When you’re feeling blocked up you want relief—fast! Here are my top 5 tips to relieve constipation naturally, and keep your gut functioning healthily so that you feel good all over.
Constipation is a complaint most of us have suffered from at some point in our lives. There are many different causes, such as poor diet, lack of activity, overuse of laxatives or even prescription medication.
Even mental and emotional issues can cause constipation. When we feel stress or anxiety all the time, our body reacts, and one of those reactions affects the gut which can then lead to constipation.
How to relieve constipation
To keep things moving nicely, here are 5 easy ways to establish and maintain healthy, regular bowel movements.
1. Increase your fibre intake
Fibre is important because it absorbs water which softens the stools. Rice bran or oat bran fibre are particularly good. Remember, it’s important to maintain or even increase your water consumption for this to work effectively.
2. Yoga
There are several yoga postures that are great for relieving constipation because they help to improve the elimination of waste from the body. As most of the relevant postures include spinal twists so it’s important you check with a qualified yoga instructor before trying these techniques.
3. Abdominal massage 
This is an especially useful tool to help move things along because it helps to improve the body’s peristaltic action (natural contractions of the gut).
Here’s how
Make small circular motions in the same place over the abdomen with your hand for ten rotations, then move your fingers around in the same motion. Remember to make the movements circular and moving in a clockwise direction so that you follow the natural flow your digestive tract.
There’s no need to exert deep pressure, the idea is to soften tension, both in the surface abdominal muscles, as well as the smooth muscle of your gut. You want to gently encourage movement.
If you feel any level of discomfort with this technique, particularly if your intestines are full, adding an essential oil like lavender to the massage will help to relax any tension in the area.
Remember to dilute any essential oils you use as undiluted ones can cause skin irritation.
4. A daily walk
Walking is often overlooked as a way for maintaining your general health. When it comes to relieving constipation a brisk 30–40-minute walk daily literally gets things moving because it stimulates both your metabolism and pelvic area.
5. Daily exercise
In addition to walking, moving your body regularly also helps your bowel move regularly. It only takes 30 minutes a day (feel free to do more if you want to) to bring things back into balance. Exercise could be anything that gets your body moving and slightly elevates your heart and respiration rates. Things such as housework and gardening are good, as are the more obvious things such as sports, gym, cycling, swimming and so on.
Here are some other ways to relieve constipation naturally.
Eat more whole foods and avoid processed foods where possible.
The more whole foods we eat the less likely we are going to suffer from constipation. Avoiding processed foods that contain colour, flavours and additives always makes a difference to our overall health and really helps reduce the likelihood of constipation.
Be observant and know what’s healthy for you.
Change is natural and to be expected, but not all change is good. As you get older your bowel action may change, due as much to lifestyle shifts as anything else.
When change occurs take note of when you noticed the problem and what was happening around that time in your life so that you can narrow down likely causes.
Finding out what’s going on and why helps you can find a targeted solution that’s right for you. The most important thing is to work out why the issue exists and then deal with the cause.
Always check with your healthcare practitioner about what is the best treatment for you.
Want to talk to me about gut health? Get in touch, I’m here to help.
Happy health!
