Constipation is when a person has difficulty passing stool or has very dry stool. With processed and refined food habits on the rise, constipation is also becoming a rampant problem. The food passes through the large intestine, where a large part of the water is reabsorbed and stool is formed. This is expelled from the body, and if there is constipation, this passage of stool can be difficult, painful, and may be accompanied by bleeding too.

Constipation is common in children as well as among the elderly. Children eat a lot more junk compared to adults. As age progresses, elders begin losing teeth and they chew less which leads to indigestion and thereby constipation. Treating constipation should be a conscious effort as it does not have a single remedy. A combination of dietary changes including all aspects like fiber, water, caffeine etc. can help in treating constipation effectively. 

As the first thing in the morning, drinking a glass of lukewarm water is good. Add some baking soda to this, if you are feeling bloated, it aids in cleansing the bowels.
Ginger tea is another great remedy to induce bowel movements in the morning.
A glass of warm milk with a little honey or sugar is a good remedy for constipation.
Warm water or milk with Isabgol husk at bedtime helps bowel movements in the morning.
Applying a few drops of lukewarm castor oil over the navel when going to sleep can help in easy passage of stools in the morning.
Guava, pears, oranges, grapes, papaya, apples, and other fruits add roughage to the diet and help in easy passage of stools.
Soak some raisins in hot water, cool it, crush and strain them. This is very effective for treating constipation in children.
A glass of carrot juice or papaya juice is very useful in treating constipation.
Drink about 8 to 10 glasses of water to avoid constipation. The artificial juices and canned drinks do not count in this, as they only make it worse.
High-fat, processed foods, alcohol, and caffeine are major causes of constipation. So one should avoid them to a large extent.
Including small amounts of olive oil, castor oil, and ghee help in lubrication and easy passage of the stools.
Triphala, which is a popular Ayurvedic preparation, can be mixed with warm water and consumed to prevent constipation. Given its bitter taste, you can add a small amount of honey to it. It has antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-parasitic properties. This helps in overall cleansing of the colon and is not just a short-term remedy.
Yogasanas like pavana muktasana, yoga mudra, dhanur asana, and vajrasana have major benefits on the digestive system, including releasing accumulated gas and passage of stools.
Following these tips and maintaining dietary and lifestyle discipline is very effective in providing long term remedy from constipation.

Constipation - 13 Natural Ways It Can Be Treated!

Urinary Incontinence is the sudden urine loss that occurs involuntarily in women. Some of the factors which cause urinary incontinence are pregnancy, menopause and childbirth. It should be noted that urinary incontinence by itself is not a disease, but is a symptom of other underlying disorders such as diabetes, infections and other conditions.

Causes of temporary cases of urinary incontinence include:
1. Constipation
2. Urinary tract infections
3. Excess consumption of alcohol and caffeine
4. Consuming carbonated drinks
5. Use of artificial sweeteners
6. High doses of vitamin B and vitamin C
7. Being on sedatives, muscle relaxants, blood pressure and heart medications
8. Eatables which are too spicy, acidic or sugary

However, persistence of incontinence might be due to a more serious condition. Some of the causes are stated below:

Age: The bladder muscles tend to weaken with age. This affects the bladder s urine holding capacity.
Pregnancy: Hormonal changes and increase in weight during pregnancy can cause incontinence.
Menopause: Oestrogen is responsible for the healthy maintenance of the lining of the urethra and bladder. The onset of menopause causes the oestrogen hormone levels to drop. The gradual damage of the bladder tissues causes incontinence.
Childbirth: The bladder control muscles are weakened during normal vaginal delivery, thus leading to incontinence.
Obstruction: Occurrence of tumours in the urinary tract can block the normal flow of urine which can cause incontinence.
Hysterectomy: The same ligaments and muscles support both the bladder as well as the urethra. With removal of the uterus by hysterectomy, the pelvic floor muscles are deteriorated. This leads to urinary incontinence.
Neurological disorders: Conditions such as multiple sclerosis (autoimmune disorder in which the immune system destroys the protective sheath of the nerves), Parkinson s disease (disorder affecting motor functioning of the body), brain tumours, spinal injury or strokes are capable of causing incontinence.

Different forms of urinary incontinence are classified on the basis of their symptoms:

Urge incontinence: Urge or urgency incontinence occurs when there is a leak before the person reaches the toilet.
Stress incontinence: Small amounts of urine leak out during normal physical movements such as sneezing, coughing and exercising. This happens because of the minimum stress exerted on the body, and hence, the name.
Functional incontinence: Sudden leakage of urine occurs due to external deterrents or physical disabilities such as not being able to find a toilet.
Overactive Bladder: This is characterized by frequent and urgent urination.
Overflow incontinence: A full bladder, at times, leads to unexpected leakage.
Transient incontinence: If urine leakage occurs due to temporary situations such as infections, or new medications.

Did You Know - Constipation Can Also be a Sign of Urinary Incontinence

With the super busy lifestyle that everybody is gravitating to, there is less and less time for everything, including cooking and eating. Thus, more and more processed foods are finding their way into our refrigerators, as they can just be picked up and eaten anytime hunger pangs are felt. And, we do not immediately realize that processed foods are devoid of all the essential ingredients. What we end up eating has less fiber, more salt, and more preservatives (generally not very safe for all), all leading to an unhealthy lifestyle.

Refined flour, white sugar, cheese, canned juices, frozen foods, cheese laden pizzas and breadsare all yummy, but not something that is readily accepted and digested by your stomach. Try eating pizza with loads of cheese for two days and experience the bloated feeling for yourself. Not to scare you, but imagine this; you would have to eat an entire medium pizza to get 2 g of fiber. Where as, your body requires about 25 to 40 g of fiber per day for regular health maintenance.

Biologically, our digestive system requires a lot of fiber, which adds to the roughage. This is very important as it helps in digestion and aid in cleansing the bowel later. The function of the large intestine is to remove water and essential ingredients when food passes through it. Junk food passes through quite quickly, thereby, leading to loss of water and ingredients. A lot of digestive issues are also related to lack of fiber in the food, like polyps, colon cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, high cholesterol, and obesity. 

Most of us are aware, but tend to ignore the fact that junk food is as the name suggests, junk. There is hardly anything of nutritious value in it. On the contrary, it contains lots of salt, fat and artificial chemicals, which though, make it very tasty, but has zero nutrition value. 

Try to eat only junk food for about a week regularly, and you will surely feel:

1. Bloated (a lot of gas due to indigestion)
2. Dehydrated (excessive salt needs more water, which we don't realize)
3. Constipated (lack of fiber leading to reduced bowel movement)
4. Weak and lousy (due to lack of nutrition)

This of course does not include the harmful effects on skin, hair, looks, etc. It does not mean you have to stop eating junk completely and eat only healthy food all the time. The human body is adaptive and can adjust to a lot of variations. It is not wise to try the example above (eating pizza for a week), however, binging on junk food once a week would definitely not hurt. Use your discretion as nobody knows your body as well as you do.

Constipation and Junk Food

The way your day starts can affect your entire day and nothing is worse than fighting constipation in the morning. Along with a feeling of heaviness in the abdomen and bloating, constipation can also cause mood swings and lower your attention span. While laxatives can be temporary quick fixes, they can worsen the problem over time. 

Hence, it is better to treat this disorder with a few simple lifestyle changes and home remedies.

Eat plenty of fibre: A bad diet is one the key factors triggering constipation. Fibre not only fills the stomach, but also helps add bulk to your stool making it easier to pass. Ideally, a person should have 20-40 grams of fibre a day. If you suffer from chronic constipation, you can increase this amount a little as well. As an easy way to increase your fibre consumption is ensure that you eat some form of raw salad with every meal. Other foods that are rich in fibre are oats, almonds, cereals, beans, lentils and fruits.
Ginger tea or mint tea: Ginger is a warming herb, which when had in form of tea can make the body generate more internal heat. This helps activate the digestion process and thereby relieves constipation. The menthol in peppermint has an antispasmodic effect that helps relax the digestive tract muscles and makes it easier for stool to pass through. Dandelion tea can also be used as a mild natural laxative.
Castor oil: Castor oil is a popular natural laxative. This is because one of the components of this oil helps stimulate the small and large intestine. To benefit from castor oil, have 1 or 2 teaspoons of the oil on an empty stomach. You should be able to pass stool within about 8 hours.
Drink plenty of water: Water not only hydrates the body, but also helps food move along the digestive system. Without adequate water, the stool is likely to be hard and difficult to pass. Ideally, you should drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Do not count artificially sweetened beverages as part of this count as they can actually cause constipation instead of ease it.
Warm lemon water: Lemon juice helps stimulate the digestive system and hence is ideal for treating constipation. When mixed with warm water, it can help eliminate toxins from the body. Adding a little honey to the mixture can also work as a mild laxative. Alternatively, you could add salt in place to honey as this encourages the bowel muscle contraction and is rich in magnesium.

Constipation - 5 Ayurvedic Remedies for Treating it!

Constipation usually refers to the troublesome bowel movement. It is normally referred to a condition where you defecate less than normal. Most people usually experience this at some point, yet it is not considered very serious unless it becomes a persistent problem. Instead of immediately turning to some medicine or laxative, (which usually worsens the issue) attempt some basic home solutions to get rid of your inconvenience, and prevent it from returning. Some of the most effective home remedies to get relief from constipation are:


Oil: Start your day by taking 1 tablespoon of olive oil. It works best when you have an empty stomach, so have it before you eat anything else. In case that you forget, wait until later when you have not eaten for some time. You can blend it with a bit of lemon juice. 
Lemon juice: The citrus extract in lemon juice acts as a stimulant for your digestive system and can flush out toxins and undigested material that may have developed along the walls of the intestine. Avoid blending the juice with water, as this may dilute the effect of the former. 
Caffeine: Caffeine is a natural solution for the digestive system. One or two cups are fine, however, ensure you do not try too hard. Consuming a lot can have the reverse impact. Coffee is a diuretic and makes you urinate more frequently and as often as possible. Yet, it can have a negative impact too. In case that you drink it in excess, it can bring about blockage by dehydrating the body and drawing out water that would otherwise soften your stool for easy passage. 
Fiber: Natural foods have a tendency to contain a huge amount of fiber. To put it plainly, fiber is a material that cannot be processed and it acts like a sponge. It draws water from its environment, making it swell, which makes the stool soft and adds bulk and mass to it, which helps it pass normally. 
Aloe Vera: It is best to use aloe vera gel straight from the plant itself. The gel straight from the plant is more concentrated than processed aloe juice so do not use more than 2 tablespoons. In case that you do not have an aloe plant, then drinking aloe juice can accomplish similar results. 
Baking soda: Baking soda lies at the heart of home cures. It is so flexible, and it practically does its work 95% of the time, as per many medical studies. It works well for constipation (and abdominal pain as a rule) since it is a bicarbonate. It will urge air to leave you somehow and calm pain from the pressure. It additionally re-alkalizes the stomach, killing the acid to some degree and helping waste pass through your gut.

Ayurvedic Remedies to Help You Get Relief from Constipation

Constipation is the most widely found problem of mankind. Almost the largest number of drugs, are available for the problem and largest sums of money are spent by people to get rid of it. Even then the medical science does not recognise it as a serious disease. 
To some extent they are correct.  Constipation is not a disease as such. It is merely a condition but it can be responsible for attacks of almost all diseases which are effecting the humans. Unfortunately it is also spreading wildly as the civilization is spreading and eating refined foods is becoming fashionable. Many drugs also cause constipation. If so the prescribing doctor should be immediately contacted for change of the prescription.
The present treatment of the condition is drugs of three different types. A) Lubricating, B) Bulk forming and C) Agitating.
Lubricating drugs include various oils, milk of magnesia etc. These drugs lubricate the elementary canal and/or lubricate the faeces and thus facilitate the movement. These are the least damaging type of drugs. Yet they can make even undigested foods to pass through the system or cause           diarrhoea.   
Bulk forming drugs include isabgol, rice bran etc. When the bulk is increased the faeces move and are expelled faster. It should be remembered that these are just substitutes for the fibre which is lost during various processes adopted in kitchens. It is clearly foolishness to first throw away the natural fibre and replace it by purchasing substitutes from the market. Further rejected natural fibre carries away several essential nutrients with them, which are not replaced by the additives.
The agitating type drugs include several herbs and chemicals which are not acceptable to the system and therefore the system works extra harder to get rid of them. These ultimately tire out the system and weaken it. The weakened system requires more powerful drugs and the endless race starts. Thus this category causes maximum harm to the digestive system. 
It is now obvious that all the above drugs are not the cure for constipation. These have only a onetime effect and can harm the system.  
In fact the cure for constipation lies in life style itself. To get rid of it one should follow the following advice:
1) Avoid refined foods.
2) Eat maximum foods in raw form.
3) Eat lots of salads and fruits so that there is enough fibre in the food.
4) Avoid refined flour (Maida), polished rice etc.
5) Do some regular exercise so that the body, including gut is in good health.
6) Eat sprouted boiled pulses instead of pulses available in the market.
7) Do not peel all those vegetables which can be used without peeling. Even if peeling is absolutely necessary do by minimum possible.
8) Drink sufficient water. (Humans need about 3 litres of water every day).
9) Try discharge faeces twice a day-Morning and Evening.
10) Never ignore an urge. Attend to it as early as possible.
Even then sometimes the faeces become dry and hard. In all such cases instead of applying pressure it is better to take a plain water enema (Douche). It is totally harmless, does not form habit, and convenient to take.
It is very important to get rid of constipation. Since constipation is the main cause of several diseases. 

Constipation - Know Its Naturopathic Treatment!! 

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