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Check nowWhich morning habits can affect digestion?
Your digestive health may not be the first thing you think about when you wake up, especially if you're not a morning person! However, your morning routine can often affect how well your body digests food throughout the rest of the day. Certain morning habits can worsen digestion, such as:
- Having cold drinks
- Rushing
- Eating lots of sugar.
Read on to find out why these tendencies can have a detrimental effect on digestion, and get some tips on how best to reset these habits.
1. Having cold drinks
Cold drinks can be a shock to the gut, specifically first thing in the morning. Warm or hot drinks are a lot easier for your body to handle, and can stimulate the gut to get things moving much better than cold options. Your body also doesn't have to expend energy warming the cold liquid, which reduces a drain on your resources.
Amy's self-care tips for improving digestion in the morning:
My lovely colleague Amy discusses some of her simple tips you can use in the morning to improve your digestion. Read on for some more handy tips.
If you currently opt for cold water or fruit juices in the morning, perhaps try switching to a cup of hot water instead, with a slice of lemon if you like the flavour. You lose more water than you may realise during the night, as you heat up under your duvet. Getting ahead with rehydrating is therefore a great way to start the day, and will quickly become something your body appreciates.
Instead of caffeinated tea, try having a cup of warm ginger tea. Ginger tea is not only a soothing beverage for the morning, it also contains compounds called gingerols and shogaols, which can help promote contractions in the stomach, stimulating stomach emptying. As well as warming the gut, the addition of ginger to your hot drinks may therefore help further with digestives issues such as bloating, constipation and gas.(1)
Many people find that a cup of coffee in the morning helps to get their bowels moving. However, this is not a healthy way of treating the bowel! Consuming large amounts of caffeine may increase peristalsis in the bowel(2) (contractions which stimulate the movement of food through the digestive tract); but this is due to the adverse effect of the caffeine, which the body is attempting to expel. Consuming excessive cups of coffee may then result in cramping and diarrhoea, as the bowel wall becomes more irritated and 'jumpier'.
As well as having warm drinks in the morning, try warming your food up too! Warm porridge or cereal are good options, and these are more soothing on the gut than cold alternatives.
Another benefit of having some water first thing is you can start you day with a splash of Digestisan which is licensed for symptoms including indigestion and flatulence.
2. Rushing
Rushing in the morning can have a negative impact on digestive health for a number of reasons. In one respect, if you have no spare time in the mornings, this may mean you have no time to relax to try and go to the toilet.
Like many of us, you may be tempted to stay in bed till the last possible moment in the mornings; however, this can often hinder bowel movements from the get-go, and may worsen symptoms of pre-existing digestive issues such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Not giving yourself time to relax and go to the toilet in the morning could leave you feeling bunged up throughout the day, as well as increasing the risk of other symptoms such as trapped wind, abdominal discomfort and bloating, which can all accompany a sluggish bowel.
Another bad habit which often occurs if we are rushing is not chewing our food properly! Sitting upright and chewing food thoroughly is essential for allowing the digestion process to begin properly.
When food is chewed thoroughly, you release a lot of saliva, which contains digestive enzymes. The chewing action also alerts the stomach to the imminent arrival of food, so it prepares itself with the production of more enzymes and stomach acid.
When you don't chew your food properly, there is a lack of saliva and, therefore, digestive enzymes, and this can contribute to bloating, wind, and other digestive issues. In addition to this, chewing food properly reduces the chances of suffering from acid reflux throughout the rest of the day.
As well as not chewing properly, rushing in the morning can lead to increased feelings of stress. When we are stressed, the body releases adrenaline, and this hormone shuts down the digestive system. Thus, stress is a key factor in reducing the digestive response.
So, taking the time to sit down and relax during breakfast time, as well as reducing stress (not only when eating but in your day-to-day life), can allow foods to digest more efficiently.
3. Eating lots of sugar
Breakfast foods and drinks with lots of added sugar, such as sugary cereals, sweet pastries, sweetened yoghurts and fruit juices, are not the best when it comes to digestive health.
Eating and drinking too much sugar can often worsen symptoms of IBS, such as diarrhoea or constipation, wind and bloating.
When opting for a healthy breakfast meal, your gut will benefit a lot more from foods high in fibre. Fibre-rich foods can help you to have regular and healthy bowel movements. As well as helping to remove toxins from the body, healthy bowel movements reduce the risk of suffering from unwanted symptoms such as abdominal pain and constipation, as well as more serious problems including disease in the colon.
There are many fibre-rich breakfast recipes on our website, such as our healthy French toast, and spiced porridge two ways, both of which are packed with fibre and other essential nutrients.
What you said!
We recently ran a poll to find out which morning habit you are most guilty of. We've crunched the numbers and here are the results.
Results: Which morning habit are you most guilty of?
30.6% of you said rushing is the morning habit you are most guilty of. Rushing can negatively impact digestive health for a number of reasons, for example, it can reduce the amount of time you have to relax and go to the toilet. Also, if you are rushing, you may not chew your food properly, and this can be detrimental for digestion throughout the rest of the day.
