What is fasting for health?
Fasting means giving rest to your body by doing two things:
- Stop eating – Resting the digestive system.
- Stop working – Resting the body and mind.
You should do this in such in such a way that it doesn’t cause harm to the body. Your body functions don’t come to standstill completely during such forced rest. A few essential organs - heart, lungs and kidneys keep working, but at a much slower pace. The body diverts its resources to repair, recharge and clean.
This type of fasting is different from what people do for religious and social reasons. Even though the original intention of religious fasting is for health, people misunderstood the whole concept and do which ever way they like and get into lot of trouble.
How does the body clean and repair itself?
Did you notice small deposits at the corners of your eyes or thick deposit on your tongue when you get up in the morning? Your eyes got cleaned of all the air pollutants that entered your eyes. The How did the cut on your skin get healed? How do broken bone pieces join? The doctor only aligns the two pieces; your body does the rest.
To do the repair and cleaning fast and efficient, your body needs sufficient rest. Fasting for health is a method that gives your body all the needed rest.
Why should you do fasting? What does the body do during fasting?
The question that comes to the mind is – Is fasting a must for the body to do all the cleaning work?
No, it is not a must. No animal or bird does fasting. Still they are healthy for life. Like animals and birds, if you strictly do the day and night duties as nature stipulated, you don’t need to do fasting. But if you over-use the body, like majority of us do, it needs periodic fasting to finish the pending cleaning work and recoup the energy.
Nothing else benefits the body the way fasting does. Fasting for health is a way of getting rid of your health problems without medical help.
Body performs 4 functions during the cleaning process:
- Waste removal
- Repair damaged and sick cells
- Remove infections caused by bacteria, virus etc.
- Recharge tired cells to make them ready for next action.
Waste gets generated in the body during the normal functioning (metabolism). . Waste consists of undigested food, dead cells and bacteria, toxins, chemicals, carbon dioxide etc. This waste should be thrown out on a regular basis to keep the body healthy. Fasting for health is the best way to do this.
Where is waste generated?
Your body needs energy. Energy is produced in the cell by way of metabolism. Air, water and food are required for this. The waste generated during this process is also in three forms – gas, liquid and solid.
Metabolism is the set of chemical processes in the body that converts food into energy and transportation of substances to and between cells. We grow, reproduce and respond to the environment through metabolism.
These three forms of waste are taken to the respective ‘waste eliminating organs’ from where, the waste goes out of the body. There are 4 waste eliminating organs – lungs, kidneys, skin and colon. If all the waste is removed from the body on daily basis, your body remains healthy. If not, it causes auto intoxication-toxins are reabsorbed into the system and make you sick.
The sad part is, when you fall sick because of accumulated waste, you run to the doctor. You will find very few doctors who aim at removing the cause. Majority of them aim at relieving the symptoms, instead of the cause. The result is, you end up swallowing some pills – adding chemicals into your body. As soon as the effect of medicines is gone, you will find sickness in another form – since the source of the problem is still there.
Why waste is not removed regularly?
Every machine needs energy to run. Certain waste is generated during this process and a certain amount of wear and tear is also unavoidable. Periodic servicing (cleaning and repair) minimizes breakdowns and increases its life.
Your body is also a machine and needs periodic servicing for functioning trouble free for a long time. If you don’t give periodic servicing, it breaks down. Such breakdown is illness. We fall sick because of no or improper servicing. The good news is, our body can do servicing on its own and it is automatic. The bad news is, we don’t give enough opportunity. Fasting for health is such an opportunity.
Every object of the nature is made in a certain way. Every living thing, whether it is a human being, bird or animal, is designed to follow certain natural laws for healthy existence. Breaking the natural laws invites illness.
All living beings are either diurnal (active during the day time and take complete rest during night) or nocturnal (active during the night, rest during the day time).
Since any animal or bird follows this rule of the nature very strictly, its body remains healthy as long as it lives. No heart ailments, no diabetes, no kidney failure, etc… No constipation either.
Humans are thinking animals. They break all the rules, particularly, rules of nature. This is the exact reason why the body to become unhealthy and suffer from many diseases.
Nature designed us to be diurnal – Eat and work during the day time and take rest during the night to give time for the body for recharge, repair and clean. Unfortunately, majority of us don’t follow this rule. We eat and work not only during day, but also at night and are wakeful most of the night.
As your body muscles are not designed to work for longer than 12 hours, they get drained of all the energy and more toxins get accumulated. The body has practically no time for repair and cleaning.
The result is – repair takes very long time and cleaning doesn’t happen at all. Toxins get accumulated, get reabsorbed, body immune system weakens, diseases invade the body and functioning of some parts of the body may be affected. This is where fasting for health can save your body.
What are the daily activities of your body?
Day time: 12 hrs
Your body does two functions during the day – digest the food you eat and take care of your work activities. All the organs are busy in these two functions.
Night: 12 hrs
When you rest during the night, except essential organs like heart, lungs and kidneys, all other organs take rest. Activity of even the essential organs slows down.
Hence, the secret of keeping your body healthy is, live the nature’s way. Keep the day’s activities for day time and night activities for night. That is what other animals do. You can’t reverse or mix the activities.
When majority of the organs take rest; body starts the process of repair, cleaning and recharge. The more time your body gets to do this, the better. It is true that today’s lifestyle demands eating and working during night also. But, it is not good for the body. Postponement of cleaning and repair activities makes your body unhealthy.
The basic fact one shouldn’t forget is: If you keep your lifestyle hectic and don’t look after your body, you become sick and end up in hospital with prolonged rest forced on you. Instead, if you look after your body well and keep it fit all the time, you can do much more.
Who can do fasting?
Fasting for health immensely benefits your body. It is particularly useful if you are troubled by constipation frequently. Since fasting prevents additional generation of fecal matter, your colon will not face additional load. If your constipation a long standing one, the best way to clean your colon is to go for seven day colon cleanse enema with two or three days of water fasting.
However, there is one exception: If all the points mentioned below apply to you, you need not do fasting, because, your body is doing the repair, cleaning and recharge regularly. You mostly don’t have health problems if you…
- Consume 50 to 60% of raw food
- Drink 4 to 5 liters of water everyday (depends on your age),
- Have satisfactory, semi-solid stool 2 or 3 times a day
- Finish your dinner by 6.30 or 7.00pm
- Have 6-7hrs of sound sleep every night
- Use zero/minimum medication
- Are stress and tension free
If any one of the above points doesn’t apply to you, fasting for health will definitely benefit you.
You may ask: ‘If I follow strict and healthy lifestyle and satisfy all the above points, I should never fall sick. But does it really happen?’
Yes, partially true.
We all live in real world –
- Adulteration of food items
- Use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers
These external factors certainly influence your health. However, your chance of falling ill is considerably less, since your immune system is quite strong and you built up enough resistance power.
In the event of sickness like cold, fever etc., instead of using medication, if you do water fasting until the symptoms are gone (A maximum of 6 days only. or more with the advice and supervision of qualified naturapath), you will further strengthen your immune system.
However, there are some exceptions. Under certain circumstances, you should avoid fasting - fasting for health or any type of fasting. The exceptions are given below.
Who shouldn’t do fasting?
- People aged above 65-70 years
- People addicted to coffee, tea etc…(If you stop it for a day, you may get a severe reaction like headache etc.)
- People using a number of medicines
- People that do hard physical work
- People who consume 100% raw food.
Breaking the natural laws of living causes illness. You will get into more trouble by opting for immediate relief through medication. Medicines don’t remove the root cause. Fasting for health is the best way for cure and prevention.
Related Topics
What is colon cleansing? Which is the best colon cleanse?
Colon cleanse is a procedure to remove stool and flush out parasites from the colon.
Colon cleansing is done if
- You suffer from long standing constipation / and its harmful side effects. Constipation causes accumulation of rotten or decomposed stool as a thick lining on the walls of the colon. It becomes a breeding ground for disease causing parasites. Unclean colon makes re-absorption of toxins into the blood. Colon cleansing is the first step before treating constipation.
- Before certain medical procedures like surgery, colonoscopy etc.
There are two types of procedures:
- Colonic irrigation
Colonic irrigation involves injecting plain water or water mixed with herbs or other cleansing supplements into the colon through the rectum. Water is injected using special equipment or by natural pressure. For this procedure, either you go to a practitioner or you do it at home.
- Oral cleansing supplements
Some of the oral supplements are - dietary fiber, laxatives, enzymes, herbs, powders, capsules etc.
Many colon cleansing supplements are available in the market. Some of them are given attractive names to lure people. Two of the terms used most are ‘natural colon cleansers’ and ‘herbal colon cleansers’. Such names do not guarantee safety.
Since there is no regulating body to assure quality, potency and safety of these products, be careful in selecting them.
Which products are good? I can’t recommend any one because; I didn’t try any of them. That doesn’t mean to say not to use them. You may use after verifying thoroughly. But, I am going to suggest you the best colon cleanse, the one I used and continue to use.
Is colon cleansing really required? Does colon cleansing work?
Many argue that colon cleansing is not needed. Colon has the ability to clear its contents naturally through its peristaltic movement. The statement is very true. Not only colon, our entire body has the ability to repair, recharge, detoxify and clean itself.
At the same time, it is also true that humans are suffering from so many diseases – every organ from head to toe is affected. New and more dangerous diseases are surfacing each day in spite of so many super specialty hospitals, doctors specialized in each organ, new drugs and most modern clinical equipment.
Why?
Can our body really repair and cleanse itself? It can and it does, provided, we allow it. Majority of health problems are due to our interference with its functioning. As an example, your car will give continuous trouble free service if and only if you follow certain guidelines given by the manufacturer.
Your body also has certain needs. If you provide them (and only them) in the right quantity at the right time, you get a trouble free service - no health problems for life.
But, we misuse our body so much in every possible way by ignorance or indifference. When we get into trouble, we are forced to look for external processes like the best colon cleanse. How do we mistreat our body?
Our body has seven basic needs. Let us see how we deny our body of these basic needs.
- Air
Our breathing technique is flawed. The air is contaminated with smoke and chemicals.
- Water
It is the most neglected need. We don’t drink the right quantity of water at the right time. Drinking water at the wrong time causes harm to the body.
- Food
We eat the very unhealthy food. The food we eat is contaminated with chemicals, has zero fiber, depleted of nutrients, empty calories, nutrition unbalance etc. More chemicals are pumped into the body through medications.
- Exercise
Many of us have very little or no exercise, either too busy or too lazy.
- Proper waste removal
We have constipation – clogged colon with toxins and decomposed stool. We don’t like to urinate – chemical and toxins re-enter blood. We don’t like to sweat, so use body sprays – escape of toxins through the skin is also blocked.
- Sufficient rest
We hardly give any rest to the body – body gets no time for repair and recharge.
- Healthy mind
Stressful present day lifestyle, always on the run, corrupt thoughts – we have very unhealthy mind.
If we don’t provide even one of the seven needs of the body properly, how can one expect it to do its job properly?
That is why the need for processes like colon cleansing arises. Once you start respecting your body’s needs - give what your body wants and don’t do anything that is harmful to it, your health problems start disappearing one by one. That is guaranteed.
Ok. The discussion got deviated from the main subject – the best colon cleanse.
Colon cleansing side effects
Depending on the method you use, you are likely to get different side effects.
- Dehydration. Flushing out too much water from the colon can cause dehydration, which in turn results in dizziness and mineral unbalance.
- If the cleanser is very strong, along with fecal matter, it can wash out some mucus lining of the colon walls. The presence of mucus should warn you.
- During colon irrigation process, bowel perforation and infection can occur if not done carefully.
- You may get symptoms like nausea, vomiting, bloating and cramps.
- Some substances that are mixed with water during colon irrigation cause allergic reactions.
- Long term use of colon cleansing will cause colon inertia – losing the natural ability to expel feces.
- Some colon cleansing supplements interfere with the functioning of medication.
So, what is the perfect solution?
Which is the best colon cleanse ?
Colon cleansing enema with plain water is the best colon cleanse. I strongly recommend it because I used the process. However, you may verify the facts with your specialist doctor before doing it.
The advantages are:
- It is a simple process, takes less than an hour.
- You can do it in the comfort of your home, on any day you feel convenient. No appointment with expert, no fat fees to be paid.
- None of the side effects of other cleansing processes, as no chemicals or supplements are added.
- It is neither habit forming nor causes colon inertia.
- The colon cleansing enema kit is very much affordable.
Read all about the best colon cleanse: Colon cleansing enema – How to do it.
Seven day colon cleanse enema recommended here is a natural and safe way to get rid of worms and intestinal parasites, apart from getting a super clean colon. The wonderful part of it is - no side effects, you can do it yourself at home and it costs nothing.
We already know that out of numerous colon cleanse methods, the best colon cleanse is colon cleanse enema.
What is colon cleansing?
It is a procedure to remove stagnated stool and flush out parasites from colon. If you are severely constipated, your colon gets filled with fecal matter accumulated over a long time. Hardened dry stool sticks to the colon walls as a thick layer. It gets so tough, it is very difficult to dislodge it. Colon cleanse enema is the only solution.
Why should you remove fecal matter from the colon?
Fecal matter consists of undigested food, dead germs and bacteria, dead cells and toxins generated during body’s metabolism. This fecal matter is more toxic than the garbage generated in your kitchen.
You need to clear your kitchen once a day, may be more often. If not, it begins to decompose, foul smell starts. Further, it putrefies and giving birth to germs and bacteria. You house becomes unhealthy to live.
Remember, the fecal matter inside your colon is more toxic. It needs complete removal daily and regularly. If not, It decomposes, putrefies and breeds disease causing germs and bacteria. The whole body becomes toxic and unhealthy.
Your body’s immune system becomes weak - its protective power reduces. It becomes heaven for germs, bacteria, worms and parasites. You body is prone to all sorts of diseases.
Un-expelled fecal matter accumulated for days loses its water content and becomes dry and hard – fecal compaction. The peristaltic movement of such over filled colon gets hampered and slowly loses its natural ability to expel.
Such unhealthy colon and body cause numerous secondary harmful side effects.
You find a number of drugs for constipation relief – Laxatives, stool softeners etc. They give some relief. They are not for long term use. Long term use of such short term solutions cause more harm than benefits.
There is only one way to cure your constipation:
- Colon cleanse
- Drink sufficient water
- Fiber in your diet
- Include sufficient physical exercises in your daily routine
- Adopt healthy eating habits and lifestyle.
The best colon cleanse is colon cleanse enema. The seven day colon cleanse, in addition to dislodging and removing hardened fecal matter, effectively flushes out intestinal worms and parasites.
Seven day colon cleanse consists of
- Three days of normal plain water colon cleanse enema
- Three days of enema with plain water and neem leaves
- One day of plain water enema.
Before proceeding to ‘enema with plain water and neem leaves’, please recall what is colon cleanse enema with plain water and come back.
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| Neem leaves |
Neem tree grows in tropical and semi-tropical regions of mainly India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The tree is well known for its medicinal properties.
In addition to neem oil, traditional Indian medicine uses the roots, bark, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds in a number of products.
Neem is anthelmintic, anti-fungal, anti-diabetic and antibacterial.
Anthelmintics or antihelminthics are drugs that expel parasitic worms from the body, by either stunning(vermifuges) or killing(vermicides) them.
Neem is a key ingredient in non-pesticidal management, providing a natural alternative to synthetic pesticides.
Seven day Colon Cleanse Enema
Take 200 grams of fresh neem leaves. Soak them in clean plain water for ½ hour. Rinse thoroughly to remove any dust.
If your enema can is of one liter capacity, add another 250 ml. Take that much fresh water in a clean vessel, add the neem leaves and keep it for boiling. After boiling, cool it until the water is lukewarm. Filter out the leaves.
The water gets a light green color. Use this water for enema.
Your colon is reasonably clean with the first three days of plain water colon cleansing enema. The next three days will flush out the worms and parasites and dislodges hard fecal matter sticking to the colon walls.
Finally, with the last day’s plain water enema, your colon is at least 90% clean, if not 100%.
After the seven day colon cleanse enema, you start following the five steps given above for constipation cure and you are on your way to get rid of your long standing constipation.
What is colon cleansing enema?
It is an easy way to clean your colon by removing accumulated stool. Constipation causes stool to get accumulated inside your colon. If all the waste matter that enters the colon is not going out on a daily basis, you are constipated. The ideal daily equation is:
Stool frequency = Meal frequency
That is, if you have three meals a day, you should evacuate three times. The condition is – your evacuations must be satisfactory. When you come out of the toilet, you should feel light and happy. You shouldn’t feel as if something or a lot of it is still left out – it is an unsatisfactory evacuation.
Constipation makes the inside environment of your body dirty. Dirty environment becomes a breeding ground for diseases. Unfortunately, we take great care of only outside cleaning – take bath, use body sprays, wear clean clothes etc. but neglect the dirt inside, getting into many health problems.
Colon cleansing enema is the best and safest way of cleaning your colon. It is also called constipation enema or constipation relief enema.
What is an enema?
Enema is – pushing a liquid into the colon through anus for a purpose. Different purposes of enema are:
- To clean the rectum and colon either to relieve from constipation or to do medical examination.
- As alternative medical treatment.
There are different types of enemas - plain water enema, coffee enema, barium enema, saline enema etc - used for different purposes.
For colon cleansing enema, we use plain water – clean/purified/filtered drinking water is boiled and cooled to body temperature before using. That is why it is very safe with no side effects. It is a natural enema because, no chemicals are added.
Homemade enema - How to do an enema yourself at home?
Home enema is very simple and fast. All you need is a home enema kit, clean plain water and a little bit of lubricating jelly or oil. You can buy home enema kits that don’t pinch your pocket and they last for years, if you use carefully.
What does an enema kit consist of?
- One enema can or enema bag.
- Long transparent plastic tube called colon tube.
While buying a home enema kit for colon cleansing enema, take care of the following points:
An easy to clean enema container that doesn’t age with time or usage.
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| Plastic Enema Can |
Stainless steel can is hygienic. However, I prefer transparent plastic can. You can see the rate of water flow and how much water is still remaining in the can. It is difficult to clean an enema bag and it ages with time and usage. A plastic can doesn’t contaminate if you clean it and wipe out the wetness immediately after use.
- Transparent enema tube made of latex-free plastic as it is difficult to dry the tube completely.
- Enema nozzle should have ‘an easy to control’ knob that doesn’t leak water.
- Catheter or insertion tip should be latex free and of correct size for the user.
Normally, enema cans come in 1.5 liter capacity. Doing enema yourself is very easy. Once you do it three or four times, you become more familiar with the whole process.
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| Enema tube & Nozzle |
Lets us go into the process of colon cleansing enema.
The best time for enema is early in the morning before you eat or drink anything and the best place is the bathroom cum toilet. If you have a small platform or bench for lying down, you can avoid lying on the floor.
If you have the habit of passing stool in the morning, it does not interfere with your cleansing – do the colon cleansing enema after passing regular stool.
If you like to do it in the evening, say at 6 P.M, finish your lunch by 2P.M. and don’t eat or drink much after that until you finished enema.
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| Enema Kit |
On the first day, start with one liter of water.
- Boil the water and cool it to lukewarm. I used the word lukewarm to mean it slightly above room temperature – almost at body temperature.
- Assemble the enema tube, nozzle and catheter. Attach the tube to the enema can. Close the control knob.
- Apply lubricating gel or oil to the catheter – just for easy insertion.
- Keep the enema can at a height of around 3 feet form the level you lie down.
The location of the can should make it easy to insert catheter into the rectum and the tube shouldn’t have any tension. It is also important that you will be able to observe the water level in the can without straining your neck. The can should stable. It shouldn’t tilt when water quantity decreases.
- Fill the can with previously prepared water. It is just plain water. No need to add anything else.
- Open the nozzle control slightly to fill the tube with water without air bubbles and close it back.
- Lie down on you right side, insert the catheter slowly into the rectum about two inches.
- Open the nozzle control such that the water enters into the rectum slowly. By observing the water level in the can, you can know how fast the water is going. It shouldn’t be very slow or very fast.
- Relax. Let the water go inside and spread in the colon. If the water is lukewarm, you will feel it. Never use hot water.
It is very likely that you will feel the pressure to pass stool. Was there an occasion when you had a great urge to pass stool and didn’t have access to toilet? Somehow you had to suppress or withstand the urge? You may get similar feeling and you have to control it. Don’t be alarmed. It will subside in a few seconds. You may get such urge more than once.
- When all the water entered your colon, you will see air bubbles in the tube, moving from the can towards the rectum. Close the control knob and pull out the catheter from the rectum slowly. At that time, if there is great urge to pass stool, wait until it subsides and then only pull out the catheter.
The first part of colon cleanse enema is complete.
Get up slowly, sit on the commode. Relax. Let it go. Stool gets soft in the presence of water. If you feel only water is gushing out, apply some control to release it as slowly as possible. Stool should pass along with water. It takes around 15 minutes to empty the bowels. You will feel very light after the evacuation.
Do you feel that stool has gone out completely? Good. But, it is not over yet. There is one more step still remaining. Press the lower abdomen a few times and wait. It is to squeeze out more stool. After a few minutes you will get urge and some stool will come out. Apply a bit of strain to expel some more.
Repeat the process of pressing lower abdomen 2nd time and see if some more stool comes out.
Now the process of colon cleansing enema is complete. I am sure you are happy you did it.
Colon cleansing enema is the best way to clean you colon before starting action to get rid of your constipation.
Related Topics
Pavanamuktasana is very useful in giving relief from flatus. Excessive colon gas is one of the constipation side effects. This asana helps in releasing the gas trapped inside the colon and gives immediate relief from stomach bloating.
Why does gas get trapped inside the colon?
When you are constipated, stool becomes compacted. It gets hard and dry as it stays inside the colon for a long time. Stagnated stool decomposes due to bacterial action. Gas gets released during this process. Since the stool is compact and hard, this gas has no way of escape.
As gas builds up, it causes abdominal distension and discomfort - stomach bloating. A better way to deal with this problem is to remove stool from the colon by colon cleansing. The best colon cleansing is – colon cleansing enema with plain water.
How ever, you can get some immediate relief through Pavanamuktasana. It helps in not only releasing flatus, but is also known to improve digestion.
The critical posture of this asana is – applying pressure on the chest and belly with the knees and thighs.
Procedure:
- Lie down on the mat in the relaxed position with your legs spread side by side. Let your hands be straight on your sides close to the body with palms facing the ground. Breathe normally.
- Inhale. While exhaling, slowly raise the right leg without bending the knee, while the left leg is still straight on the floor. Inhale while doing this.
- Bend the right leg at the knee, until the thigh is pressed 3. against the belly.
- Wrap your arms around the knee as shown and pull the thigh towards the body to apply more pressure on the belly. Inhale deeply.
- Exhale. While exhaling, raise your head and bend the neck so that your forehead touches the knee to apply pressure on the chest.
Try to maintain in this position for a few seconds. While in this position, inhale and exhale deeply. While exhaling, tighten the grip of your hands on the knee and while inhaling, loosen the grip.
- Follow the same steps in the reverse way to come back to normal position.
- Practice 3 rounds with the right leg.
- Repeat the posture, this time with the left leg and practice 3 rounds.
- Repeat the process with both legs together - Dwipada Pavanamuktasana (shown in the images).
Important:
Always start with your right leg first and then your left leg, because right leg presses ascending colon and left leg presses descending colon. While practicing this asana, keep your mind on your breath and the pressure you are exerting on your chest and abdomen.
- In addition to bringing out flatus, Pavanmuktasana pushes the stool as well to promote evacuation, improves peristaltic movement of colon, thus relieving constipation.
- Your lower back and neck are stretched and strengthened. Relieves lower back pain.
- Firms up muscles of abdomen and back, reduces fat.
- By practicing regularly, this asana is known to cure impotency.
- It is beneficial to people suffering from jaundice.
- Improves flexibility of hip joints.
Caution:
Pavanamuktasana is not for pregnant women. If you have undergone surgery, consult your doctor as well as yoga expert. People suffering from hemorrhoids, hernia, hyper tension, heart problems, unhealthy back conditions etc. should consult the doctor and yoga expert. Do not over stretch the neck or thighs during the
process.
Breathing Exercises
Air is the most important of the seven needs of the body to function trouble free. Proper breathing helps in supplying sufficient quantity of oxygen to the body and proper usage of lung capacity. Most of us know it. What we miss is the connection between proper breathing and constipation.
Breathing exercises help in relieving constipation indirectly. The idea is to make the body relax. Remember, if your mind and body are full of tension, none of the organs work properly. If you can make the body relax, intestinal muscular contractions are proper and stool moves easily in the colon. Relaxed (relaxed doesn’t mean inactive) colon is very important in passing stool.
Practicing regular, mindful breathing can be calming and energizing and can even help with stress-related health problems ranging from panic attacks to digestive disorders.- Andrew Weil, M.D.
Breathing has two functions: Supply of oxygen to various organs of the body and removal of waste products and toxins from the body.
Mental tensions force restricted breathing. When you have problems, you are tensed and tend adopt a body posture that causes reduced lung capacity. Your breathing becomes shorter.
Your breathing tends to be shallow when you concentrate on some serious work. It may also happen that you almost forget to breathe and suddenly you become aware of it.
Awareness breathing
Most of the time, we are not aware of our breathing. Try this awareness breathing. Stop thinking of other things and try to concentrate on your breathing. Be aware of the air going in and coming out. Be aware of how your belly and chest are moving when you inhale and exhale. Do this for 10 minutes at a time, three to four times a day. This improves your concentration and soothes your mind when you are angry or tensed.
When your breathing is too shallow and short, it limits both oxygen intake and waste elimination. The body is starved of oxygen and toxin build up occurs. It leads to reduced vital energy, premature aging and poor immune system.
Deep breathing
As shallow breathing does not use full capacity of the lungs, do this deep breathing exercise two or three times a day to start with:
You may do this while sitting, standing or lying down. You can do it in your office or while traveling.
- Breathe out slowly, emptying your lungs. Allow the belly contract as if air is coming 1. out of the belly.
- Breathe in slowly as you expand the belly and then the chest.
- When the lungs are full, hold your breath for a few seconds
- Breathe out slowly, first releasing the chest and then the belly.
- Repeat for 10 cycles.
Andrew Thomas Weil is an American author and physician, best known for establishing and popularizing the field of integrative medicine.
Dr. Weil says, since breathing is something we can control and regulate, it is a useful tool for achieving a relaxed and clear state of mind. He recommends three breathing exercises to help relax and reduce stress:
- The Stimulating Breath
- The 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise (also called the Relaxing Breath)
- Breath Counting.
I practice these breathing exercises and they are very effective. Try each and see how they affect your stress and anxiety levels.
Exercise 1: The Stimulating Breath (also called the Bellows Breath)
The Stimulating Breath is adapted from a yogic breathing technique. Its aim is to raise vital energy and increase alertness.
- Inhale and exhale rapidly through your nose, keeping your mouth closed but relaxed. Your breaths in and out should be equal in duration, but as short as possible. This is a noisy breathing exercise.
- Try for three in-and-out breath cycles per second. This produces a quick movement of the diaphragm, suggesting a bellows. Breathe normally after each cycle.
- Do not do for more than 15 seconds on your first try. Each time you practice the Stimulating Breath, you can increase your time by five seconds or so, until you reach a full minute.
If done properly, you may feel invigorated, comparable to the heightened awareness you feel after a good workout. You should feel the effort at the back of the neck, the diaphragm, the chest and the abdomen. Try this breathing exercise the next time you need an energy boost and feel yourself reaching for a cup of coffee.
Exercise 2: The 4-7-8 (or Relaxing Breath) Exercise
This exercise is simple and can be done anywhere. Although you can do the exercise in any position, sit with your back straight while learning the exercise. Place the tip of your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper front teeth, and keep it there through the entire exercise. You will be exhaling through your mouth around your tongue; try pursing your lips slightly if this seems awkward.
- Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.
- Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four.
- Hold your breath for a count of seven.
- Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight.
- This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.
Note that you always inhale quietly through your nose and exhale audibly through your mouth. The tip of your tongue stays in position all the time. Exhalation takes twice as long as inhalation. The absolute time you spend on each phase is not important; the ratio of 4:7:8 is important.
If you have trouble holding your breath, speed up the exercise but keep to the ratio of 4:7:8 for the three phases. With practice you can slow it down and get used to inhaling and exhaling more and more deeply.
This exercise is a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system. Its effect is less perceived in the beginning but gains in power with repetition and practice.
Do it at least twice a day. You cannot do it too frequently. Limit to a maximum of four breaths at a time for the first month of practice. Later, if you wish, you can extend it to eight breaths. If you feel a little lightheaded when you first breathe this way, do not be alarmed; it will pass.
Develop this technique by practicing it every day- it is a useful tool. Whenever something upsets you, use it before you react. Use it whenever you are tensed. It also induces sleep.
Exercise 3: Breath Counting
A deceptively simple technique much used in Zen practice.
Sit in a comfortable position with the spine straight and head inclined slightly forward. Gently close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Then let the breath come naturally without trying to influence it. Ideally it will be quiet and slow, but depth and rhythm may vary.
- To begin the exercise, count "one" as you exhale.
- The next time you exhale, count "two," and so on up to "five."
- Then begin a new cycle, counting "one" on the next exhalation.
Limit your counting to five and count only when you exhale- one breathing cycle is one count. If your mind begins to wander- if you become aware that what you're doing is chasing thoughts - you will look at the thought, acknowledge it, and then deliberately and consciously let it go and begin the count again at one.
The counting is a feedback to help you know when your mind has drifted off.
Try to do 10 minutes of this breathing exercise. It improves concentration.
Along with physical exercises, use breathing exercises also to relieve constipation and enjoy the benefits of natural colon cleanse. Since one of the vital factors of yoga is controlled
breathing, if you are already practicing yoga for constipation, you need not go for breathing exercises separately.
Physical exercises or physical activity is one of the most effective ways of preventing many diseases. Constipation is one of them.
Since you get into more serious health problems because of constipation, you need to take your exercise more seriously. Being free of constipation assures you freedom from many of its negative effects.
Physical activity stimulates intestinal muscles too. Contraction of muscles of small intestine helps in the movement of food and contraction of colon muscles helps in the movement of fecal matter and its expulsion.
Improper or insufficient colon muscle movement keeps the stool longer inside the colon. The longer it stays inside, more water gets absorbed from it and stool becomes dry and hard. Hard stool is difficult to move and expel.
Regular physical exercise program is one of the basic requirements for treatment and prevention of constipation. Accelerated breathing and increased heart rate that happen during exercise stimulate intestinal muscles because of increased blood flow.
Best time for Physical exercises
Early morning after you pass stool is the right time for exercise. You can do it after a meal too but give a gap of at least one hour. Immediately after a meal, your body gets busy digesting food by increasing blood flow to digestive organs. In an hour or so, depending on what your meal consists of, the activity of digestive organs become slower and you can start your physical
exercise program.
Best exercises for constipation
There are no strict rules on this. It depends on your age and physical fitness. Specific to constipation, walking is a good exercise. 40 minutes to one hour at a stretch or 15 to 20 minutes at a time, doing three to four times a day is good.
If you are fully fit, you have plenty of choices – jogging, running, swimming, bicycle riding etc. You can opt for yoga too. There are certain yoga positions to keep you fit physically and mentally and there are others specially designed to relieve constipation.
Yoga Asanas
Yoga is an ancient scientific system of practice involving the body, mind and spirit. 'Yoga-asanas' is one of the 8 limbs or stages of Yoga. Where as gymnastics are limited to the physical body, yoga-asanas involve both body and mind.
In addition to physical exercises, yoga asanas give additional stimulation to intestinal organs.
Practice them and get-
- Stimulation of every muscle, nerve and gland
- Fit, strong and agile body
If you like to practice yoga asanas seriously for various benefits they offer, it is generally preferable to practice with the help of an experienced teacher affiliated to a reputed yoga institute. You may use books and videos to supplement your training.
However, if you are looking for constipation relief only, I suggest three asanas that you can do at home. The main aim of these postures is to strengthen and stimulate the complete digestive system – digestion, absorption and bowel movement.
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| Pavanmuktasana |
Pavanmuktasana
Good for digestive disorders and constipation. Tones muscles of thighs, abdomen and arms. It releases intestinal gas.
Procedure
- Breathe out and bend both knees.
- Hold both knees with locked hands.
- Press thighs gently towards lower abdomen.
- Raise head up until your forehead touches knees.
- Maintain the position and breathe normally.
- Breath in and return to original position.
Durations and Repetitions-
Try to maintain the posture for 10 sec initially and increase up to 1 minute. Repeat the posture 3 to 4 times.
More detailed instructions and benefits of Pavanamuktasana are available here.
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| Paschimottanasana |
Paschimottanasana
This posture stretches the entire back side from head to heels and massages digestive organs.
- Sit straight on the floor or mat. Keep you legs together, stretched in front of you with toes pointing upwards.
- Breath in and stretch your hands upwards above your head, simultaneously stretching the spine.
- Breathe out and bend forward to reach your feet with hands. Keep your spine as elongated as possible with minimum curvature.
- Try to hold your feet with your hands and gently pull your arms so that your head bends towards the knees as much as possible.
- Relax and breathe normally. Hold on to this position for 10 seconds initially and through practice, you can keep it up to 5 minutes.
- To come out of this posture, follow exactly reverse process.
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| Uttanapadasana |
Uttanapadasana
This posture strengthens abdominal and intestinal muscles.
- Lie down on your back. Keep your legs straight and feet together with toes pointing upwards.
- Keep your hands straight, touching the sides of your body with palm facing the floor.
- While breathing in, raise your legs slowly, with out bending your knees, until your legs are perpendicular to your body.
- Try to bend your feet such that your toes point upwards.
- Keep in this position for 10 seconds initially. You can increase up to 5 min.
- Come back to normal lying potion while breathing out.
- During this asana, don’t bend your knees.
Importance of breathing exercise
Apart from physical exercises and yoga asanas, I suggest some breathing exercises as well.
Proper breathing helps in relieving constipation indirectly. The idea is to make the body relax. Remember, if your mind and body are full of tension, none of the organs work properly.
If you can make the body relax, intestinal muscular contractions are proper and stool moves easily in the colon. Relaxed (relaxed doesn’t mean inactive) colon is very important for healthy bowel movement.
Some very important breathing exercises are given else where in this blog..
Causes of Constipation
- Drinking less water. Read about the importance of drinking water.
- Insufficient fiber in your diet. Low fiber diet is an easy way to illness.
- Bed rest Constipation, Banana Constipation, Beer Constipation, Calcium Constipation, Chocolate Constipation
- Iron Supplements Constipation, Milk Constipation, Celiac Disease Constipation
Physical exercises are as important as drinking sufficient water, high fiber diet, avoiding junk food, healthy eating and lifestyle to avoid constipation.
Causes
An important health issue to be handled with consideration is Constipation in Elderly. Why do the elderly get constipated more frequently? There are 8 factors that contribute to the problem:
- Bowel muscles tend to be more sluggish resulting in improper colon contractions and slow stool movement. Stool becomes hard as more water gets absorbed from stool.
- Reduced water intake. Even though your body’s water requirement is less beyond 55 or 60, you need at least 2.5 to 3 liters a day.
- Less fiber intake. Are you consuming bakery foods because you think they are easily digestible? Do you avoid some fibrous foods because you feel they are difficult to digest? Your concept is wrong In both counts.
- Reduced physical activity. Either you tend to take life easy after retirement or you are restricted in your physical activity because of some health problems.
- Increased consumption of medicines - because health problems increase with age. Constipation can be the result of medicinal side effects.
- Your physical condition doesn’t allow you to apply even a little bit of strain during evacuation.
- Increase in consumption of supplements. Elderly people have a tendency to neglect nutrition value of food they consume and get into health problems due to deficiency of essential elements. They end up in taking prescription supplements and have to face their side effects.
- Mental tension – stress, anxiety, worry, anger etc. can make constipation in elderly more severe.
Bed rest constipation is a common condition many elderly have to face if they are bed ridden due to various health problems.
As the age progresses, many people tend to behave like children – not only in behavior but also in eating pattern. They get attracted to items like chocolates, biscuits, cakes etc., whose fiber content is near zero. Over indulgence in such foods makes the situation worse as far as constipation in elderly is concerned.
Treatment
- Lack of awareness of the body functions is a primary cause of constipation in elderly. Make them aware of the essential requirements of the body for its proper long term functioning. When you are aware of the concepts, you are more likely to be serious in following healthy lifestyle.
- One of the precautions to be taken in constipation in elderly is – don’t allow it to become chronic. However, if it becomes chronic, some laxatives and stool softeners may be necessary for immediate relief. Avoid such measures as a along term solution.
- Be careful in using of laxatives for bedridden people. If the person is not able to feel and respond to the signals fast, it will lead to fecal soiling.
- The best and safest procedure to clean your colon is – colon cleansing enema. Once the colon is clean, adopt healthy diet – nutritious and fiber rich foods; and reasonable physical activity like walking. Water is very important in moving waste matter in your colon. Drink 2.5 to 3 liters of water. Be aware of when and how much water to drink.
- Try to have evacuation early in the morning before breakfast. Some people get urge as soon as they get up. If you are one of them, good! It is ok even if you don’t get. The following procedure will help in evacuation whether you passed stool in the morning or not.
Drink one liter of water. It should not be a leisurely drinking – don’t sip slowly. Take one liter of water in a bottle and drink as much as convenient in one attempt. Take a gap of a second or two and drink again. Finish one liter. It won’t take more than a minute.
Your stomach with 1 kg of water applies pressure on your transverse colon and stool gets pushed towards the rectum.
After drinking water, keep your mind on the lower abdomen and slowly move around in your room. Visualize that your stomach is applying pressure on the colon and stool is moving down.
In a few minutes you will get the urge. It may take two minutes or some times longer, as long as 10 min. Keep moving until you get a very strong urge and sit on the commode. Stool gushes out and it shouldn’t take more than a few seconds to finish 90% of evacuation.
In case you don’t get urge even after drinking water on a particular day, let it not get into your mind. Try to pass stool after a good meal.
Never ignore or suppress the urge. If you do that repeatedly, your body gets accustomed and you stop feeling the urge. That is not good for you.
Finally and the most important in constipation in elderly: keep him or her free of mental tension. It will make the body malfunction in many ways. Happiness is one thing that can do miracles in health as well as in other aspects of life.
Women experience constipation during special occasions- constipation in pregnancy is one of them. There are seven causes of constipation during your pregnancy:
Ovaries produce progesterone, a female hormone, during the release of an ovum (egg). This hormone helps in making the uterus ready for pregnancy, if the egg gets fertilized. If fertilization doesn’t happen, progesterone levels drop and menstrual period starts.
- Pregnant women usually have much higher levels of progesterone than non pregnant women. Because, during pregnancy, placenta (What is placenta?) also secretes good amount of progesterone to maintain pregnancy by preventing contraction of uterus. This action of slowing down the muscular contraction also extends to intestines, resulting in slow movement of food in small intestines and slow movement of stool in the colon.
As stool stays longer in the colon, more water gets absorbed and stool becomes dry and sticky. Dry and sticky stool not only moves much slower but also gets glued to colon walls, causing constipation. Stagnated stool fills the colon, making its peristaltic movement much slower. It is the prime reason for constipation in pregnancy.
- As your pregnancy progresses, uterus puts pressure on the intestines, particularly colon, restricting the colon movement further, making your constipation more severe.
- If you are advised to take Calcium and Iron supplements, these can also cause constipation.
- One more reason to get constipated during pregnancy is: your water intake is low. Focusing more on fluids like fruit juice and health drinks instead of water, can cause constipation- because, fruit juices or health drinks are food. Food is not water. Food can never take the place of water. Such is the importance of water for the body. In fact, your body’s requirement of water during pregnancy increases.
- One of the key causes of constipation during pregnancy is lack of physical activity. As you are considered more special during pregnancy, people around you tend to pamper you by not allowing to do any work. Absence of active life makes your system more sluggish.
- Low Fiber Diet - During such pampering, if you tend to consume more low fiber foods like non veg, bakery foods, chocolates, ice creams, pizzas etc. your constipation will be more severe.
- Your own expectations and expectations of others can create a lot of tension in your mind. As mind and body are related, it can alter your body’s activity. This can aggravate your constipation further.
How do you deal with constipation in pregnancy?
If you were habitually constipated- pregnancy or not, no worry, let this phase pass by following the tips on this page. You can get rid of your problem permanently. This website will guide you effectively.
Hormonal changes are part of your body’s preparation and protection for your pregnancy. Welcome them. If such changes are causing a few discomforts, nothing to worry about. Take the situation in the right spirit.
However, you can do your bit to help your body- to reduce the effects of such changes. How?
Following a few do's and don’ts will see you through the situation with minimum discomfort.
Please remember, constipation in pregnancy is only temporary and will disappear once your baby is delivered.
- If your doctor prescribed iron and calcium supplements, see if you can replace them with iron and calcium rich foods, of course, only with the consent of your doctor. Most of the doctors give you easy and quick solutions and swallowing a pill is definitely quick and easy compared to food. By avoiding pill supplements, you are avoiding a good number of chemicals that get added during the preparation of medicines.
- Importance of water - Drink plenty of water as your body needs more water during pregnancy. Fruit juices and health drinks are food- even though they contain lot of water. Food is not water and can’t do what water can do. You need 4.5 to 5 liters of water per day.
- Avoid health drinks. Any processed food is not good- a number of chemicals get added during their preparation.
- Fruit juice is good but not packaged juices. Prepare pure juice from fruits. Don’t add sugar, salt or ice. Natural and fresh juice is wonderful for you during pregnancy. But one small disadvantage with juicing is, it filters out fiber, which is important for constipation- specially, constipation in pregnancy. The best way to get the goodness of fruits is, eat them slowly. Enjoy the taste. Swallow eatable fiber.
- No doubt, you are very special in your pregnancy. But, if people don’t allow you doing any work, it is going to be more harmful than good for you as well as for your baby. Minimum amount of physical exercises like walking, regular household work, mild exercises and yoga meant for pregnancy are good for constipation in pregnancy. It will also make you active and prevent putting on weight.
- You need good amount of fiber. All processed foods contain low or zero fiber, as they are made of refined flour. Animal food has zero fiber content. They do what you call adding fuel to fire to your constipation. Avoid low fiber foods like chocolates, ice creams, bakery foods, pizzas etc. Fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, unpolished grains etc. are good source of fiber. A few examples of Foods rich in fiber are given above.
- It is better to avoid laxatives as they cause harm to your colon on regular usage. Some laxatives induce vibration in the colon to move the stool. In due course, natural movement in the colon gets slower and you will need higher dose of laxative. You can get habituated and will be forced to use them even after pregnancy.
- Finally, relax. Everything will be fine. Don’t get tension work on you. Avoid tense situations- arguments, quarrels, shows and literature having tense content. Pleasant situations will not only ease your constipation in pregnancy but also will do a lot of good- to you and your baby. Some breathing exercises can make you relax.
