Regular exercise can help food move through your digestive system, lower inflammation, and improve your overall health. But finding the right activity to aid digestion can be tricky, especially if you have a gastrointestinal (GI) disorder.
Here are five types of gentle exercise that may aid digestion and generally help you feel better.
For a lot of people, yoga is a spiritual practice. Also, the poses, breathing, and meditation all help to improve your physical and mental well-being.
In a 2016 study involving people with inactive or mild Crohn's disease, researchers found that moderate exercise with yoga improved quality of life and stress levels with no adverse effects.
Most yoga poses are generally safe. But if you don't know how to do them correctly, you can injure yourself. You can start by learning a few poses each day. If you don't know where to begin, there are plenty of apps and videos geared to beginners through advanced.
If you're more of a group activity person, sign up for a class. This will also ensure that you're performing poses correctly. Classes may last 60 to 90 minutes and meet several times a week. Here are some resources to help get you started:
Tai chi is an ancient practice involving a series of slow-motion movements and focused deep breathing. It's a low-impact way to stretch and exercise.
While there's room for more studies, research suggests that tai chi may improve the quality of life in healthy people as well as those with chronic illness.
To get the full benefit of tai chi, you have to do it right. You can learn from a video, but it might be more fun to join a class led by an experienced instructor. Learn more:
Deep breathing is an essential part of yoga and tai chi, but it can also stand alone as an exercise. Stress can impact your immune system, leaving you more vulnerable to health problems. Slow, deep breathing fills your lungs with oxygen and can help relieve stress.
This simple breathing exercise is a good starting point:
Once you get in the habit, try some other breathing techniques, such as:
When it comes to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), moderate exercise can ease some symptoms of IBD. It's also recommended to improve complications and overall quality of life. Strenuous exercise could exacerbate an inflammatory response, making walking a good choice.
If you haven't exercised in a while, you can start with a brief walk around the block once a day and build from there. Here are a few tips to get the most out of your walk:
There are many ways to track your progress and keep things interesting. For example:
We can all benefit from stronger abdominal and back muscles. Situps, abdominal crunches, and planks are all examples of core exercises. It's really important to perform core exercises correctly to avoid injury to your back. A personal trainer can help point you in the right direction. Or you can learn from videos and apps such as:
Exercise is good for your overall health. But if you have a GI disorder, injury, or chronic health condition, talk to your doctor before starting a new exercise program. They can help you learn your limits and offer further insight into the benefits of exercise with your condition.
Once you've established an exercise routine that works for you, stick with it. You'll have to fully commit to your health and well-being to reap the benefits of exercise.