World Digestive Health Day 2024: How to Improve Digestive Health

Every year, May 29th is designated as World Digestive Health Day (WDHD) to raise awareness of digestive health issues and emphasize the value of keeping the digestive system in good condition. The World Gastroenterology Organization (WGO) organizes the World Digestive Health Day, an event that strives to promote improved digestive health through research, health education, and awareness campaigns for people all over the world.

Maintaining good digestive health helps prevent different diseases and health conditions. Healthy meals and a healthy lifestyle are crucial for digestive health. Several circumstances, including certain gastrointestinal disorders, can also lead to poor digestive health. The food a person eats, their eating habits, lifestyle choices, amount of water they drink, and their general health all have a significant impact on their digestive health.

How To Improve Digestive Health

1. Maintain Hydration

For food to be absorbed as best it can, the entire abdomen must have healthy muscle tone. As a result, it is important to maintain ideal hydration, which promotes the health of the mucosal lining and the small intestinal bacteria necessary for healthy digestion. Drinking less water can contribute to constipation. Water consumption promotes good digestive health and helps avoid constipation. The body needs varying measures of water depending on your overall health.

2. Exercise Frequently

Frequent exercise lowers the risk of nausea, bloating, and constipation while facilitating a speedier passage of food through the digestive system. Frequent exercise also helps reduce the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease and constipation, as well as other digestive health issues.

3. Make Food Healthier

Eating healthily involves not just the foods you choose to eat but also the way you prepare them. Although they are delicious delights, fried and grilled dishes have a drawback. Fried foods include unhealthy fats and grilling at a high temperature releases compounds known as carcinogens.

4. Stop Smoking

Smoking is harmful to the digestive system in addition to the lungs. It has been observed that smoking greatly increases the risk of acid reflux, and that the symptoms can be improved by stopping. In addition to causing stomach ulcers, smoking also raises the risk of gastrointestinal cancers, ulcerative colitis, and the need for surgery.

5. Limit Chemically Refined Foods

The digestive tract has an extremely difficult time processing refined food. To metabolize, the body must provide its own nutrition and energy, depleting the body’s stores. Additionally, the minimal fiber content of these foods aggravates stomach issues like acidity and makes digestion more difficult. Because whole foods are easier to digest, choosing them is encouraged.

6. Eat Vegetables

It is advised to consume more vegetables on a regular basis, including kale, spinach, dill, dandelion greens, dandelion tea, and arugula. These foods aid in the more effective breakdown of meals by promoting the body’s natural production of bile and digestive enzymes.

Vegetables are rich in fiber and beneficial nutrients that help maintain your general health and digestive system. Fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants that can fight cancer, and fiber helps reduce constipation.

7. Sustain a Healthy Weight

Keeping a healthy weight lowers your risk of gallstones, certain types of stomach cancer, and other health conditions. Maintaining a healthy weight can be facilitated by adhering to dietary recommendations and engaging in regular exercise.

8. Make Time to Sleep

Having inadequate sleep affects the body system, including the digestive system. Lack of sleep can promote intestinal inflammation, which can result in gastrointestinal problems. A wise decision would be to aim for 7-9 hours of high-quality sleep per night.

9. Minimize Sugar Intake

Inflammation and an imbalance of beneficial microorganisms might result from consuming too much sugar. Many products, particularly baked goods, ice cream, and sweets, include added sugars. Additionally, even unexpectedly, they are added to a variety of processed foods, including soups, salad dressings, and pasta sauces.

Conclusion

Everyone has occasional issues with digestion. They might make you uncomfortable, be challenging to talk about, and disrupt your daily schedule. Many digestive problems can be fixed with particular lifestyle changes, but some require a visit to the doctor for a diagnosis and treatment plan. If your digestive issues are getting worse or are not getting better with changes to your lifestyle, it’s time to see a doctor.