The Role of Water in Digestion and Constipation Relief

Water is the most important element of the human body and understanding its role in digestion is crucial to constipation relief. Your body is comprised of mostly water – in fact, it makes up over 2/3 of our bodyweight. An average person can live without food 2 – 3 weeks, while only 2 to 3 days without water. It is also key to the production of key bodily secretions such as digestive juices, bile, and saliva – all critical elements to digestion and avoiding constipation.

The digestive process

Digestion is the process of breaking down food and preparing it for absorption. The lining of the stomach releases gastric juices that help break down the food into easily ingestible nutrients. Drinking plenty of water will help ensure that your body can produce sufficient flow of stomach juices to aid in this process. Drinking a glass of water prior to eating will help jumpstart a healthy digestive process. This water will be absorbed by your body quickly and will fuel the digestive juice production in your stomach. These crucial juices then break down your food and prevent indigestion (and constipation).

Next steps in digestion

After getting the break-down treatment in the stomach, your food travels through the small intestine where even more intestinal juices are secreted to further break down your food. In order for fats to be consumed, a special juice (called bile) which is stored in the gallbladder is needed to emulsify them. So as these fats enter the small intestine, they are squirted with a serving of bile to help them on their journey through the intestine. Insufficient bile production can contribute to impaired digestion, bloating, and chronic constipation. Relief can be found through artichoke leaf extract, which has been shown to improve the production of bile and help with constipation relief.

The colon’s role in digestion

As the food continues its progress through your system, more water is absorbed through the large intestine or colon. The colon is your body’s fluid manager and is responsible for the final stages of the digestive process. It is supposed to absorb the right amount of the water and electrolytes to form the stool for final excretion. But since water is so important for vital organs like your brain, if you are dehydrated, the water will go there first – an issue that could be a major problem for constipation. Because of this, if you do not have an adequate water intake, your stool will become hard and difficult to pass - which will make constipation relief difficult.

Stool consistency

Ideally, stool consistency should be pasty with a soft brown color. It should be easy to pass and give you the feeling of complete evacuation. The color and consistency of your stool shows you how your digestive system is operating. If you are experiencing off-color stools, then your body might not be secreting enough digestive juices like bile to dissolve the food. If your feces are heavy and sink down quickly, then they have probably spent a long time in the intestine and too much water has been absorbed from them. Small pallets of dry stool are also an indication of lack of movement in the colon and an indication of chronic constipation.

Water to avoid constipation

A common question people ask is “How much water should I drink to avoid constipation?”. While there is no easy answer and water intake varies for each person (and based on age – water intake tends to be lower than normal among the elderly, for instance) – a common recommendation is to take your weight, divide that by two and the resulting number is how many ounces of water you should drink. For example, if you weigh 120 pounds, then you should drink at least 60 ounces (about 8 cups) of water each day.

Water is a natural laxative for the body and is critical for all bodily functions. If you are dealing with chronic constipation, natural herbal laxatives like StayRegular can help you retain more water in the colon to soften your stools as part of a holistic constipation treatment. StayRegular’s unique formulation also encourages bile production and helps re-balance the healthy bacteria in your colon for constipation relief.