If you have bowel movement every 3-4 days or longer, then you have chronic constipation. It's something you need to correct right away. Chronic constipation can lead to serious colon complication, such as colon cancer, diverticulitis, and other colon diseases.
A National Health Interview Survey showed that around 3 million Americans suffer from frequent if not chronic constipation. Constipation is not recognized as a degenerative disease or serious disorder, if it only happens once in a while. Constipation by itself is miserable enough, since you may experience painful bowel movements. When you frequently strain and push to have a movement, you can create hemorrhoids, which may be difficult to get rid of.
When you eat, the stomach digested it and turns it into a semi liquid. This liquid food passes into the small intestine where nutrients are pulled out and transported through the intestine walls.
The remaining liquid, then moves onto the colon, where water is removed, allowing a stool to form. If too much water is extracted from the stool as it passes through the colon, the stool becomes hard and becomes difficult to move along the colon and out the rectum.
So why do your stools get hard, making it difficult for you to have a bowel movement. There are a number of reasons why you get chronic constipation.
• not eating enough dietary fiber
• not drinking enough water
• lack of exercise
• ignoring the urge to have a bowel movement
• stress
• eating too much processed food
• deficiency in vitamins and minerals
• using excess medication
• colon weakness
• excess use of drug store laxatives
So if you want to get rid of chronic constipation, here are some things you can do. Eat a high fiber diet made up of lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Stay away from drugstore fiber products that promise you fiber to eliminate your constipation. These products are not natural and don't have the fiber balanced with phytonutrients, minerals, vitamins, bioflavonoid, and antioxidants as fruits and vegetables do.
If fiber fails in your attempt to become regular, drink more water and fruit juices. Try eating a few dried prunes or prune juice between meals. Eat other types of fruits between meals such as grape, cherries, peaches, nectarines, plums and so on.
Avoid sugar and other processed foods and start a regular exercise program to help promote normal bowel movements. Walk after your lunch or dinner meal. Do those exercise that work in your stomach area.
If you have excess stress, you need to learn how to decrease that stress otherwise it will be difficult to eliminate your chronic constipation. Meditate, do yoga, go for a walk. Do things that will allow you to reduce your stress levels and help your body to relax. This can help relax your colon. Use peppermint tea to help relax the smooth muscles of the gastrointestinal tract.
Take a good probiotic such as acidophilus or bifidophilus to help promote a healthy environment within the colon. Use magnesium and large doses of vitamin C, since they have a mild laxative effect on the body.
Author Resource:
Looking for a cure to Chronic constipation ? Are you fed up already with artificial laxatives that do nothing but temporary relief? At Stop-Constipation.com, we can help you eliminate constipation completely using natural remedies. All you have to do is set your mind and be disciplined enough to follow our suggestions. For more info, click http://www.stop-constipation.com .