Is yoga good for your gut?
Healthy digestion is important because your body needs nutrients from food and drinks to work properly. But can yoga help with digestion?
Firstly, let’s look at what we mean by gut health.
Gut health describes the function and balance of bacteria in many parts of the gastrointestinal tract. When all is working as it should, the oesophagus, stomach and intestines allow us to eat and digest food without discomfort.
For those of us who have experienced pain, discomfort or just feeling off in our stomachs, we know this isn’t always the case. So what’s going wrong?
Signs of an unhealthy gut
A lot can affect our gut health, from high-stress levels to not getting enough sleep. The food that we eat, like too much sugary or processed foods, can also affect our gut. An unhealthy gut can manifest in different ways too, you may notice:
An upset stomach - gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhoea and heartburn can all be signs of an unhealthy gut.
Unintentional weight changes - noticed that you’ve been gaining or losing weight recently, without making changes to your diet or exercise habits?
Sleep disturbances or constant fatigue - the majority of the body’s serotonin, a hormone that affects mood and sleep, is produced in the gut. Insomnia or poor sleep can leave you feeling tired all of the time.
Skin irritation - skin conditions like eczema may be related to a damaged gut. Poor diet or food allergies may cause increased leaking of proteins into the body, irritating the skin and causing conditions like eczema.
How can yoga improve gut health?
In general, a healthy lifestyle has the potential to benefit our gut health. Yoga supports this by helping us to reduce stress through breathing practices and gentle exercise, which can also aid digestion.
Gut health and stress reduction
The gut is involved in producing dopamine and GABA, as well as other hormones. It’s highly sensitive and when it’s thrown off balance, it can signal that the body is under stress.
Yogic breathing and meditation activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which puts our body in a state of relaxation that breeds recovery.
By activating the parasympathetic nervous system, you:
Slow your heart rate
Decrease your breathing rate
Lower your blood pressure
Promote digestion
Yoga to aid digestion
In yoga classes, you may notice that your teacher (usually) guides you to go towards the right first. While there are a few theories why this might be - one being that it helps the teacher to remember which side we’re on, yes we all need little tips! Another theory is that since most of the major organs in our bodies work in a clockwise motion, by turning to the right first, we are aiding digestion by putting pressure on the descending colon.
Gentle stretching and breathing practices can help to relieve bloating, gas, and generally help to get things moving.
Five yoga poses for digestion
Cat-Cow - together, these two poses interact to give both your back and your belly a great stretch. Time cat-cow with your breath and take it nice and slowly. This pose is also said to help massage your internal organs to promote gut peristalsis.
Cobra - similar to cow pose, cobra helps to stretch out your belly, which can both be beneficial for your back and your stomach.
Bow pose - as the name suggests, bow pose mimics the shape of a bow. Bow pose can aid digestion and constipation and help to alleviate menstrual cramps.
Seated side bend - this is a gentle stretch that can have a big effect on your general digestion. In stretching your obliques, belly muscles, lower and upper back and shoulders, seated side bend may help to alleviate any gut-related bloating and gas.
Seated twist - Similar to the seated side bend, a seated twist can also help to alleviate gas and bloating. The twisting motion in this pose aids small and large intestine peristalsis (the involuntary constriction and relaxation of the muscles, creating wave-like movements that push the contents of the canal forward), which in turn can help bowel regularity.
