Finding a good, balanced workout program can help with our digestion

Let’s talk about the many various effects exercise can have on our bodies. I think you already know that a good workout plan can influence the way our digestive system functions. It can elevate our endorphins levels, reduce stress, and speed up our metabolism. But, exercise can also help even in alleviating symptoms of digestive diseases.

Regular exercise can help food on its way through the digestive system, it can lower inflammation, and improve our overall health. But finding the right activity to help digestion can prove to be not so easy for some of us, especially for people affected with any kind of gastrointestinal disorder.

How exercise affects digestive systems

During exercise, our body can’t use as much of its energy for digestion as it usually does. Our body slows any digestion presently taking place, and diverts as much blood as it can to provide oxygen to our intestinal muscles and our lungs. Consequently, we’re safe to say that workout and digestion are mutually exclusive.

If you’re in good physical shape, the amount of blood that gets diverted decreases because the demand for it is not so pressing. Your muscles are more efficient in storing energy and oxygen consumption if you’re in shape. 

We all know that what we eat affects the health of our digestion, but what few actually realize, is how important is the amount of movement. Exercise not only helps us digest food better, but it also changes the composition of our gut microbiome.

The gut microbiome is the 100 trillion microbes living in the gastrointestinal tract. When we exercise, certain microbes get favored and reproduce in bigger numbers. Exercise somehow favors disease-fighting, weight loss-supporting microbes. So, not only do you get the acute benefits of activity like calorie combustion – but you also reap the benefits of a healthier digestive system.

The ongoing benefits exercise has on the gastrointestinal tract and its microbiome can help support a healthy immune system and promote weight loss. With 80 percent of your immune system residing in your gastrointestinal tract, it’s no surprise that keeping it healthy would offer you digestive health benefits.

Besides helping our digestive tract, exercise brings other benefits

1. Exercise reduces the risk of colon cancer
   
   Colon cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer in the US. It’s a cancer of particular consideration because it can be mostly asymptomatic until it’s too late to treat it. Luckily, workout has been found to lower a person’s chances of developing colon cancer. Studies have found persuading proof that common physical activity lowers the risk of colon cancer altogether.

2. Lessens the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome
   
   Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a very common condition. Unfortunately, it’s also on the rise. The good news is, exercise can decrease the symptoms and improve the quality of life of people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome.
   
   A recent study has discovered that exercise can not only improve digestive-related symptoms in patients with irritable bowel syndrome, but it can also improve their general quality of life.

3. Exercise can alleviate constipation
   
   Exercising helps the food we’re digesting move through the intestines, especially in patients with IBS. A study on people with IBS has discovered that those who exercised regularly had a substantial decrease in constipation. In another study, researchers learned that constipation was associated with a lack of physical activity.

4. Workout can prevent gallbladder stones
   
   Gallstones appear when deposits of bile form in the gallbladder. These painful stones can cause acute pancreatitis, which often results in hospitalization. Once again, exercise has been proven effective in preventing gallstones from forming in the first place.
   
   This is because exercise drops insulin and triglyceride levels while raising good cholesterol. Another effect is that exercise reduces bile stasis, which is when bile comes to a halt, thus inducing stone formation. 

5. Exercise improves gut microbiome balance
   
   A study found that exercise affects the types of bacteria in the gut. It does this independent of other factors, including diet. This was found to be true in adults who had sedentary lifestyles. This means we can change our gut microbiome composition solely with exercise.
   
   The fact that exercise is able to change your gut microbiome that dramatically and that quickly is great news.

Not unexpectedly, the study found that as soon as testers stopped exercising, their microbiome reverted to levels they had initially, prior to exercising. This shows exercise needs to be a lifestyle change, not something we do every now and then.

Keep in mind, a little exercise is better than nothing. I believe it’s better to make it a habit and do it regularly no matter how much or little you do. Some days you might only feel like going for a walk, but that’s better than nothing.

One more favor we can do for our digestive system is to include bone broth into our regular diet. It’s proven to help mitigate many gastrointestinal problems, including an unbalanced microbiome.