Women more prone to irritable bowel syndrome

The imbalance between professional and personal life is leading to increase in stress among working women. Doctors are receiving hundreds of patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) every week, of which 80% are women. Doctors claim that women, being sensitive, are more affected by the problem.
While talking to TOI, K C Dass, a consultant in the department of gastroenterology, said nearly 350 such women patients visit the department at CMC hospital every week, adding that most of them are working women while others were those who wanted to work but couldn't do so.
He said the basic reason for IBS was depression, anxiety and stress among the women, adding that women are more sensitive to every problem, so are more prone to stress-related problems. He said these nerves become more active during times of stress and can cause intestines to squeeze or contract more.
Psychologist Ranjive Mahajan of DMC hospital said women are more sensitive than their partners due to more responsibilities on them. He said one of the main reasons for the anxiety disorder among women was their less control over their lives and imbalance between their professional and personal lives. Women face more societal pressures, more responsibilities and more restrictions that lead to IBS.
Sociologist at PAU, Sukhdev Singh, said it's a male-dominated society and this leads to more tension among women. There is a need to change the social system to improve the status of women so that they don't feel unsafe in the society.