CAUSES OF CONSTIPATION

Lack of Exercise

One who leads an inactive life must expect to have a flabby body. Lack of exercise lowers the tone of the whole body and especially the abdominal viscera. This is an unhealthy way to live, for it offers no incentive to the stomach and intestines for the vigorous digestion of food. A good workout daily will stimulate and tone the intestines for better functioning.

Unless your work involves a great deal of outdoor walking, a daily walk cannot be over-estimated in the treatment of constipation. Learn to stride along with the head and chest up, breathing deeply. Walking in this fashion will do as much good the last ten minutes as the first ten. This exercise will stimulate the appetite and increase the physical and mental tone of the body. It is a life-enriching as well as life-purifying habit.

Learn to take a few workouts in the gym every week, that is, if you are physically able. However, before you plan your workout have your health doctor plan your program and limitations and what it should include.

In the back of the book will be found exercises that will aid in the correction of constipation. These exercises will be found very beneficial if used daily.

Improper Diet

One of the chief causes of constipation is improper diet. Correct feeding alone may cure constipation. Even this rule has its exception, for there is a form of constipation associated with proper diet. This brings out the point that it is essential to have a health examination frequently by your family doctor, for he will give you correct knowledge of the condition of your body immediately.

Before taking up the matter of food, it must be remembered that the purpose of this book is to give exercises to cure constipation and not to plan a diet. Your doctor will give you a correct diet. However, it is essential that the food should be chewed until it is almost a pulp before swallowing. This will aid the stomach and whole digestive tract in assimilating the food.

The spirit of happiness and cheerfulness is important when eating. It cannot be over-emphasized. In fact, laughter during the meal time is very good for the digestive tract in digesting the food. This buoyancy of the mind will aid a great deal in the correction of constipation. It is the only exercise that can be used successfully while eating. Do not be downcast while eating, as this will prevent normal digestion.

The typical breakfast is usually orange juice, eggs, toast or rolls and coffee. This breakfast will satisfy hunger and supply energy, but it does not meet the demands of health. It is true that this breakfast includes the necessary nutriments, but it does not contain bulk or roughage, which are sometimes desirable in order to give the bowels something to work upon.

In order to give the body foods with roughage bran may be used in moderation. However, bran does not agree with everyone. The indulgence in this food should depend upon the advice of your physician.

Fruit will cure constipation quicker than any constipation remedies ever advertised. Oranges, orange juice, figs, dates, and prunes are very good for the prevention as well as the correction of constipation. It is a very excellent idea to have some form of fruit for every meal. It cannot be over-emphasized.

Vegetables are an absolute necessity in everyone’s diet. Nature gives us food values that cannot be estimated in importance. They clean the interior of the body and act as a broom in the digestive tract, that is, if they are eaten twice a day. They are a mechanical necessity to the intestines. Their bulk is absolutely needed to stimulate the intestines to activity.

Foods which contain no mechanical stimulation such as purées and gruel are open to objection. Pastries are very constipating due to the pasty element, for the secretions of the digestive tract cannot assimilate them. The psychic effect of a monotonous diet may cause poor digestion resulting in constipation. Such foods as eggs, milk, cheese—particularly cottage, pot smearcase and cream, white rice, tea, chocolate are said to be constipating because they seem to slow up the action of the intestinal tract.

On the whole, eat foods that originally gave the human race its vigor, and you will get all the food values, the sunshine, and fresh air, which that food has absorbed during the days of its growth.

Laxatives

Laxatives do not cure constipation. They may serve to make it chronic. Yet one fourth of the people use them regularly. They only give artificial stimulation to the bowel movements. Every laxative, no matter how innocent in itself, is a habit forming drug for the bowels. They lash the bowel into action once or twice or a few times. After that the bowels will refuse to work without a laxative administered. The dose becomes larger and larger until heroic doses are consumed. NO LAXATIVE OR ANY FORM OF BOWEL WASHING SHOULD BE TAKEN UNLESS ADVISED BY A PHYSICIAN.

Posture

Poor posture ranks on a par with lack of exercise and improper diet in the cause of constipation. Poor posture aids in the slipping of the abdominal organs out of their respective places, resulting in a tangled mass which will act as an interference on the normal bowel action. As a general rule, poor posture hinders deep breathing. Thus, there is no compressing movement upon the organs of the abdominal regions, such as is found in a normal upright person. Deep, vigorous breathing is an aid to a normal bowel movement. Good posture is an absolute necessity for the freedom of the bowel acting.

During Defecation

Faulty posture during defecation causes insufficient emptying or difficulty in moving the bowels at all. Many closet seats are too high. The proper altitude is one that brings the knees a little higher than the posterior.

A high closet seat can be remedied by using a footstool to support the feet, thus bringing the body into proper posture.

Hurried Defecation

A normal defecation ordinarily takes about two to three minutes, but owing to the abuse of resisting the call, ordinary defecation is not always secured in the normal time. Thus residue is left in the large intestine. This offers difficulty when a call comes some later hour, for the residue becomes hard and dry. This residue in the colon results in the condition known as

Irregularity in Answering Call

Irregularity in answering nature’s call causes irregularity of bowel action. Nature’s call means that enough waste is in the colon to cause automatic processes to set in action the bowel movement.

If for any reason the bowels are not permitted to move at once, the call usually disappears in a few minutes and may not reappear for some time. Thus, the wastes lie in the colon with the water in them being absorbed by the intestine, causing the wastes to become dry. Due to these wastes remaining in the intestine distention is produced in the colon and defecation may become difficult or impossible without mechanical aid.

The water of the waste which is absorbed into the blood stream affects the body, causing lower vitality and fatigue affecting the nerves.

Treatment

Hygiene is an important factor in restoring the body to a condition of health. The various abuses of the body that make for constipation should be corrected. General habits, and especially that of neglecting nature’s call, should be corrected. Without good hygiene the treatment of constipation cannot be successful.

Proper Diet

See your doctor and have him make out a proper diet. However, the diet should contain a sufficient amount of roughage, such as vegetables, fruits, and bran. Milk should be used for its vitamin qualities and nourishment.

Rules for Proper Eating

Do not eat too much.

Do not study your food while eating.

Enjoy what you eat.

Chew your food until it swallows itself.

Eat regularly.

Do not eat when tired.

Take a brisk short walk after eating, as this is an aid to the digestive processes.

Laxatives and Enemas

These should be used only upon the consent of your doctor. They do not cure, and if possible should be avoided.

Mental Attitude

Patience is necessary, and the feeling “I can’t” should be changed to “I will.” This feeling can do more than drugs. Do not hurry defecation.

Regularity

Visit the toilet at least once a day—not to read but to move the bowels. Aim to establish a habit by visiting the toilet the same time every day.

Use of Water

Most people drink too little water. Six glasses of water a day is the minimum and eight are better. Even more should be taken in hot weather. Avoid ice water, for it chills the stomach. If ice water is the only water available, sip it slowly.

Water should be taken freely between meals. A glass at each meal will help digestion, and there is nothing that so helps the bowels as a glass or two of water before retiring.

Bathing

After taking the exercises described in the back of the book a bath should be taken. Take a shower or tub bath for two minutes with the temperature between 95° and 100° F. for cleansing purposes. This should be followed by a quick cold rub over the entire body. Dry with a rough towel until the skin glows. This should be followed by a cold wet towel rubbed on the abdomen for a few minutes until it attains a reddish glow. Then dry the body thoroughly, dress quickly, and you will have a keen appetite for the morning meal.

Exercises

The effectiveness of certain exercises in overcoming constipation has been scientifically proved. Diet alone will not cure constipation. Diet and exercise should be used together, and the victim of constipation should not neglect either. Suitable diet and proper exercises can usually be relied upon to cure the most obstinate case of constipation. They will very frequently banish that tired feeling and make one tingle with energy and vitality.

Every one needs exercise other than his work, for work tires the same old muscles and the same old back day after day, while it neglects the vital muscles around the waist. Work wearies, while exercise refreshes. Exercise builds up the muscular system and makes work easier. Exercise may be harmful if too vigorous, and if the patient is not accustomed to it. These exercises as described below should be indulged in mildly at first, and as the body becomes accustomed to exercise increase the dosage.

Monotony in doing the same old exercise cannot be condemned too vigorously. It is better to spread the dosage of work around the different parts of the body rather than to concentrate too vigorously on the muscles of the waist. The continuous repetition of certain movements results in fatigue, which causes atonic conditions about the parts involved.

Regular exercises in the open air and getting the abdominal muscles and organs in first rate condition is the first step in securing longevity of life and renewed vitality. This will increase the appetite and strengthen the voluntary muscles of defecation. Vigorous exercise diverts the thoughts from business and household cares and relieves an important factor in constipation. Hill climbing, walking, running, horseback riding, and all forms of games are the best forms of exercise for the cure of constipation. It so happens in many cases that the individual is not physically fit for such activities, and then the following exercises cannot be used to advantage until the patient is able to participate in recreative exercises and games.

In the following exercises that of raising both legs to a right angle from the lying position is purposely omitted because of the severe action on the abdomen and the paralyzing effect on the sensitive nervous systems of that region. Often an exaggerated condition of constipation comes from this type of exercise.

In the following exercises it must be remembered that good posture is necessary for the proper effect on the vital organs.