Your Sex Life Could Be Leaving You Feeling Bloated
Sex can leave you feeling blissful, contented, and … bloated? It’s true, according to women’s health expert and physician Jennifer Wider. While the sensation of feeling bloated isn’t what you might expect after sex, its not uncommon, Wider told PopSugar. One cause of this bloating is a retroverted uterus, she said. When the uterus is retroverted, it tilts back towards other organs in the body. Sex can cause the uterus to painfully move against these other organs. Since that may be the only symptom of the condition women experience, the only way to know if your uterus is affected is to get a medical exam.
Wider cautioned that unprotected sex can also trigger bloat due to compounds called prostaglandins, which are found in semen. They can cause the uterus to contract, triggering a sensation of bloating. Lastly, bloating after sex can also be a byproduct of a woman’s menstrual cycle, the expert explained. Since hormones can cause numerous changes within the body, especially during one’s period, it wouldn’t be unusual for you to experience bloating as a result, she said.
How To Tell The Difference Between Belly Fat And Bloat
One easy way to tell the difference between bloat and belly fat is to note belly fat does not cause your stomach to expand wildly throughout the course of a day bloat does. One other way to tell the difference between bloat and belly fat is you can physically grasp belly fat with your hand, you cannot with bloat.
How Can Bloating Be Prevented
To deal with bloating, you may consider discussing your diet and eating habits with your doctor or a registered dietitian. If you can identify the food or eating behavior that causes belly bloat, you can effectively prevent future bloating. To help prevent bloating:
- Avoid eating super large meals in one sitting.
- Eat slowly while seated.
- Avoid foods that tend to make you gassy.
- Be mindful of how much fiber you eat.
- Avoid bubbly beverages.
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Your Unwanted Bloat Could Be The Result Of Travelling
Whether you’re fresh off a long flight or you’ve logged several days behind the wheel on an epic road trip, it’s incredibly common to feel bloated when you travel. New foods and new environments can do that to even the most seasoned traveller. While less-than-healthy snacks during your travels are likely partly to blame, there are some other surefire bloat producers at play and they have nothing to do with pressurized cabins or changes in altitude.
According to Lisa Ganjhu, a gastroenterologist at NYU Langone Medical Center, sitting for long periods without moving is a cause of bloating for most people, whether you’re traveling by plane or in a car. You’re just not moving around enough, she explained to Self. Getting up and walking around every couple hours can alleviate the problem, she said, and will also allow you to get your blood flowing and pass some gas that might otherwise contribute to sensations of bloating.
Staying well-hydrated and sipping water regularly while traveling especially on an airplane is advisable as well. “The lack of humidity in cabin air can quickly pull fluid from the body,” Emily Cope-Kyle, registered dietitian nutritionist, told Self.
Bloating Can Be The Result Of Slouching
Slouching in front of your computer can leave you feeling bloated. It’s true! The finding comes from a bizarre study conducted at the University of Padova in Spain and published in the journal Gut. To study the effects of posture on gas levels within the body, researchers actually intubated eight healthy volunteers and infused a “a gas mixture” into the tubes. They performed the test on each individual not once but twice once while they were standing and once while they were reclined.
As you might expect at this point, the individuals tolerated the gas much better and experienced significantly less bloating when they were standing up straight compared to when they were reclining. And the finding doesn’t appear to be a fluke. In research cited by Harvard, poor posture has also been linked with a number of other digestive ills, ranging from slowed digestion to heartburn to constipation all of which result in bloating. How’s that for a reason to stand up straight?
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How To Get Rid Of A Bloated Stomach
One of the most effective bloated stomach remedies is improving your diet, since the foods you eat play a huge part in regulating how much air and poop is trapped inside your digestive tract.
To keep things flowing smoothly, you want to make sure to eat a high-fiber diet, aiming for about 2530 grams every day or even more.
This isnt too difficult when you eat plenty of whole foods, including veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes and ancient grains. It can certainly help you to track your symptoms after eating certain foods known to cause bloating, but remember that a bloated stomach is caused by your entire lifestyle, not just the food on your plate.
Some of the best foods for helping to battle stomach bloating include:
Now that you know what you should eat, lets look at some of the foods that might make your bloating even worse. More often than not, some of these foods might be the culprit:
Journal Your Way To Finding The Culprit
If you get bloated often, say, more than once a month, its worthwhile to figure out what triggers your symptoms. Try keeping a food journal for a few days and write down everything you eat and drink. Be sure you include the ingredients in your meals in case one of those is the actual problem.
As you make that journal entry, note how you feel 30 minutes after you eat. Terrific? Overly full? Tired? Gassy? You may see some patterns that help you figure out if you have any food allergies or intolerances.
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Fast For At Least 12 Hours
“Having a fasting stretch of 12-14 hours between dinner and breakfast can promote weight loss and encourage beneficial bacteria to thrive in the gut which can improve metabolism and balance hunger hormones,” says Jeannette.
“Its easy to do if you are eating nice and early say 7pm for dinner and then just having water between then and a 7am breakfast the next day.”
Common Causes Of A Hard And Swollen Stomach
Do you not feel that sometimes your stomach looks bigger than the usual days? And it is not because you are overweight but for some other reason. We might have an answer for you, it is in the causes of a hard and swollen stomach. We have too many, which include our eating and also our lifestyle.
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Get Relief From Bloating
The most obvious way to reduce bloating is to avoid any foods that are your gassy triggers. Some foods that are high in certain carbs such as garlic, onions and other vegetables arent easy for the body to absorb and can bring on bloating. A low FODMAP diet is often recommended for anyone with irritable bowel syndrome because those foods dont cause as much gas. Foods in a low FODMAP diet include:
- Spinach
- Fruits such as bananas, cantaloupe, oranges and grapes
- Grains such as quinoa and rice
- Lactose-free dairy products
When you eat, consume smaller meals and allow your body time to digest. Drink plenty of water to help your digestive system run smoothly. If high fiber foods make you bloated or constipated, staying hydrated can help soften bowel movements, making them easier to pass.
Activity also can calm that bloated feeling. Although exercise may not sound appealing when you feel bloated, mild physical activity can stimulate the digestive system. Gentle yoga movements that relax the abdomen can help relieve belly swelling, too.
To combat occasional gassiness, try over-the-counter antacids.
If these DIY remedies dont help, talk with your doctor. Although rare, chronic pain and lethargy could be symptoms of inflammation or other conditions.
Coeliac Disease And Bloating
Coeliac disease is a common digestive condition where your intestine cannot absorb gluten found in wheat, barley and rye.
If you have Coeliac disease, eating foods containing gluten can also trigger diarrhoea, abdominal pain and fatigue.
See your GP if you suspect you may have Coeliac disease.
There is no cure for Coeliac disease but, once the condition has been diagnosed, switching to a gluten-free diet should help.
Find out more about Coeliac disease.
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It Could Be Constipation
While youre spending a lot of time at home, you may not be moving as much as you usually do. You may also be eating different foods. This can lead to constipation. You may be constipated if you experience:
- Fewer bowel movements than normal for you
- Stool that is lumpy or looks like pebbles
- Difficulty passing stool or a feeling that you still need to go after youre finished
Fortunately, you can make a number of at-home changes to help relieve your constipation. These include:
Coeliac Disease Aka Gluten
Could be the cause if: You often feel tired youve lost weight for no apparent reason you are suffering from abdominal pain.
Coeliac disease is an adverse reaction to gluten, which is found in wheat, barley and rye and all foods containing them everything from pasta and bread to pies and some gravies and sauces.
It is an autoimmune condition where the body mistakes substances in gluten for a threat and attacks them, leading to damage to the surface of the small bowel, which then affects your ability to absorb nutrients from food.
It used to be mainly diagnosed in children, but its now known people can go undiagnosed into middle age.
If you have these symptoms, see your doctor and ask to have a blood test for coeliac disease. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines state that anyone with bloating and other IBS-type symptoms should be tested for it.
If youre diagnosed, youll feel better once you start avoiding all foods containing gluten.
For more information about it visit www.coeliac.org.uk.
Could be the cause if: You are premenstrual or in the early stages of pregnancy.
During pregnancy, and just before your period, levels of the hormone progesterone are raised.
This can slow down gut motility or movement, which means food passes more slowly through the body, leading to bloating and possibly constipation.
You can beat the bloat. Exercise can help improve gut motility and walking for 30 minutes a day could be enough to make the difference.
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The Way You Eat May Lead To Bloating
If you chew with your mouth open, eat super quickly, or talk exceptionally fast and you regularly suffer from bloating you may have a condition called aerophagia. But don’t worry! It’s nothing life-threatening. Rather, it simply means you’re a person who tends to swallow a lot of air. And that swallowed air can leave you feeling bloated.
WebMD described aerophagia as a disorder that occurs when you swallow enough to make you burp frequently or to upset your stomach and leave it feeling bloated or uncomfortable. An estimated 25 percent of the population will experience the condition at some point in their lives. Symptoms of aerophagia include stomach pain, a swollen midsection, and frequent belching sometimes several times within a single minute.
People who have anxiety or depression are especially at risk. However, antacids can help if the condition is caused by acid reflux. Changing the way you eat and making an effort to eat slower are behavioral modifications that help the problem to go away.
My Kitten Has A Swollen Belly
Due to their lack of developed immunity, a swollen kitten belly is particularly worrying. They are more vulnerable to disease and infection than an adult cat. Perhaps the most common cause of a hard or swollen belly in kittens is internal parasites. If you pick the kitten up, you may be able to see they have a distended abdomen.
A kitten will be infested with parasites in one of two main ways. Firstly, their environment may not be hygienic enough. For this reason, we need to ensure the nest where the mother gives birth is clean and other animals are prevented from entering it. This should continue until the kittens are fully weaned. The other way kittens may become infested is due to parasites coming from the mother during feeding. It is possible the mother will be asymptomatic, but the vulnerable kittens are unable to fight them off.
If we suspect a kitten’s abdominal enlargement is due to internal parasites, we need to take them to the veterinarian immediately. They will be able to perform the correct diagnostic tests to not only confirm the presence of parasites, but to determine which type. Different types of parasite require different treatment methods. After treatment, the veterinarian will also be able to advise us on the proper course of deworming. This should be implemented at the same time as their vaccination schedule.
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Constipation Can Cause A Hard Feel Of The Stomach
Constipation can also be a cause of bloating. If youre bothered by a rock-solid stomach with abdominal pain that worsens through the day and its relieved by pooping constipation is the likely cause. With constipation, normal intestinal gas gets trapped behind the slow-moving poop and builds up.
Causes Of Hard Stomach And What To Do About It
Lets look at the various reasons why your stomach can become swollen and hard. You will also find some easy ways to relieve the symptoms and reduce hardness and bloating around your abdomen. At the end of the article, there are some home remedies you can try at home for general relief from abdominal bloating.
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Downing Too Many Salty Foods Can Leave You Feeling Seriously Bloated
It starts out innocently enough. You sit down in front of the TV with a bag of your favorite chips. Or maybe it’s a big bowl of popcorn. Either way, before you know it, the whole thing is gone. The inevitable bloat that rushes over you afterwards isn’t just the result of pigging out, though. It’s also a sure sign you’ve taken in too much salt.
According to a study conducted at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, a high-sodium diet can increase a person’s risk for feeling bloated by 27 percent . The exact mechanism behind the finding is still being studied, as of this writing.
Scientists already know that salt increases fluid retention, which may be partially to blame for the bloating sensation. However, the study’s author, epidemiologist Noel Mueller, also hypothesized that a large intake of salt may alter levels of microbes in the stomach, increasing production of other compounds that can leave a person feeling bloated.
Why Does My Stomach Hurt
Tummy troubles are a common cause for a visit to the doctors office. When patients complain of stomach pain, they are sometimes describing pain that is throughout the abdomen area and may not actually be directly related to the organ known as the stomach.
Doctors first try to determine if a patients abdominal pain is caused by a structural or functional problem.
Sometimes the digestive tract does not function properly due to an abnormality with the structure of an organ. Medical imaging will show that the organ does not look normal and is not working properly.
The gastrointestinal system has its own nervous system to control the muscle contractions that digest the food you eat. Functional problems, also called motility disorders, result from poor nerve and muscle function in the digestive tract. Gastrointestinal organs with motility problems will usually look normal on medical imaging tests, such as CT scans or MRI scans, but the organs do not work like they should. Because functional disorders are hard to see in imaging, they can be challenging to diagnose.
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Reasons Why Your Dogs Stomach Is Hard And What To Do
When your dogs stomach swells or hardens, there may be a serious cause for concern, or it may just be a case of your dog overheating. Its important to know the difference between something that can take care of itself versus something that can cause your dog serious harm.
The four main reasons why your dogs stomach may be hard are Gastric Dilation Volvulus , Peritonitis, Cushings Syndrome, and Ascites. Of course, there may be a few other reasons, but these are the most likely ones. By knowing the symptoms of stomach problems in dogs, you will know what to do in the event of something more serious happening.
Take note that when a dog has stomach swelling or hardness, your pooch may be in critical condition. Swelling in dogs can be fatal if the situation is not remedied promptly. Take your dog to the veterinarian as soon as you notice stomach swelling. A veterinarian is the best person to diagnose your dog because you do not want to misinterpret their symptoms and cause them more harm.
I Only Have A Poo Once A Week
Michelle Nixon, 37, of Morden, Surrey, works for a medical device firm and is a married mum of two.
Abdomen exam: Normal
Diagnosis: Chronic constipation
Michelle says: Ive suffered from constipation for as long as I can remember and only open my bowels once every seven days.
Ive tried several laxatives, which do help me go to the loo more often.
My diet is fairly healthy, although I probably dont drink enough fluids during the day and my exercise levels could be better. The problem does worry me.
Mr Wests assessment: Michelle has no red flag symptoms that could indicate cancer.
Her weight and appetite are normal and she has no family history of bowel conditions.
She simply has idiopathic chronic constipation, due to a sluggish digestive system.
It would be worth having a blood test to check her thyroid levels, as constipation is a classic sign of hypothyroidism when the body doesnt produce enough of the thyroid hormone.
The prescription laxative Dulcolax can help her. Exercise is also important, as is drinking plenty of fluids.
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