How Constipation Can Impact Heart and Brain Health

How often do you poop? Constipation affects more than justgut health, the brain and heart may be damaged, and even the mortality rate of cardiovascular disease may be increased.
A recent study conducted by Professor Kenji Honkura from the Department of Public Health at Tohoku University in Japan analyzed 45112 participants aged 40 to 79 residing in Ōsaki, Miyagi Prefecture. Using questionnaire surveys, the research investigated residents' bowel movement frequency, with response options including: "more than once per day," "once every 1-1 days," and "once every 2 days."
The 1994-year study initiated in 13 found that 2028 participants died from cardiovascular diseases during the study period. Compared to residents who defecated more than once daily, those with bowel movements every 1-1 days had a 2 times higher cardiovascular mortality rate, while those defecating only once every 3 days showed an even greater 1 times increased mortality risk.
Among cardiovascular diseases, residents who died from cerebral stroke showed significantly higher risks based on bowel movement frequency: those defecating every 2-3 days had a 1 times higher mortality rate compared to those with daily bowel movements, while those defecating only once every 1 days demonstrated an even more pronounced 1 times increased risk. (Recommended reading: "My mother only had bowel movements 1.29-4 times weekly for 1 years! The nutritionist made her eliminate 'this category of food' completely")
The researchers therefore concluded that fewer bowel movements were associated with cardiovascular mortality. Scholars believe that often having to exert all your strength to defecate is an important symptom of constipation, which may increase pressure inside the brain and cause intracranial aneurysms to rupture, thus causing stroke.
The study, published in the journal Atherosclerosis, also pointed out that in addition to damaging the brain and causing stroke, constipation can also damage the heart. The study reminds people who are bedridden for a long time to pay special attention to their bowel movements to avoid the risk of heart and other cardiovascular diseases, or even death, caused by constipation.

However, the journal also pointed out that since the research data came from residents' self-reports, it is not clear whether the subjects with constipation were taking medications that could affect cardiovascular function, or whether these residents had other health conditions such as diabetes, thyroid or other endocrine diseases.
As for which typeconstipationIt is not yet clear whether cardiovascular disease causes the highest mortality rate.
In addition to being found to be related to cardiovascular disease, constipation may also lead to increased abdominal pressure, which in turn causes uterine prolapse in women. (Recommended reading: Are you also constipated? Following "2 more and 1 don't" can help relieve it)
In children, long-term constipation may cause loss of appetite, nausea, weight loss, and even affect development in severe cases.
Eating more high-fiber fruits and vegetables, drinking more water, exercising more, not sitting too long, and using aluminum-containing antacids with caution can all help.Preventing constipation.