What Is Constipation?
Constipation is mainly manifested by the stools became fewer in number, longer intervals, dry stool, and difficulty in defecation; or poor defecation. It may be accompanied by abdominal distension, abdominal pain, a feeling of heaviness in the rectum and anus, anal pain during defecation, anal fissures, or prolapse of hemorrhoids.
If constipation lasts too long, you may experience dizziness, loss of appetite, belching, and nausea. Intractable constipation: manifests as constipation symptoms, too few bowel movements, or poor, laborious, difficult bowel movements, dry and small stools. Normally, you have 1 to 2 bowel movements a day or once every 2 to 3 days, but the amount and frequency of stools are often affected by the type of food and the environment.
Many patients have defecation less than three times a week, and those in severe cases have defecation only once every 2 to 4 weeks. Some have defecation multiple times a day, but with difficulty, each defecation can take more than 30 minutes, and the feces are as hard as sheep dung and in very small quantities.
The defecation habits of healthy people are obviously different. For example, the survey results of a group of healthy people showed that about 60% of them had a defecation once a day, 30% had several defecation a day, and 10% had only one defecation every few days. It can be seen that a small number of people usually have a defecation once every 2 to 3 days, with no difficulty in defecation, and have normal stool characteristics. This situation should not be considered constipation.
Causes Of Constipation
Too little food or water intake, the amount of chyme residue or feces in the intestine is small, which is not enough to stimulate the normal peristalsis of the colon; the peristalsis of the intestine is weakened or the intestinal muscle tension is reduced; there is stenosis or obstruction in the intestinal cavity, which hinders the normal peristalsis of the intestine and prevents the stool from being discharged; the nerve and muscle activity of the defecation reflex process is impaired. Organic constipation can be caused by a variety of organic lesions, such as lesions of the colon, rectum and anus.
Malnutrition in the elderly, systemic exhaustion, abdominal muscle weakness, low or lack of intestinal smooth muscle tension, intestinal smooth muscle atrophy, endocrine and metabolic diseases, lumbar spinal cord and cauda equina nerve damage or compression all can cause constipation.
Functional constipation is mostly caused by functional diseases (such as irritable bowel syndrome, mucosal irritability), lack of defecation motivation, drug abuse, and poor diet (lack of fiber in food) and lifestyle habits.
Use of morphine, anticholinergics, calcium channel blockers, antidepressants, and antacids containing calcium or aluminum to relax intestinal muscles and cause constipation
The Dangers of Constipation
Lower the face value: If constipation occurs frequently, body toxins will increase, and the body's metabolism will be easily disturbed, causing endocrine disorders, which will lead to abnormal facial pigmentation, chloasma, acne, dry hair, itchy skin and other symptoms.
Damage to the liver: Long-term constipation will cause toxins to accumulate in the body, and the functions of the five internal organs will gradually decline. In addition, if stool accumulates in the intestines for a long time, toxins will be repeatedly absorbed into the liver by the human body, which is undoubtedly a damage to the liver.
Causes hemorrhoids and anal fissures: When constipation occurs, the stool is dry and hard, so it takes more effort to defecate. If the stool is too hard, it is easy to cause poor venous return, which will form hemorrhoids over time. In addition, too much force during defecation can easily cause the stool to scratch the anal canal and cause anal fissures.
Probiotics Reduction
People with healthy intestines: By checking the ratio of spherical bacteria to rod-shaped bacteria in the stool, the more rod-shaped bacteria, the fewer spherical bacteria. Generally speaking, if rod-shaped bacteria account for 80%, it means the intestines are healthy.
Cancer patients: The number of probiotics in this type of people decreases, while the number of pathogenic bacteria increases significantly.
People with diarrhea and constipation: The number of probiotics decreases, while the number of neutral or harmful bacteria increases relatively. Changes in the proportion or number of bacteria in the intestines may indicate that our gastrointestinal tract is unhealthy.
Gastrointestinal Dysfunction
Due to the accumulation of feces, toxic substances can cause gastrointestinal nerve dysfunction, which in turn induces a variety of symptoms such as loss of appetite, indigestion, abdominal distension, abdominal pain, dry mouth, bad breath, belching, etc.
What Should I Do If I am Constipated?
Improve the intestinal environment and increase intestinal probiotics, check this Live Bacteria Probiotics Solid Beverage with each bottle contains no less than 60 billion CFU live bacteria
In nature, many vegetables and dietary fiber foods are rich in prebiotics. For example, foods rich in prebiotics include inulin, green vegetables, beans, bananas, corn, sweet potatoes, etc.
Vegetable oils such as sesame oil, peanut oil, rapeseed oil, corn oil, and soybean oil not only have the effect of moisturizing the intestines, but can also decompose and produce fatty acids, which can stimulate intestinal peristalsis and facilitate defecation.
Eat more foods rich in crude fiber, such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. These foods can maintain normal gastrointestinal motility. They are also rich in B vitamins, which can promote the secretion of digestive juices and enhance intestinal motility.
Drinking water can moisten the intestines and soften the stool.
To improve the intestinal environment, you should first develop a habit of regular bowel movements every day. Even if you don't feel like going to the toilet, you should still go to the toilet regularly. Over time, this will form a reflex cacation habit.