Some people think that you should not exercise immediately after a meal, and rest quietly is the way to keep good health.
However, some people think that exercising immediately after a meal helps digestion and prevents fat accumulation.
Should I stay still and move after eating?
Experts have said that doing these exercises after a meal not only can't digest the child, but also easily causes gastroptosis.
Why do our stomachs sag?
First, let’s briefly understand what gastroptosis is: the position of normal human organs in the body is relatively fixed, as is the stomach. It hangs under the diaphragm and is fixed by ligaments between other organs. Abdominal muscles and intra-abdominal pressure are supported underneath.
The normal position of the stomach is dependent on these factors, so the sagging of the stomach occurs because these factors are not able to play a role, such as insufficient diaphragmatic suspension, loose organ supporting ligaments, decreased intra-abdominal pressure, loose abdominal muscles, hypotonia, etc.
However, when a person stands, the position of the stomach drops.
When the greater curvature of the stomach reaches the pelvic cavity, the lowest point of the arc of the lesser curvature drops below the line of the iliac crest, which is commonly referred to as gastroptosis in medicine.
In addition, gastroptosis not only refers to the lower than normal position of the stomach in the abdominal cavity, but also hypotonia caused by weakened neuromuscular system function.
The stomach can't stand it after a meal
As we said above, when the factors that fix the normal physiological position of the stomach no longer function normally, it may cause gastroptosis.
In addition, factors such as personal physique, physical strength, exercise, and surgery may also cause gastroptosis.
Its susceptible populations are mainly elongated body, chronically ill and frail, progressive wasting with wasting disease, postpartum women, and those with multiple abdominal operations.
After people have a meal, the blood flow of the digestive system will increase to participate in the digestion and absorption of food. When we are doing light physical activity, the impact on the blood supply of the stomach is not great, but when we do strenuous exercise, the blood will be affected again. Redistribution will increase the blood in the limbs and trunk muscles, resulting in insufficient blood supply to the gastrointestinal tract. The peristalsis of the stomach will be weakened, the digestion and absorption will become poor, and the load on the stomach will increase, which will cause sag under the action of gravity.
So, what kind of exercise is easy to cause gastroptosis?
Running is a sport that everyone generally loves, but when we run after a meal, we will continue to stretch the ligaments fixed to the stomach due to body fluctuations. At this time, the stomach is in a state of load, which will loosen the gastric band over time and cause gastric ptosis. .
Therefore, after a meal, we should try to avoid playing basketball, football, running and other strenuous exercises to protect our stomachs.
5 types of symptoms are at least moderate gastroptosis
Normally, when gastroptosis occurs, the normal function of the stomach is affected, and the patient will have symptoms of gastrointestinal motility and indigestion.
For most patients with mild gastroptosis, there is no obvious discomfort, but patients with more than moderate gastroptosis may have:
1. Upper abdomen fullness: the patient will feel a sense of swelling in the stomach, and the abdominal distension can be aggravated by post-meal, standing for a long time, tiredness, etc., and it can be relieved by lying down;
2. Abdominal pain: It is mainly dull pain, which lasts for a long time and has frequent attacks. It often occurs after a meal. Too much eating or activity at one time can make the pain worse;
3. Nausea and vomiting: usually caused by activities after eating, too much eating can aggravate the symptoms;
4. Constipation: mostly stubborn, which may be caused by simultaneous transverse colonic ptosis;
5. Symptoms outside the digestive system: patients with gastroptosis are often accompanied by symptoms such as weight loss, fatigue, hypotension, palpitations, and dizziness due to insufficient nutritional intake and increased mental burden due to the disease.
It is difficult to heal by itself but can be treated
Generally speaking, once suffering from gastroptosis, it is not able to heal by itself.
And for gastroptosis, clinically, there is also a lack of effective treatment methods.
Therefore, patients with gastroptosis need to pay attention to their own adjustments in their daily life, which can be relieved mainly by physical exercise and improving eating habits:
For example, eat more nutritious, easy-to-digest, and small-volume foods, and eat less cold, hard and irritating foods, which can reduce the irritation and burden on the stomach, thereby improving symptoms and preventing illness from getting worse; in addition, take a walk before meals, Resting supine after a meal can effectively alleviate the symptoms of gastroptosis; at the same time, proper physical exercise can enhance muscle strength. Patients can take full-body exercises such as Tai Chi, health exercises, swimming, etc., and abdominal muscle exercises such as abdominal wall exercises, sit-ups, and abdominal breathing Waiting to strengthen one's originally loose muscles will greatly help improve the condition.
Regarding the treatment of gastroptosis, it is recommended to visit the departments: Gastroenterology, Traditional Chinese Medicine, General Surgery.
1. Medical treatment: mainly for mild to moderate patients, including supplementing nutrition, promoting digestion and improving gastrointestinal motility, so as to relieve symptoms and reduce the burden on the stomach to achieve the purpose of treatment.
2. Chinese medicine treatment: mainly includes Chinese medicine treatment, acupuncture therapy, massage therapy and tune-up nursing.
3. Surgical treatment: For patients with severe or acute gastroptosis, medical treatment is not enough to relieve symptoms, and surgical treatment, mainly partial gastrectomy, is needed.
Do this everyday to hold your stomach
So in daily life, in order to reduce the occurrence of gastroptosis, what do we need to pay attention to?
First of all, we should not exercise immediately after a meal. We should lie down and rest for a period of time. After that, we should not do strenuous exercise because our stomach is in a full state after a meal, and activity will increase the burden on the stomach and cause or aggravate gastroptosis.
Secondly, when we eat, it is best not to eat too much at a time, especially for people with low digestive function. This can prevent food retention in the stomach from causing indigestion.
There is also to avoid heavy physical labor and strenuous exercise, otherwise it will easily lead to increased pressure on the stomach, produce a huge impulse to the stomach wall, and aggravate the degree of gastroptosis.
Finally, we must maintain good physical and mental health and eating habits, eat small and frequent meals, chew slowly, and eat more foods that are less irritating, easy to digest, and nutritious.
By Liu Xinjuan (Beijing Chaoyang Hospital)