If you’re having stomach issues during Working From Home, don’t worry because you’re not alone! With your regular schedule of going out to work, exercising at the local gym, or walking down to the local store going haywire, don’t be surprised if you are having any problems with your stomach. The stress does take a toll on your stomach.
While you might get stomach relief with medications, there are some additional ways in which you can improve the health of your stomach. Some lifestyle changes can work wonders for your digestion. If you want to find out what they are, read on.
6 Ways to A Better Stomach During Working From Home
Here are some of the reasons your stomach is not in the best condition:
Anxiety and Stress:
If your mental health is under pressure due to working from home, it’s just a matter of time that your stomach feels the effect too. There could be other associated reasons like a possible job loss, being infected with the coronavirus, or conflict with other family members. All this impacts the quality of your sleep, diet, gut microbes, and your stomach.
The solution for this would be deep breathing exercises for mental relaxation and keeping negative emotions at bay. You could also try yoga, video calling your friends, going for a brisk walk, making a notice of the anxiety triggers, or joining a support group. Choose the option that works best for you.
Get more Vitamin D
Staying indoors due to the pandemic also means that your body is not getting the exposure it usually gets to the most natural source of Vitamin D, sunlight. The small intestine does not get much Vitamin D from food. Vitamin D plays a vital role in gut health as it helps in the absorption and regulation of calcium that is essential for digestive enzymes.
Vitamin D also ensures the efficient functioning of the immune system and gut lining. Check your Vitamin D levels by visiting your medical practitioner and get the prescribed Vitamin D dosage you need. Go outdoors for a walk, but don’t forget to take precautions like sunscreen and shades for guarding against skin cancer!
Sleep Deficiency
Since you are forced to stay indoors, except for emergencies, you are bound to feel like it’s your day off! You tend to stay up later than usual to watch your favorite late-night show. The result is your sleep schedule goes out of the window!
Also Read: 14 Good Night’s Sleep Tips To Improve Your Sleep Habits
Guess what? Both your stomach and your sleep affect each other. Your gut microbes cannot function optimally if you don’t get enough sleep, and the neurotransmitter conversion that ensures good sleep is disrupted when your microbes don’t work at their efficient best.
Ninety percent of serotonin, a precursor to melatonin, is formed in the gut. Melatonin is a hormone that regulates sleep. When your gut malfunctions, your sleep is adversely affected. An irregular sleep schedule affects the working cycle of the gut.
You need to stick to a proper sleep schedule that includes avoiding late-night shows, ensure proper sleep hygiene, and stay away from stimulants like caffeine after 4 pm. Coordinate your sleep cycle to nature’s day and night cycle for the best results.
Cut Down or Avoid Alcohol
The extreme stress that your present situation is putting you through might tempt you to ‘take to the bottle!’ The worst thing you can do as far as your gut is concerned is to use alcohol as a stress reliever. Not only does it damage your gut health, but it also affects your general health.
The adverse effects of alcohol include gut inflammation, and this can lead to penetration of the lining of your gut wall. This means that food particles and toxins pass through the gut lining before entering the bloodstream. Your immunity is at stake here, and your tolerance level falls when it comes to food you could generally digest.
Your craving for alcohol and processed foods goes up when you don’t get enough sleep. Though the occasional red wine has a beneficial effect on your gut due to polyphenols, if you go overboard, you are likely to harm your gut. The solution is limiting alcohol intake and going for drinking water when you are thirsty.
Regular Exercise:
Working from home has meant you are either not having sufficient activity or being overactive due to spare time in hand. Neither is good for you as you need to have a balanced activity. Exercise not only helps heal your mind and body, but it also heals your gut.
With the right amount of exercise, you improve the functioning of your gut. The beneficial bacteria in your gut go up by 40% according to research! A healthy gut depends on the diversity of microbes, and short fatty chain acids and exercise make this possible.
Monitor your level of activity and include movement in your daily schedule. Remember that the right level of activity is important when it comes to gut health.
Healthy Eating Habits:
You need to chew your food, not gulp it down while watching your favorite soap or sport. If you are unmindful when you eat, you are putting your gut health at risk. You’ll be surprised to know that the digestion process begins before you start eating.
Digestion has a 3-step process. Chewing the food to break it down into small pieces for increasing the surface area is the first step. Saliva has enzymes that convert these pieces into smaller pieces. Finally, the more time the food stays in your mouth, the better the enzymes work.
Shoving food down your mouth means you are preventing this process, making it harder for the food to get digested, and this leads to the formation of gas as the microbes have to deal with undigested food.
Set aside time for meals and chew the food around 20-30 times each time. Ensure that you are sitting down while eating.
Get a Healthy Stomach for A Fulfilling Life
You can get a healthy stomach by making a few adjustments to your current lifestyle. When you take care of your mind, diet, and exercise, you take care of your stomach as well. You could use pain relief as part of your routine.
There are millions of people working from home who are discovering a healthy way of life; you can too.
