Digestion is one of the most important processes in the human body. The many components of the digestive system break down the food we eat and turn it into energy and nutrition. Healthy digestion helps the body eliminate toxins and keeps your stomach feeling light.
Years of research have shown that poor gut health can affect other bodily functions, and poor digestion can lead to low energy levels, poor bowel movements, nausea, high-stress levels, and even weight gain. While good eating habits are crucial to maintaining a healthy digestive system, you can also perform certain exercises for digestion to help maintain gut health.
Introducing a new exercise program can improve your gut’s health, aid digestion, and ultimately, your overall health and well-being.
Physical activities stimulate the gut and increase intestinal activity. Exercising also increases blood to the gastrointestinal tract, helping its components work more efficiently.
Studies have shown that exercising can also affect the balance of good bacteria in the gut. Good bacteria play an important role in shielding the immune system, limiting the growth of bad bacteria, preventing an inflammatory response, and helping the body absorb the essential nutrients in the food we consume.
Exercise increases lymphatic movement and insulin sensitivity, which is very beneficial for your digestive health. Below are five of the best exercises to help you meet your fitness goals and improve digestion.
Yoga has been scientifically proven to reduce stress, which is a major cause of digestive health problems. Yoga movements and stretch routines help your food go down faster, which aids digestion.
Stretching in different yoga poses works the core muscles, relaxes the abdominal muscles and helps avoid common gastrointestinal issues like bloating and acidity. It also helps reduce belly fat.
Some yoga poses you can practice to improve digestion are:
Walking is a simple activity you can easily incorporate into your daily exercise routine. Specifically, brisk walking for at least 30 to 40 minutes daily can help keep poor digestion and other medical conditions at bay. Additionally, walking helps reduce belly fat.
This simple exercise stimulates intestinal contractility, which eases the passage of stools. You can start with a short brisk walk around your block once a day, and then walk further and further each day.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when going on a walk:
It may surprise you to learn that simple breathing exercises can aid digestion and improve poor gut health. Daily breathing exercises can help alleviate common issues such as heartburn and bloating.
While deep breathing is also an important part of yoga, it is also a great activity to practice on its own. It has been linked with reducing stress levels, which is a big reason for digestion problems in your gastrointestinal tract.
Practicing a simple breathing exercise is an easy place to start. Here’s how to begin:
Cycling is another effective way to ensure a healthy digestive system. It helps improve poor digestion, boosts blood supply to your brain, maintains abdominal muscle, and reduces belly fat.
Cycling ensures a smooth and efficient movement through your digestive tract, also improving your bowel movement. It also helps reduce the water wasted in stools, which ultimately improves your overall digestion.
Going for a ride at least two times a week is an excellent way to improve gut health, not to mention the benefits it provides for the cardiovascular system as well! If you have a heart condition, consult your doctor before you begin.
Tai Chi is an ancient Chinese martial art that involves a series of slow-motion movements performed in a focused manner, while also practicing breathing exercises. It has been practiced for thousands of years, for various reasons: defense training, health benefits, even meditation.
Tai Chi improves blood circulation and reduces stress, two factors that can improve digestion. Studies suggest that this kind of workout can improve the quality of life and ensure a healthy digestive system. A consistent tai chi practice can also decrease the symptoms of fibromyalgia in some people.
Unlike high-intensity exercise, the ancient art involves slow, low-impact movements of the arms, chest, head, knee which can help strengthen the bowel movement and intestines
The best way to practice tai chi is to get a dedicated, experienced trainer. You can sign up for local group classes or find instructors online.
Exercising isn’t the only way to improve your digestive system. If you experience digestive disorders like heartburn, hyperacidity, gas, nausea, and diarrhea, making changes to your diet and lifestyle can have a major positive impact.
Some other ways to improve your gut health include:
Staying hydrated can help with a number of health conditions, including digestive health issues. Low water intake is a primary cause of constipation. Drinking enough water and eating fruits and vegetables with high water content can help in this case. It also helps in eliminating toxins from your digestive tract.
Eating food that is high in refined carbs and saturated fat gives rise to a range of different digestive problems. Maintaining a diet that is high in vitamins and nutrients can help protect you against digestive disorders, as it boosts the immune system and reduces belly fat.
A fiber-rich diet aids in regular bowel movements, eliminates toxins, and alleviates various health conditions.
Today, stress is one of the biggest contributors to digestive issues. It has been linked with stomach ulcers, diarrhea, constipation, and IBS.
It is important to manage your stress through stress management techniques, meditation, and, as mentioned earlier, through exercising. Other methods that help reduce stress levels are cognitive behavioral therapy, acupuncture, yoga, and breathing exercises.
Anything done in excess can be bad for you, and the same holds true for aerobic exercise. While your body is digesting food, you should avoid high-impact exercises to avoid discomfort. It can also disturb the digestion process, leading to a range of digestive health problems.
Opt for low-impact physical activities like walking instead.
We all know exercising is good for your overall health. And if you suffer from gastrointestinal problems, exercising can especially help reduce their frequency and intensity. Taking care of your digestion, from the food you eat to the exercises you perform, is key to living a healthy life and achieving your fitness goals.
New and exciting ways to measure the impact of these kinds of lifestyle changes are also on the way. Designed with high-quality biometric sensors, the Çava Seat can track your gut health, heart health, fitness progress, and more, without changing your daily routine. Daily bathroom visits provide some of the best information needed to identify gut imbalances and food sensitivities.
By tracking your vitals, body composition, and waste quality the Çava Seat is able to learn over time and make recommendations to help you live a healthier life.
Yes. Exercising stimulates your gut and your intestinal processes. Regular physical activity can increase blood flow to the muscles in the digestive system, which helps them work more efficiently.
Yes. Even a simple workout that lasts at least 30 minutes a day helps increase your metabolism and boosts the muscle contractions that aid digestion.
Deep breathing, also called belly breathing or diaphragmatic breathing, helps fill your lungs with oxygen and can help relieve stress, which is an important factor in improving digestion.
