It's a crazy thing, what our bodies seem to feel when we're not in our primary place of residence. It's almost as if our GI tracts want to punish us for seeking adventure abroad. While some travelers worry about having to go to the bathroom too often, others face the opposite problem, which some TikTokers have taken to calling “out-of-town closure.” Before you find yourself in some French pharmacyawkwardly gesticulating your request for a laxative, work to combat the blockage in front of your trip.
To help us better understand these stubborn colons, we reached out to Roslyn Kent, a registered nutritionist at Plants First Nutrition. A self-proclaimed “constipation nutritionist,” Kent helps her clients pace their bowels and repair their microbiome. In other words, she seeks to crack the code that many primary care physicians have failed to understand.
“I think because most doctors are so obsessed with treating the symptoms rather than the root cause, there's no incentive to go beyond medication,” Kent says. “Medications have their place, but I don’t think there’s enough emphasis on preventative care, taking into account diet and lifestyle factors.” The elusiveness of this dilemma may be why the Internet has banded together, finding comic relief in everyone's pooping struggles, especially on vacation.
Here's everything you need to know to master your motor skills on the go.
Why are we constipated on vacation?
Circadian rhythm
According to Kent, the main culprit may be the change in our body clock that occurs when we travel across time zones. If you normally have a bowel movement in the morning and are faced with an 8-hour time difference, let's say your body needs a little time to adjust to the idea of pooping at night.
Be sedentary
Sitting on a plane or in a car for long periods of time is not ideal for the stomach. “If you have stool backed up in your colon, it’s going to produce methane,” says Kent. “When you're sedentary, these gases just build up, and they don't have the opportunity to move around as much or be released in the same way that they normally would if we were up and moving. “
Diet changes
It goes without saying that when we are on vacation, we will treat yourself to all saturated fats– maybe a little more alcohol too. Fried, fatty, processed, and sugary foods tend to slow things down. “I'm not saying you can't enjoy ice cream when you're in Italy, but maybe not every day, because sugar really produces gas,” says Kent. And while alcohol can cause diarrhea in some, it can cause constipation in others. But it's not just what we eat; it's when we eat. Not sticking to our usual three meals a day can disrupt things. And then there is probably a dehydration factor: we could say no to that bottle of water on the plane, hesitates to ask our neighbor to get up to go to the toiletor simply forget to hydrate while we're on the go.
Uncomfortable environments
The toilet in your home is your safe place, probably a stress-free environment that will allow you to eliminate completely. Believe it or not, pooping in a strange place can cause a mind-body problem. “If you're traveling and your pooping schedule is off, you'll probably want to go to a public place — and that's probably the worst case scenario for a lot of people,” says Kent. Psychosomatic factors can absolutely suppress your desire to go. “When you worry about where you are or your inability to use the toilet, it will actually cause the colon to constrict or spasm, causing thinner stools.”
Are women more prone to constipation?
Remember when the Internet declared that “hot girls have IBS” There may be an explanation for this. Women's colons, Kent explains, are on average about 30 centimeters longer than men's. “For this reason, we are more likely to have a very long colon and twisted, otherwise known as a redundant colon,” she says. Then there are the hormonal changes caused by our menstrual cycles, which impact our bowel movement schedule.
How do we know that we are Really saved?
Kent defines constipation as “the inability to completely empty your intestines.” If you're experiencing travel-related constipation, it's probably not the trip alone that's the cause; you probably got backed up before you got on that plane, without even realizing it. To find out where you stand, Kent recommends doing a “transit test” before you leave, which simply involves consuming half a cup of canned or frozen corn with dinner. Don't chew it to a mush, but chew it enough to swallow, then see how long it takes for these grains to appear in your stool. “I've worked with clients where it took them three weeks to see the corn,” Kent says. The ideal transit time, according to the nutritionist, is 12 to 18 hours. “If you're already crowded before you get to your destination, it's not going to get better once you get there,” she says. “It’s only going to get worse.”
How to Relieve Constipation While Traveling
So you did the transit test before your trip, and these grains take their time to appear. It's time to turn to a motility agent. “A motility agent is a broader category of laxatives, herbs, medications, or supplements that make your intestines move in predictable ways,” says Kent. “So I wouldn't consider foods like prunes or kiwis as motility agents, for example, because they won't always work, but medications or supplements like magnesium citrate or magnesium oxide, milk magnesia or MiraLAX are all options. »
The idea here is to take these supplements regularly, rather than helping out on vacation with an intense laxative (getting rid of it this way can be quite unpleasant). “Start a routine before you go, establishing that bowel rhythm through daily, consistent use. And once you’re traveling, things will keep moving,” says Kent. “A body in motion remains in motion unless an external force acts. So yes, that outside force could travel, but the idea is that you will do the best you can with your diet and lifestyle choices and take that motility agent once you arrive.
There are a few other supports you can also avail of. Kent recommends packing a few foods that aid digestion, like fennel sachets or lemon ginger tea. “Sometimes I bring with me a bag of prepared oatmeal or muesli mixed with chia seeds or ground flax, so I don't struggle to find a breakfast option, because breakfast options “Lunch when we're out will probably be really high in saturated fat and not very high in fiber,” says Kent. The nutritionist also suggests opting for cooked foods rather than raw foods in the evening as raw foods can cause excessive gas production if they are not broken down perfectly in the mouth.
Taking something to help you sleep will also help your circadian rhythm get back on track. Kent recommends the sleep supplement Arraéor a medicinal mushroom like Reishi, as well as the usual suspects, like eye masks and earplugs. She makes sure to drink at least two to three liters of water a day during her trip and avoids skipping meals. “This will trigger satiety signals to help me have a bowel movement,” she says. Walking is also a great idea because it gets things moving, but fortunately, stages are probably a given on adventurous routes.
Kent's most important piece of advice? Take time to poop in the morning. “When most people travel, they rush in the morning, like: I have to get out of the hotel or I'll miss my day, and they don’t take the time to poop,” she says. “But if you feel the urge later and you're in a public place, there's a very good chance you'll subconsciously suppress that urge to go. Take some time, about 20 extra minutes, drink some water and see if the urge arises.
