Keep Moving to Keep Pooping

Walking is essential to making your colon work!

Okay – it sounds a little gross, but today is about poop.  Really.

One of the body’s most important functions is to get rid of waste.  If you can’t get rid of it all kinds of nasty things happen as discussed in this video from Everyday Health.  Jillian Michael’s guest Dr. Van Herle debunked medical myths including the one about bed rest being best for back pain.

Dr. Van Herle points out walking is essential to allowing your colon to work as it should.  We were built to move around.  Sitting all day, or worse laying down, doesn’t allow your body to process waste the way it should.  If you don’t move enough, your colon can’t move either – which causes constipation.  Over time constipation can cause:

• Abdominal and back pain
• Hemorrhoids
• Infection
• Impaction (stool that may need to be removed manually – ick)
• Damage to your intestines
• Dependence on laxatives
• Death – for older adults being bed-bound can be deadly.

As someone who spent the majority of my pregnancy on bed rest, I can tell you constipation is not your friend and should be avoided at all cost! In addition to walking, make sure you drink enough water, eat some fiber, and use over the counter laxatives cautiously and only occasionally.

That 30 minutes of activity every day is not only important to your heart – it is essential to your good colon health too!

Get up, move around, and keep pooping!

Eliz Greene works busy people to improve heart health, so they can work well, feel better, and stress less.

She is a heart attack survivor and the author of the Busy Woman’s Guide to a Healthy Heart as well as 3 other books on wellness. She writes one of the top 50 health and wellness blogs and is a sought-after heart health, stress management, & wellness speaker.

If you are planning a women’s wellness program, workplace wellness program or programs for healthcare professionals check out EmbraceYourHeart.com to see if Eliz would be a good fit with your organization.