on halt to save energy for more pressing matters. Of course, it is not good for the guts, but the consequences can be dealt with later, if we survived the stressful encounter. It totally makes sense, but it can become a problem if fight or flight is not the appropriate response and stress lingers for longer than necessary, as it is all too common in modern human society.