Regular constipation, in which you pass a bowel movement fewer than three times a week or pass hard, dry and sometimes painful stool, can be remedied via recommendations from your doctor. This might include taking fiber pills or a stool softener. Some forms of alternative medicine such as ayurveda, recommend a saltwater flush to clear your bowels.
What Causes Constipation
The food you eat travels through your digestive tract. When it reaches your intestines, your body absorbs water and nutrients from the food, leaving a stool behind. Muscle contractions in your intestines moves the stool through your bowels where it can be excreted from your body. Constipation is caused when this stool moves more slowly than usual through your body. The slowness could be caused by a number of things, according to MayoClinic.com, including dehydration, low fiber intake, lack of exercise, illness, pregnancy, frequent or misuse of laxatives, ignoring the urge to have a bowel movement or a number of medications and medical diseases and conditions.
Osmosis
Your body selectively absorbs water through a process call osmosis. In osmosis, water moves across and through the membranes of your body's cells, working to regulate the amount of hydration you have throughout your body. Fresh water moves relatively uninhibited across these membranes. The salt in salt water, on the other hand, cannot move through your cell membranes because it is too large. This causes an imbalance in your digestive system. To compensate, your intestines draw water back in to dilute the salt, resulting in increased hydration of your stool, but at the expense of hydration in the rest of your body and possible strain on your kidneys.
Saltwater Flush
Alternative medicine sometimes recommends a saltwater flush as a way to cleanse your digestive system or combat constipation. The recommendation is to first drink a laxative tea, then a mixture of warm water and sea salt. This saltwater flush results in osmotic diarrhea. While one-time use of the flush is unlikely to cause serious harm, prolonged use and lack fresh water or high levels of water loss through urine can cause dehydration and serious medical problems, including death.
More Ways to Treat Constipation
According the the American Academy of Family Physicians, there are several ways to combat constipation. First, get your recommended amount of daily fiber through your diet. Adult men should consume 38 grams per day, while adult women need at least 25 g per day. Get fiber from whole grains, legumes and whole fruits and vegetables. Exercise regularly and limit the amount of fat and sugars you consume. In general, avoid laxatives unless your doctor prescribes them. Bulk-forming laxatives that are high in fibrous material are preferred.
