If you’re having a poopy day, you’re in luck because that’s today’s topic.
Constipation is more than just not being able “to go”. Your intestines are linked to your brain and your mood.
It’s all connected, folks!
And, the connection can run either direction. A constipated abdomen can spur negative thinking and a depressed mood, OR negative thoughts and emotions can cause constipated abdomens! Part of the explanation for this is how the gut impacts neurotransmitters and vice-versa. If you want to learn more about that, read about the “gut brain”.
How often do you or your child have a negative mood – stress, anger, anxiety, depression? There’s a chance you’re not only putting on a few extra pounds, but you and your child also could be getting constipated in your stress.
Even beyond understanding neurotransmitters and the enteric “gut” brain, we can look at the autonomic nervous system to understand this, and it’s two main branches: the sympathetic branch and the parasympathetic branch.
When you’re stressed the sympathetic branch is dominating control of your bodily functions. While the parasympathetic branch helps us heal, restore, and nourish our bodies, the sympathetic branch does not do those things. Instead, the sympathetic branch helps us stay active, alert, and out of danger by increasing circulation to body parts usefl for escaping danger (like our appendages) and less circulation to “non-emergency” processes like your digestive tract.
Simply put, when you’re stressed, your digestion slows down to the point where you may become constipated, which then increases neurotransmitters linked to depression, which then further slows down the intestines, clogging you up. It can be a vicious cycle.
Here’s the next kicker:
Most people don’t even know
they are chronically constipated.
There’s a good chance your child is chronically stressed, so there’s also a decent chance your child is chronically, or at least frequently, constipated. And the same goes for you.
Here are some options for intervention. Most of them are not instant, except #2, but sometimes they work within minutes nonetheless!
You can do these things as treatment or even as prevention.
1. Serve 2 prunes or dried apricots with every meal.
Most people have a negative connotation with prunes, but kids often love this because the prunes are so sugary! On days I’m sure they’re constipated I may give them extra prunes, and they think I’m just spoiling them. HA!
2. Warm up some prune juice and add about 1 Tablespoon of butter. Allow the butter to melt, and then drink up while the juice is still warm.
3. Drink more water! Does your child want a desert after their meal or a snack between meals? No problem! Drink this glass of water first, and then you may have a dessert or snack!
a. NOTE: Only use this technique with “extra food”. Do NOT require your child to drink water before being allowed to each their 3 main meals.
4. Up and Down Movement. jumping on a mini trampoline, climbing stairs, high stepping, bicycling. Of all of these, jumping on the mini trampoline seems most effective to me because you get the benefit of gravity pulling down on your body as you jump and fall.
5. Epsom Salt bath. Epsom salt is full of magnesium, which relieves constipation. Even a footbath can help because the soles of our feet are highly absorbent. (This works better in my experience as prevention than treatment.)
6. Heat on the Abdomen. Sit with an electric heating pad or an old fashioned hot water bottle (which work SO well!) on the lower abdomen.
7. Probiotics like a Kefir smoothie. I’ve had many a child run for the toilet immediately following a glass of kefir blended with fruit. One household I know switched from daily Miralax to daily Kefir with perfect success.
a. NOTE: You can make your own kefir for free by getting a starter (ask a friend!), putting it in milk on your counter, using the milk daily in a smoothie, and then adding new milk to the kefir grains. It’s that easy.
b. NOTE: Daily Miralax usage is not in your body’s best interest. The method Miralax uses to relieve constipation does indeed “work with the water in your body” as advertised, but it doesn’t do this in a way that’s actually good for your body! In essence, Miralax “robs Peter to pay Paul”, and that doesn’t add up well for you in the long-term. (Ask a doctor for more information.)
When I suspect my child is constipated (very anxious and grouchy, obsessive thinking / won’t let it go, boys who seem to never sit on the toilet, etc.), I use one or more of these tools, and VOILA! The child goes running to the bathroom and a few minutes later hollers for the plunger. (I’m sorry we’re having this discussion as it’s unpleasant, but sometimes you’ve got to talk about this stuff.) I don’t even tell the child what I’m doing, I just do it and watch for signs of the result.
May your body ease your mind and your mind ease your body.