Road trips can cause constipation due to disruption in your everyday routines, offsetting regular bodily cycles like hunger, thirst, and sleep. The best way to avoid it is to drink lots of water to keep your body hydrated at all times.
According to Dr. Elena Ivanina, DO, a board-certified gastroenterologist and Assistant Professor at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in New York, travel constipation is real and common.
On your vacation trip away from home, you may start feeling bloated, gassy, or experience some abdominal pains suddenly. This is likely due to constipation – the inability to empty your bowels easily or as frequently as you are used to.
Why does it happen when you are traveling?
There are a few reasons, but the most common is the change in routine which affects what or when you eat and drink and how much sleep you are having.
When you are on the road, some things in your routine are bound to change. This may include your diet, the size of your meals, and the times you eat. You may also not get enough hydration or sleep, and your body may start responding to these changes awkwardly. It is common to spend extended periods sitting in one place and sometimes not have immediate access to the bathroom to empty your bowels.
How regularly you visit the loo is tied to your general lifestyle, habits, and environment and is a result of your body removing fluid in your colon and causing the muscles of the colon to contract and expel the waste out. Therefore, any change in your habits and activities can affect your colon behavior as you travel. You may start to experience incomplete evacuation and difficulty passing small, hard, and dry stools.
To all travelers: it is always advisable to minimize any disruptions to your daily routine and the schedule of things you do regularly.
There are, of course, some easy steps to take to keep your bowels moving as you are on the move, on the road, or in transit traveling away from home.
This post will outline 9 of those steps that will help you avoid travel constipation (or vacation constipation as it is sometimes called).
9 Key Tips to help you stay regular
Before you pack your bags to embark on the next trip, here are the essential tips to help you stay regular and keep your digestive system working well.
1. Take in lots of water and don’t drink too much coffee
A common cause of constipation is dehydration. So, be sure to drink a lot of water, fruit juices, and clear fluid. Avoid drinking too much alcohol and beverages that contain caffeine, as both tend to dehydrate the body. When dehydrated, our bodies draw fluid from the fecal matter in our small intestines, causing the stool to be hard and difficult to pass out.
2. Eat food high in fiber
Foods rich in fiber, such as fruits and vegetables, help maintain the free movement of the bowel. While it may not be easy getting high-fiber food when traveling, it is good to pack some along with you. But be careful not to take too much fiber if you are already experiencing some dehydration, as that would cause abdominal bloating and increase your chances of getting constipated.
3. Avoid food high in fat
The vacation mindset when traveling may cause you to want to “treat” yourself to excessive amounts of unhealthy food, like burgers, pizza, cheese, chips, processed foods, and ice cream.
Such snack foods and desserts can cause constipation or make it worse. The reason is that unlike high-fiber foods, which can help push waste through your bowels, these fatty foods (being low in fiber), may slow down your digestion and bind up the process.
While the choices for healthy food may be limited during travel, it is worth being mindful to avoid junk or fast food and instead look for salads, fruits, oatmeal, lean meat, etc.
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4. Exercise and be physically active; move your body
As you travel, you may have to sit down in the car for a long time; this inactivity can slow down your digestive system and precipitate constipation.
To keep your digestive system moving, you need to find a way to move about, stretch, take a walk, or schedule an exercise. A good idea is to plan a few road stops and stretch a bit or walkabout.
5. Pay attention to your body’s signal
Do not ignore any indication from your body to visit the restroom. When you postpone emptying your bowels for any reason, for example, not being comfortable using a public toilet, you would be inviting constipation or making it worse.
The stool gets hard when not emptied in time, making it difficult to pass later. To help yourself relax enough to use a public restroom, you could read a magazine or listen to music through your earphones.
6. Take time and sit down for a meal
When in travel mode, most people try to eat in bites here and there, on the go. The problem with this is that your digestive system may not be used to that way of eating and, therefore, would not respond appropriately as it should when you take time to eat a larger meal. Eating in large portions can stimulate contractions in the gut for timely movement of the bowels.
7. Stay relaxed and get enough rest
The Digestive Health Association of Texas (DHAT) lists poor diet, dehydration, and stress as factors contributing to constipation. Anxiety from planning your travel, packing for the journey, and the journey itself, can be stressful.
This, as Dr. David Poopers, MD, Ph.D, a gastroenterologist and clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health, explained, can affect bowel movement and cause gas, bloating, and abdominal discomfort. That is why when you experience delays, traffic, and unexpected events during your travel; you should endeavor to stay relaxed.
Bring along books, music, game apps on smartphones, and other stuff that will amuse you. Making a conscious effort to relax helps lower your burden of stress and keep your gut in good health. Get enough sleep as well, as lack of it can throw your body system out of balance, affecting your digestion.
8. Keep your internal biological clock as unchanged as possible
According to Dr. Lauryn Lax, Doctor of Occupational Therapy, Nutrition & Functional Medicine in Austin, Texas; our gut’s health and stress levels are very much intertwined with our internal biological clock (the circadian rhythm).
This clock schedules your body to get hungry, sleepy, and empty your bowels as a daily cycle that becomes a regular pattern for your routine. As much as possible, keep to this schedule when you are on the road to help you empty your bowels predictably. This includes keeping to your regular mealtimes as well as your bedtime schedules.
9. Talk to your doctor
Have a chat with your healthcare provider if you find that you often experience travel constipation when you travel. Your provider may recommend a laxative to take before leaving for the trip or a product to take along in case you need to use it. Either way, you are better off knowing you are well-equipped for the journey.
Now the bottom line
Road trips can cause constipation, travel constipation. And it can happen to all of us, whether the trip is short or long, by road or other means. The main reasons are stress and disruption in your everyday routine.
But there is a lot you can do to prevent it in the first place or, at least, tame it:
- Drink a lot of water
- Bring with you and choose to eat healthy food on time
- And do your best to keep to your normal sleep and bathroom routines wherever you travel to.
Have a happy road trip!
