IBS Lifestyle change

IBS Lifestyle change

By Thiruvelan on Sat, 09/19/2015
Irritable Bowel Syndrome Lifestyle Change

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects one in three people at some point in their lives. You can manage IBS with lifestyle modifications.

IBS lifestyle modification

IBS is characterize by irregular bowel movement (diarrhea & constipation), abdominal discomforts (pain, cramp, spasm, and colic), and bloating. 

IBS lifestyle management require normalizing bowel movement, removing intestinal gas, relieving abdominal discomfort, and bloating.

  • Chew food slowly and thoroughly; better to chew at least 32 times each mouth of food. That is, do not eat the food instead drink it; 32 times chewing make enough saliva to make it fluid to drink.
  • Avoid skipping meals, overeating, and difficult to digest foods. Eat slowly; gulping food increases air-swallowing, results in gas and bloat. Chew well and drink the food. Eat biggest meals in the midday and lightest meal for dinner. In addition, take harder to digest foods before 4pm.
  • Avoid trigger foods; some foods may trigger diarrhea, constipation, or abdominal pain. Based on your experience find and avoid trigger foods. 
  • Do not eat late night dinner; eating just before bedtime will worsen symptoms. Instead of rest and recharge during sleep, the digestive system will be busy digesting the food that lead to various digestive discomforts. Eat your dinner at least 3 hours before bedtime, so that the stomach digest food and enter into small intestine.
  • Avoid drinking water along with meals; this may dilute the digestive juice and thus affects proper digestion. However, sipping warm water during meals actually help digestion.
  • Do not do exercise immediately after meals; allow at least one or more hours after a meal. It is better doing exercise before eating a meal. Exercise regularly, ideally every day. It is best to do low-impact exercises such as swimming, walking, bicycling, dancing, skating, and rollerblading.
  • Do no lie down immediately after a meal. This hinder the digestion process and may lead to indigestion, gas, and pain. Gentle walk (not brisk walking) for about 100 feet after a meal help digestion, specifically after dinner.
  • Manage Stress: stress can directly affects the digestive system. Stress is a part of everyday life and is unavoidable. However, you can learn ways to deal with stress help reduce its impact. Practice relaxation therapy such as yoga, tai chi, deep breathing, biofeedback, hypnosis, and/or meditation to lower stress. 
  • Stop too little sleep or poor sleep; Sleep deprivation has shown a direct impact on the severity of IBS, so avoid stimulants such as caffeine later in the day. Relax the body and mind by getting enough sleep. Complete rest with adequate sleep is must for health; avoid awakening-at-night and day sleeping.
  • Relieve anxiety: When you feel anxious, practice abdominal breathing for few minutes calm down anxiety. Learn practicing abdominal breathing: Sit comfortably with your shoulders relaxed. Breathe in slowly through both nostrils and count to five, expanding your tummy. Hold for five seconds and then exhale to a count of five, drawing your stomach in. This is one cycle perform 5 to 50 cycles.
  • As per Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine), IBS is mostly due to vata imbalance. Warm oil massage is nourishing to people with IBS. This relax deeply, increase circulation, counter dryness, and calming.
  • Ayurveda recommends the consumption of buttermilk (fat removed yogurt, just by blending yogurt for 5 to 10 minutes and take away the butter) for people with IBS. Buttermilk is easier to digest, kindle & reinforce digestive power, and establish body's natural balance. Additionally, this restore healthy balance of bacteria in the gut.
  • Improve gut motility by introducing soluble fiber to increase bowel transit, stools, and relieves constipation. Psyllium (Isabgol) is a good source of soluble fiber and is easily available. You should take sufficient water; otherwise, it can have the opposite effect result in constipation.
  • Limit or best avoid alcohol, because it is a stomach irritant. Additionally, it put excess strain on the liver to remove from the circulation. You may ask; then how so many studies support limited alcohol conception? May be due to its anti-stress effect when consumed limited quantity and in high quantity leads to losing consciousness.