---------
Home Remedies What is Constipation?

What is Constipation: A Symptom or a Disease?

Constipation is actually a symptom, not a disease itself. Most of the time it is temporary and is usually not very serious. Poor diet is one of the main Causes of Constipation. No one is completely spared of constipation. We all experience it at some time or the other in our life.

It is important to understand its causes, prevention, and treatment to get relief.

So What is Constipation - Do We Understand It Well?

It is a very common digestive problem. Either difficult or infrequent bowel movement can be termed as constipation.

Every ones bowel movement frequencies are different. For some people it is normal to have bowel movements once a day. For others it may be 3 times a day that is regular. So when this frequency is reduced from the normal or average frequency to much less stool numbers, then it can be considered constipation. What ever is the normal frequency if a person is passing stool less than 3 times a week then he/she most likely has constipation.

During constipation stools become usually hard, dry (due to too much water absorption) and difficult to eliminate. Some constipated people find it painful to have a bowel movement and others may experience bloating, straining and sensation of a full bowel.

It becomes more severe if the time between two stools is very long. This is because, as the length of time between bowel movements increases, more water is absorbed back into the bloodstream, causing the stool to harden in the colon (large intestine). This increases discomfort and can cause damage to body tissues due to strain.

More than 4 million Americans have frequent constipation.  Most of them are women and adults ages 65 and older. Other categories of people who experience it  are pregnant women, women after childbirth and man and women after surgery.

Get more information on causes, prevention methods and home remedies for constipation in the other related articles:

Other related articles