Constipation

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Sedentary Lifestyle

17.     Constipation more often comes to stay as a sequel to the faulty lifestyle. People who lead a sedentary (inactive) life are frequently constipated than people who are active. People with desk jobs, overwork, stress, doing less of physical activity or overdoing any exercise, adopting irregular daily schedule or late night engagements, excessive traveling, wrong eating and drinking habits can impair the natural movements of intestines and lead to constipation. Lack of exercise also removes the mechanical action of muscles on the intestinal contents, thus slowing bowel action and also reducing normal circulation throughout the digestive tracts and causing constipation.

Suppression of Natural Urge to Defecate

18.     Ayurveda has described the bowel movement as a non-suppressible urge. Faulty toilet habits, such as inhibiting normal reflexes for long periods, leads to the disappearance of this urge. In early years, and also with adults on hectic schedules, the call of nature may be habitually ignored or postponed. This causes the body to discontinue sending these messages to the brain until it has no further choice, due to overload, but to obey. Busy people who suppress this feeling may result in hardening and backlog of faeces that may become difficult to pass later.

Over-use of Laxatives/Purgatives

19.     Myths about constipation have led to a serious abuse of laxatives. This is common among people who are preoccupied with having a daily bowel movement. Taking laxatives is one of the common errors that one makes. Abuse of laxatives is a common reason for constipation, especially among the elderly, who are obsessed with having satisfactory bowel movement. People who habitually take laxatives, to regulate bowel movement when constipation is a chronic problem, become dependent on them and may require increasing dosages until the intestines become insensitive and fail to work properly. Over time, colon begins to rely on laxatives to bring on bowel movements. Long duration use of laxatives due to their irritant qualities can permanently damage nerve cells in the colon and interfere with the colon’s natural ability to contract for bowel movements. Taking castor oil habitually has killed many but cured none of constipation. For the same reason, regular long term use of enemas can also lead to the loss of normal bowel movements. Passage of watery stools due to laxatives can cause loss of fluids and electrolyte (sodium and potassium) imbalance and physical and mental weakness. In a susceptible person, it may even precipitate thrombosis in the heart or the brain. Excessive intake of purgatives results in urinary tract infection, abdominal pain, low blood potassium and muscle weakness. Overuse of laxatives, which also have harmful side effects, instead of relieving constipation can result in chronic constipation. Laxatives, that contain mineral oil not only cause the bowels to become over-stimulated and weakened but also rob the body of the soluble vitamins.