How can I reduce gas in my digestive system?

Muscular movements occur in the intestines and stomach. The earthworm contracts, expands, and moves in a rhythmic manner. It keeps contracting and expanding to move forward. Just like the waves in the sea, the stomach and intestines will also have regular movements.

These moments are necessary to mix the food and let it digest thoroughly. These movements are very important to digest and mix the food properly. In the process of making curries too, extensive mixing is involved. It ensures that the spices blend well with the vegetables, facilitating proper cooking.

When grinding pulses in a stone grinder manually, they are grounded by mixing thoroughly.

A small ladle-like tool in the wet grinder ensures proper mixing of ingredients. It facilitates the movement of substances from the bottom to the top and vice versa. Similarly, movements in the stomach and intestines are necessary for the digestion of food. Post-digestion, the food should also move downward.

The small intestines in the body have a length of approximately 5 meters. The complete digestive system spans about 21 feet from the mouth to the anus. The muscle movements of contractions and expansions are vital for the food to traverse from the mouth to the anus.

(Also Read - What happens when the acid level in the stomach is high?)

Healthy digestive system function is indicated by proper muscular movements. This prevents the storage, fermentation, and indigestion of food, promoting proper digestion. So, proper digestion relies significantly on the movements of the muscles. The gradual reduction in muscle movement within the digestive system is observed in some individuals.

Consequently, food tends to linger in the stomach and intestines for an extended period. It results in the formation of fermentation gas, burps, and the regurgitation of food into the mouth. It will also lead to poor absorption of nutrients in the body, indigestion and constipation. In such cases, doctors may recommend specific medicines to enhance digestive muscle movements.

Efficient muscle movement in the intestines is essential for the swift passage of stool.

A natural remedy exists to enhance intestinal movements, which am going to discuss. Adhering to these practices ensures proper intestinal movements. No medication or doctor's visit is necessary to improve these movements. This simple solution holds significant importance. The solution is to provide the stomach and intestines with a 10 to 12-hour rest at night.

It promotes optimal intestinal movements. Many among you may consume dinner as late as 9 PM or 10:00 PM. Due to this, the stomach and intestines receive only a two-hour rest until around 5:00 in the morning. Only resting the digestive system enhances intestinal movements and vice versa.

Some may question the connection between abstaining from eating and intestinal movements. Consider who is responsible for the movements in the intestinal muscles—contraction and expansion? Involuntarily, the signals from the brain reach the muscles through the nerves. The nerves will pass on this information to stomach and intestinal muscles.

Muscular movements in the linings of the stomach and intestines are initiated by signals from the brain. These muscles undergo both contraction and relaxation. Further, the muscle contraction and expansion facilitate the movement of food.

Continuous contraction and relaxation of muscles throughout the day, result in muscle fatigue, reducing these movements. Since you only provide one to two hours of rest to the stomach and intestines, the speed of movements in the intestines increases for many people.

As a result, stool takes longer to reach the anus from the large intestine.

This necessitates applying significant strain to facilitate bowel movements. So, providing adequate rest to the muscles ensures proper intestinal movements. It's essential to allow the stomach and small intestines to rest as well. Ensuring the muscles of the stomach and intestines relax and strengthen.

Analogous to charging a cell phone battery to make it operational, Similarly, providing the intestines with a 12-hour rest during the night allows, the muscles to recharge and become active. During the daytime, you are all engaged in work, and you sleep for about six to seven hours at night.

During this period, your legs, hands, throat, and eyes all get the necessary rest. This rejuvenates them, allowing them to function actively the next day. Consider how the day unfolds if you haven't slept the previous night. Insufficient rest leads to a feeling of weakness; your eyes and throat will appear fatigued.

Even your face reflects signs of tiredness. Rest is essential for body organs and muscles to recharge. Proper movement inside the intestines and stomach occurs only when they are adequately recharged. 

To facilitate this, follow the simple advice I'm about to share.

Have dinner between 5:00 and 6:00 in the evening. Ensure that the dinner you consume is digested by 9 pm, allowing the stomach and intestines to be free before bedtime. This grants sufficient rest to the stomach, intestines, pancreas, and various other organs.

During the 12-hour rest at night, when there is no food for digestion in the stomach and intestines, they become fully recharged and active for the digestion of the next day. They efficiently digest and propel the digested food as stool quickly. The intestinal muscles become robust, easily expelling stool from the anus.

Giving rest to the stomach is a fundamental natural principle. In nature, animals that eat during the daytime generally abstain from eating at night. Conversely, animals that eat at night usually do not consume food during the daytime. However, humans are the only one who eats continuously regardless of day or night, 24/7.

Given these numerous mistakes, do you still expect good health?

Nighttime eating is a detrimental habit leading to issues such as indigestion, gas formation, fermentation, and more. That's why I recommend having dinner in the evening between 5 and 6. It is also best if you can eat natural food for dinner like soaked dry nuts, watermelon seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, dry fruits.

Dates, followed by 2 varieties of fruits. Also during the daytime, fill your stomach only 80 to 85% with food. You have to keep 10 to 15% of the stomach empty for the intestinal movements to occur. This space is necessary for effective digestion to occur.

Implementing these changes will result in highly active intestinal movements in your body. This will prevent weakness of muscles, and there will be no reduction in their movements. Neglecting even these minor changes will hinder your path to good health.

Now I'll explain about the Main problem occurs with the indigestion.

In ancient times, people followed the practice of defecating twice a day. This routine included one session before sunrise and another after sunset. Our elders often claimed that this practice was beneficial for health. Even in experience lot of a lot of people might have seen its benefits.

However, due to changes in eating habits and the rush of modern life, many urban dwellers believe that defecating once a day is sufficient. The influence of foreign cultures has also contributed to a shift in this traditional practice. 

These days, we observe that even defecating once every two days is considered normal, influenced by Western culture.

Many individuals have adapted to a routine of defecating once a day or once every two days, thinking it is acceptable for their health as they dont have any discomfort. However, I would like to share an important fact with all of you. While many individuals defecate every day, there might be occasions when you cannot.

Some may argue that not experiencing pain or discomfort in the intestines on a day without defecation, means it's acceptable to skip it occasionally. You may have developed a belief that it's alright not to defecate for a day. You firmly believe that it's okay not to defecate once.

Today, let's explore the consequences of not defecating for several days. It takes five to six hours for stool to form from the food we eat. The food undergoes digestion in the stomach and intestines, breaking down into juice. The essence of this juice is absorbed by the linings of the intestines through small pores.

All the liquid, akin to juice, seeps through the ports, leaving behind the pulp and resilient food substances. The pores om lining the intestines act as barriers, preventing the passage of pulp and solid food materials. Gradually, the small intestines push the undissolved solid food, which hasn't entered the bloodstream, into the large intestine.

The resulting content in the large intestine is what we commonly refer to as stool. After the stool enters the large intestines it takes about 10 to 25 hours to reach the anus. This duration is influenced by the presence of undigested remnants from the previous meal.

Only when the preceding stool is expelled does the subsequent one follow suit.

Though digested food reaches the beginning of the large intestine within five to six hours, it takes time to traverse the large intestine, spanning about one and a half meters before reaching the anus. As previously mentioned, for the stool to journey from the beginning of, the large intestine to the anus, it requires about 20 to 24 hours.

Should you refrain from defecating, this accumulation persists for an additional 24 hours on top of the initial period. You might wonder about the consequences of not defecating for one day. Consider the scenario where abstaining from defecation for a day results in storing the stool for about 48 hours.

Contemplate the outcomes of retaining waste substances for a similar duration of 48 hours. For instance, if waste is left in a dustbin for 24 hours, it will emit an unpleasant odor. Extend this timeframe by another 12 hours, and it will become sticky, releasing liquid.

If stored for an additional 12 hours, worms may start appearing in the dustbin. Observe the numerous changes that occur when waste is stored for a period of 48 hours. It becomes very stinky and produces worms. Similarly, stool is a waste product, as the essential substances have already been absorbed by the intestines.

Stool is rejected by the body, so imagine the consequences of storing it for an additional day. If you keep stool stored for too long, the intestines might take up the moisture, making the stool hard. One important thing to notice is that this stool isn't just the leftover from the food you ate.

What goes into it also the waste from dead microorganisms also ends up in the stool. 

The body releases various toxins into the large intestine through stool. Along with the undigested food, fiber, and all the waste, about 25% of it is made up of waste from dead microbes. When you store all these dead cell waste and toxins for another 24 hours, things get mixed up. 

Storing them for a long time can lead to more bad microbes and gases. The dead cell waste and toxins in the stool will make it even smellier. So, these are the changes in the body if you don't defecate for just one day. As I mentioned, the stool gets hard because it loses moisture. 

If you store it for an more 24 hours, it may form into solid balls, and after 24 more hours, it might become very, very hard. The changes due to storing stool include a really bad smell, lots of gas, and slow movement.

As the stool accumulates, it loses its smoothness and becomes drier due to the heat in the intestines. Because of all these reasons, the stool moves slowly. When it moves very slowly, you have to exert a lot of effort during defecation. Stool that's stored cannot be passed all at once; it comes out in installments.

All these are the downsides of not defecating every day. Some of you may think it's okay if you skip defecating for just one day. If you refrain for just one day, you'll feel uncomfortable, sticky, and maybe even itchy sometimes. You feel uncomfortable when you don't bathe externally; imagine what happens internally when you don't defecate.

So, it is very good for health to defecate twice a day every day. This prevents the accumulation of waste, which is harmful if stored. If storing stool is not beneficial, why subject the body to discomfort? That's why it's best if you can defecate twice a day or even thrice, which is also ideal.

Conclusion:

Believe that defecating twice a day is the best. I hope now you understand that it's not okay if you don't defecate for even one day. Also, I hope you instill the habit of defecating twice a day every day in all the family members.