Constipation is a hurdle for the elderly. Once you go to the toilet, you can squat for half an hour. To the elderly, going to the toilet is simply a torture!
People with frequent constipation will have at least 8 health problems
People with frequent constipation will not only have anorectal health problems, but also cause harm to the health of the whole body, such as the following eight kinds.
1. Exacerbate anorectal diseases: dry fecal mass can stimulate the local area, causing local edema and blood flow disorders, thereby causing or aggravating rectal and anal diseases. Anal pain, cramps, scarring stenosis and other causes caused by proctitis, anal fissure, hemorrhoids, ulcers and other diseases often make patients fear defecation and form a vicious circle.
2. Make you “colorless”: long-term constipation will affect the metabolism, resulting in dull face, rough skin, etc. Many people with severe constipation are accompanied by skin problems.
3. Neuropsychiatric disorders: Under the long-term torment of constipation, constipated people often have neuropsychiatric symptoms such as nervousness, anxiety, insomnia, forgetfulness, dizziness and nausea, and some even have mental depression. On the contrary, these symptoms can aggravate constipation and accompanying symptoms.
4. Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases: Exercising can cause blood pressure to rise suddenly. A sudden increase in blood pressure will increase the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular load, and significantly increase the probability of angina, myocardial infarction, and sudden death from stroke.
5. Inducing certain cancers: People with habitual constipation, especially middle-aged and elderly patients with habitual constipation, are most likely to suffer from rectal cancer.
6. Lead to Alzheimer’s disease: A study by the Sydney Medical University in Australia found that bacteria in the human intestine can decompose undigested proteins into toxic substances such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, mercaptans and indole. People with chronic constipation cannot prompt These toxic substances are excreted from the body. When these toxic substances exceed the detoxification ability of the liver, they enter the brain with blood circulation and damage the central nervous system, causing brain dysfunction, leading to mental decline and memory decline. Due to the relative reduction in the amount of food consumed by the elderly, the decline in digestion, and the reduction in activity, constipation is likely to cause Alzheimer’s disease.
7. Causes gastrointestinal nerve dysfunction: Constipation can cause gastrointestinal nerve dysfunction, leading to loss of appetite, abdominal fullness, belching, bitter mouth, and increased exhaust. Because the fecal mass is impacted in the rectal cavity, it is difficult to discharge, and a small amount of watery feces will bypass the fecal mass and flow out from the anus during defecation. This condition is sometimes mistaken for diarrhea, and the root cause of this phenomenon is constipation. Misuse of antidiarrheal agents can worsen constipation.
8. Paroxysmal abdominal pain: Abdominal pain caused by constipation is mostly repeated and sudden paroxysmal attacks, which can last for several minutes to tens of minutes. The pain is not fixed, usually around the umbilicus (under the umbilicus) and the whole abdomen. It can be mild or severe, with no abnormal symptoms intermittently. The reason is that long-term constipation makes defecation conditioned reflexes slow, sphincter relaxes, and a large number of hard stools accumulate to cause incomplete intestinal obstruction. Because the intestinal wall muscles relax intermittently, the abdominal pain can be relieved and can be repeated. Abdominal pain caused by constipation is more common in children, but not uncommon in adults.
Defecation is a technical task, you have to pay attention to these details
Many people think it is a simple matter to go to the toilet to defecate, but in fact it also has a certain technical content. Elderly people should pay special attention to the following details.
First, you must concentrate on going to the toilet and not reading the newspaper or playing with your mobile phone. If the bowel movement feels obvious, you must immediately defecate, concentrate on defecation after going to the toilet, and do not do other things, so as not to distract your energy. Remember to defecate according to the regularity and scientific nature of the bowel movement. After the first bowel movement is completed, you should wait quietly for the stool to move down from the upper rectum to produce a second bowel movement, and then do the second bowel movement. If squatting in the toilet has exceeded 5 minutes and still has no intention of defecation, it should end. Do not use too much force during defecation, so as not to cause damage to the anus, you should slowly increase your strength and use force to defecate the block. If you bleed during defecation, don’t be nervous, stop the bleeding when you stop defecation. If you have a prolapse during defecation, slowly press it back to the anus after defecation to avoid incarceration and cause swelling and pain. After defecation, you should raise your hips first, and then slowly stand up straight to prevent dizziness or fainting after standing upright. If constipation or defecation is difficult, don’t try hard. This is not conducive to defecation, but it may increase pressure on your cardiovascular and cerebrovascular. Many heart disease patients suddenly get on the toilet because of improper exertion. Up.
Second, the anus should be properly raised when the bowel movement is not smooth. Proper levator anus is very effective when defecation is not smooth. In addition, the time to go to the toilet should not be too long, the pressure should not be too high, and the bowel movements should be regular.
Third, the toilet posture varies from person to person, and more and more people sit and defecate. The biggest advantage of using the toilet is that the body is relaxed, which is easy to prevent accidents. Especially for patients with constipation, the time to go to the toilet is relatively long, and it is better to sit in the toilet. Squatting on the toilet for more than 3 minutes can directly lead to rectal varicose congestion, which is easy to cause hemorrhoids, and the severity of the disease is related to the length of time. The longer the time, the higher the incidence. It is also safer for patients with high blood pressure to sit in the toilet than to squat. But for normal people, squatting to go to the toilet is more health-care effect than sitting. Squatting to go to the toilet can stretch many of the body’s meridians, such as the gall bladder meridian, kidney meridian and stomach meridian. If you take a squatting posture, the muscles around the anus will be more relaxed, which can alleviate the phenomenon of stool obstruction, and the squatting posture can increase abdominal pressure and help smooth defecation.
Two TCM methods to help you prevent constipation
According to a long-term study by experts, if the elderly want to live a long life, they must at least have “three good things”: eat well, sleep well, and arrange well. For this reason, Dr. Ye introduced two simpler methods to prevent constipation.
1. Rubbing the belly method
After a meal, massage the abdomen around the umbilicus with the palm of the hand clockwise about 30 times to help digestion and eliminate bloating. Massage the abdomen clockwise from 1 to 3 o’clock every afternoon, the effect of promoting digestion is the best, because the small intestine meridian is the most vigorous during this period. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the abdomen is “the palace of the internal organs, the source of yin and yang, and blood”. Frequent massage of the abdomen can coordinate the spleen and stomach, reconcile the circulation of blood in the internal organs, and promote blood circulation in the abdomen. It has refreshing, qi, and essence. effect. It is better to warm the abdomen each time and feel comfortable; such as the treatment of food accumulation, abdominal distension, constipation, etc., the frequency and strength can be appropriately increased, and the abdominal bowel, exhaust and defecation are better.
2. Chop Valley Road
When inhaling, lift the anus and the perineum a little harder, and then slowly exhale and let it go. This method is what we usually call “levator anus exercise”, which is equivalent to the “gut-pulling path” of Chinese medicine. Gut-path is the anus, and it is lifted. The anus is on the governor channel of the human body. The governor channel is the “sea of yang pulses”, which has the function of regulating the yang channels throughout the body. Regular levator exercises can not only raise the Qi, strengthen the internal organs, but also contribute to the health of the anorectal. The levator anus exercise is almost not restricted by time and place. The method is extremely simple. It is once mentioned and loosened. It can be done 2 to 3 times a day for 5 to 10 minutes each time.
It should be noted that after the symptoms of constipation appear, do not be careless, go to the anorectal constipation clinic as soon as possible to determine the cause and treat the symptoms.
