Hidden Causes of Constipation: Three Reasons You May Be Constipated.
Constipation is technically defined as having less than three bowel movements per week. However, you can still be constipated even if you have a daily bowel movement. If your stool is the consistency of rabbit pellets or little rocks, or if you have a feeling that you didn’t empty your bowels completely, you likely are experiencing constipation. Constipation can cause many other issues related to pelvic floor dysfunction and is definitely something you don’t want to ignore.
Besides ensuring that you are drinking about half of your body weight in fluid ounces of water per day, and eating a diet consisting of mostly fruits and vegetables, there are three other reasons that you may be constipated. The top reasons you may be constipated include:
You have pelvic floor dysfunction. The pelvic floor muscles are the door to the bowels. When the muscles are contracted or tense, stool cannot pass through them. When the tension in these muscles exceeds the strength of peristalsis (or contraction of our intestines), bowel movements will be significantly impacted. If you constantly feel like you are squeezing your glutes (or the sensation that your anus is always closed), you likely have significant tension in the pelvic floor which could be contributing to your constipation.
You aren’t eating enough. In order for the bowels to function, you need to eat. Grazing and eating small meals throughout the day doesn’t create a large enough bolus of food that is necessary to stimulate the gut. The gastrocolic reflex is a reflex in our gut that triggers digestion after eating. This reflex is most active after large meals and typically most active in the morning. If we don’t eat (especially breakfast) we are not triggering the gastrocolic reflex and therefore not triggering movement through our intestines.
You aren’t giving yourself time to digest. If you are constantly eating on the go, or running out of the house after meals, you aren’t allowing your “rest and digest” or parasympathetic nervous system to kick in. This nervous system is essential when it comes to digestion. If you are so busy that you are running around, you may be missing subtle cues from your body signaling the need to have a bowel movement. The gastrocolic reflex is most active about 30-45 minutes after you eat a meal. Therefore, after eating it you want to do some deep breathing and stay fairly calm so that you can pay attention to your body’s cues. Try to give yourself time after a meal and avoid running right out of the house or eating on the go as much as possible.
These changes are sometimes really hard to implement and it TAKES TIME for your body to learn them. Our bowels love routine, so the more consistent you can be, the better!
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