It is referred to as the case in which bowels are not satisfactory if bowel habit is slowly or rapidly
altered for any reason.
Symptoms
- If you feel discomfort with longer bowel cycle than usual or you don’t feel refreshed even if you go to the bath room.
- If the stool is hard and you feel pain around anus upon bowel movements, or if you feel heavy and
unpleasant in lower abdomen. - It consists of spastic constipation in which small and thin bowels are coming out, and atonic constipation formed
because proper bowel movement has not been made.
Causes
- Constipation caused by eating less(it appears in young women with weight management, children and the elderly)
- Wrong bowel habits
- Stress
- Dehydration or overuse of laxative
- Side effects caused by drugs(narcotic analgesics, antacids or some of hypertension medications and iron boost)
- Secondary symptoms caused by other diseases: anal ulcer, irritable bowel syndrome, myasthenia gravis, neurological disease,
hypothyroidism, diverticulitis, hyperparathyroidism, colon cancer or bowel obstruction
Treatments
Diet therapy
- Eat the appropriate amount of meals three times a day on a regular basis.
- Drink plenty of water(8~9 cups in a day).
- Eat high-fiber foods sufficiently.
- Eat brown rice instead of white rice.
- Eat plenty of vegetables and seaweed.(Eat three or more different kinds of vegetables in every meal)
- Eat fruits sufficiently.
- If you have pains in case of spastic constipation, do not eat high-fiber foods.
- It would be helpful to eat fermented food such as beverage with lactic acid bacteria(yogurt and Yoplait).
Exercise
- Move as much as possible.
- Those who take appropriate amount of activities may not suffer from constipation.
- Take aerobic exercise(exercise with shortness of breath) for 20 minutes/ session and three times in a week.
Correct bowel habits
- Bowel is made by excretion of the intestine caused by the autonomic nervous system.
- Thus, if you give too much strength to abdomen or you sit on toilet for long time, autonomous function of intestine
will be weakened. - If bowel movement does not start within two minutes after sitting on the toilet, you have to stand up and start activities
even if it is very uncomfortable. - You can go back to the bathroom when the intention for bowel movement appears again and you cannot bear it.
- Do not spend more than five minutes for bowel movement.
- Reading a newspaper or a book upon bowel movements may be the cause of constipation.
- If you want to go to the toilet, do not tolerate it but go to the bathroom immediately.
This bowel habit prevents the constipation.