...on bowel movements. Sarahjane West-Watson tackles the toilet whilst travelling issues...
Miss your home comforts whilst travelling? Love to travel, but hate being away from your own toilet? Fear not, you are not alone, this an incredibly common issue!
Many women (and men) really suffer when it comes to taking their daily ablutions away from their own bathroom. The fear of being heard, sitting on a toilet seat that isn’t your own… or worse still, having to use a public toilet, are all very real travelling challenges for many.
The lengths that some people go to, to avoid using a public toilet can be astounding. And, whilst this sounds quite amusing, it can have an incredibly distressing and restrictive impact on life, especially travel plans.
So why does this happen? There are so many different reasons that this anxiety can build; a troublesome gut, an innocent but significant childhood incident.
What can you do about it? In my experience, the best way to tackle this, is head on. Even the act of consciously sharing the situation can be a real game changer for people.
Here are my top tips to ease anxiety and comfort whilst traveling:
Befriend your breath.
Holding tension in the abdominal and pelvic cavity can have a real impact on our breathing as well as our gut. It forces us to use more of our upper chest to breathe, which in turn can increase anxiety, tension and IBS symptoms.
Try square breathing – inhaling, pausing, exhaling, pausing, inhaling etc. Try making your exhale is at least the same length as the inhale and use each pause to really let the tension go from the shoulders and belly.
Optimise gut health.
Too often we overlook the basics:
- Increasing our water intake
- Understanding and avoiding trigger foods – caffeine, dairy, tomatoes etc.
- Appropriate pre and probiotics (speak with your local nutritionalist / health food shop)
- Move! Gentle walking and exercise has such a positive impact on our gut help – aiding peristalsis and gut motility to support your bowel movement.
Understand the problem.
Increasing tension in our pelvic floor is entirely counter productive to passing a bowel movement. The muscles of our pelvic floor are designed to relax when it is safe, so even if your anxiety is purely internal, there is still a very mixed message preventing the sphincters to let go and facilitate a comfortable passage.
Assist elimination.
There are some simple techniques that can really support the body’s natural process.
Elevate the feet – invest in a squatty potty, toddler step or just a toilet roll under each foot, to bring the knees higher than the hips – this opens the rectum and really helps support easy evacuation of the bowel.
Pelvic rocking – appreciate what is happening internally – the muscle walls of the gut are gently squeezing and relaxing in a process called peristalsis – try assisting this with some pelvic rocks whilst seated.
Breathe – exhaling your tension, relax your shoulders and soften your jaw!
Seek professional help from your GP or practice nurse, before going away.
