The frequency of bowel movements varies from individual to individual and depends on many factors, including age and diet. Bowel movements three times a day are as normal as once every three days. In child, it varies from several times a day in fully breastfed infant to once a week. In the older child, it ranges from several times a day to three times a week (as in the adult). One speaks of constipation only when there are less than 3 bowel movements per week, i.e. when bowel movements are too infrequent or incomplete. If bowel movements are too infrequent, the food pulp is increasingly thickened by dehydration and the stool becomes hard and dry. This can lead to bloating, abdominal pain or flatulence.
Causes of constipation
- An unbalanced diet that contains too little fiber
- A too low fluid intake
- Lack of exercise
- Hectic, stress or mental strain
- Change in diet during or after a trip
- Laxative abuse
- Drugs, e.g. iron supplements, some antidepressants, painkillers.
- Pregnancy
- Certain diseases, e.g. diabetes mellitus
Treatment: fiber against constipation
When the intestines become sluggish, in many cases can be remedied by a high-fiber diet, adequate drinking and daily exercise. Gradually change your diet to a high-fiber diet with at least 30 g of fiber per day. The change should be made slowly over several days or weeks so that your intestines can get used to the new situation. At the beginning, it may react with flatulence and discomfort. However, these accompanying effects usually disappear after an acclimation period of about one to two weeks.
- Increase the consumption of whole grain bread (200 g/day), preferably from finely ground whole grain flour.
- Gradually replace white flour with whole wheat flour in baking.
- Increase the consumption of other whole grain products (unhusked rice, whole wheat pasta).
- Eat whole grain-based cereals for breakfast or in between meals (50 g/day).
- Eat fruits and vegetables more often. Try to follow the recommendations 2 servings of fruit and 3 servings of vegetables per day.
- Eat more often dishes with legumes.
- Eat soaked baked fruit in between meals. If necessary, you can finely puree this.
- Pure fiber supplements can also be helpful, such as wheat or oat bran and flaxseed meal.
Remember to drink enough, that is, at least 1.5 liters per day. Dietary fiber can only perform its function if there is sufficient fluid.
7 Tips to help regulate stool
Additionally, support stool regulation by doing the following:
- Eat foods with a laxative effect every day, e.g. sour milk products (yogurt, curd, soured milk) and sauerkraut
- Limit consumption of low-fiber foods such as fine flour baked goods and pasta, sugar, chocolate, etc.
- Take advantage of the natural emptying stimulus, which can be triggered especially in the morning by a sufficient breakfast or a glass of cold fruit juice.
- Move regularly – cycling or walking are perfectly adequate. While lack of exercise promotes intestinal sluggishness, exercise stimuli stimulate the intestinal passage of food and thus bowel movements.
- Incidentally, there are also various yoga exercises that can help with constipation. Maybe a yoga class would be a nice change? Other relaxation techniques such as autogenic training are also helpful.
- Rising and alternating warm foot baths stimulate bowel activity. Cold water stimuli also promote digestion. For a rising foot bath, hold your feet in about 33 ° C warm water, to which you add warmer water again and again within 10 minutes until the temperature is 40 degrees.
- Consider taking a week of fasting. Fasting stimulates the metabolism and often regulates bowel activity in the long term.
In many cases, constipation can be remedied within a short time by changing the diet, adequate fluid intake and more exercise. If you still suffer from constipation despite these measures, you should definitely see the doctor.It is essential to seek medical advice if other complaints also occur, in case of severe pain or if blood appears in the stool.
Laxatives for constipation
Another way to relieve constipation is to use laxatives. However, they should not be used too soon and only for a short time. If used continuously, most laxatives cause serious damage to health. The reason is the increased excretion of water and salts. This further reduces intestinal activity and can lead to chronic intestinal diseases. Above all, the lack of potassium makes the intestines sluggish. The renewed resort to laxatives reinforces the potassium deficiency even further, and a veritable vicious circle ensues. Very quickly, this leads to a dependence on laxatives.
- Swelling and bulking agents, e.g. psyllium, wheat bran or flaxseed contain indigestible fiber that absorbs water. Like a compressed sponge, these substances swell with water, increasing their volume in the intestine as well. This stimulates intestinal activity. Important is the sufficient fluid intake (drink plenty! ), so that the preparations can swell well.
- Osmotic laxatives are salts, poorly absorbable sugars or sugar alcohols that bind water in the intestine. The stool volume is thereby increased, the stool becomes softer. These include Epsom salts, Glauber’s salt, lactose, lactulose or sorbitol. Here, too, sufficient liquid must be drunk. Lactose is also suitable for babies and young children as an occasional laxative.
- Synthetic laxatives, e.g. bisacodyl, sodium picosulfate, and herbal laxatives, e.g. senna leaves, rhubarb, sloth bark, prevent to varying degrees the thickening of the stool in the colon and promote the bowel’s own movements. These preparations are suitable only for short-term use.
