When you return to work after the holidays, don’t let your digestive tract get upset! Please check out this health guide

Author Jing Xiying

Unit: Shanxi Bethune Hospital

The Spring Festival holiday is a rare moment of relaxation in the year. People often find it hard to resist the temptation of delicious food when visiting relatives and friends, having dinner together. However, on the first day after the eighth day of the first lunar month, the number of patients undergoing gastrointestinal endoscopy in the hospital surged, especially those undergoing gastroscopy, which accounted for the majority. Behind this phenomenon is the unhealthy lifestyle during the long holiday, which has had a serious impact on our bodies, especially the digestive tract. At this time, we need to reflect deeply on how to exercise self-discipline and protect the health of our digestive tract through a reasonable diet and regular work and rest, while preventing other diseases such as cholecystitis and pancreatitis? Why do digestive tract problems occur frequently after the holidays?

During the joyous festival of the Spring Festival, our diet and daily routine often fall into a state of disorder. When friends and relatives gather together and a variety of delicious foods are on display, we often overeat without realizing it. Fried foods, high-sugar cakes, spicy dishes, etc., although these foods are delicious, they will put a huge burden on our digestive tract. In addition, people's social activities are frequent during the holidays, and staying up late to play cards, watch TV series, and play games is common, resulting in severe lack of sleep. The dual irregularities of diet and sleep disrupt the normal function of the gastrointestinal tract, gastric acid secretion disorders, and gastrointestinal motility disorders, which in turn cause a series of digestive tract problems.

Symptoms such as bloating, gastroparesis, indigestion, and constipation are typical manifestations of these problems. When the stomach is bloated, there will be a noticeable feeling of fullness in the stomach, and even pain, which makes people fidgety; gastroparesis means that the stomach's emptying ability decreases, and food stays in the stomach for too long, further increasing the burden on the stomach; indigestion will cause food to not be fully digested and absorbed, nutrients to be lost, and may also cause nausea, vomiting and other discomforts; constipation will make it difficult for us to defecate, toxins will accumulate in the body, and affect our health. These problems will not only affect our quality of life, but in the long run they may also cause more serious diseases such as gastric ulcers, gastritis, enteritis, etc.

In addition to digestive tract problems, cholecystitis and pancreatitis are also closely related to bad living habits during the Spring Festival. The onset of cholecystitis is often related to a high-fat diet. Excessive fat intake will stimulate the gallbladder to contract and discharge bile to digest fat. If there are stones or inflammation in the gallbladder itself, it is easy to cause poor bile discharge and cause cholecystitis. Pancreatitis is caused by overeating, drinking a lot of alcohol, etc., which causes the pancreatic juice secreted by the pancreas to be activated in the pancreas and digest the pancreatic tissue itself, thereby causing inflammation. Once cholecystitis and pancreatitis occur, the pain is severe and even life-threatening in severe cases.

Self-discipline in diet to protect digestive tract health

Adjust your diet and increase your dietary fiber intake

After the festival, the first thing we need to do is to adjust our diet structure to make our diet healthier and more balanced. Reduce the intake of greasy, spicy and irritating foods, and increase vegetables, fruits, whole grains and other foods rich in dietary fiber. Dietary fiber can promote intestinal peristalsis, increase stool volume and prevent constipation. For example, you can ensure the intake of about 500 grams of vegetables, such as broccoli, spinach, carrots, etc., and 200-350 grams of fruits, such as apples, bananas, oranges, etc. every day. At the same time, replace some refined rice and flour with whole grain foods such as brown rice, oats, and whole wheat bread. These foods are not only rich in dietary fiber, but also rich in vitamins and minerals, which are of great benefit to health.

Control your food intake and eat regularly

Overeating is one of the main causes of digestive problems. After the holidays, we should learn to control our food intake and eat until we are 70% to 80% full at each meal. We can eat small and frequent meals, dividing the food of the day into 5-6 meals, which can not only reduce the burden on the gastrointestinal tract, but also ensure the body's energy supply. In addition, we should develop the habit of regular meals, try to eat at the same time every day, so that the gastrointestinal tract forms a regular biological clock, which is conducive to the regular secretion of digestive juices and improves digestive function.

Avoid excessive alcohol and caffeine intake

During the Spring Festival, drinking is one of the ways many people celebrate the festival. However, excessive drinking can cause serious damage to the gastric mucosa and increase the risk of diseases such as gastritis and gastric ulcers. After the festival, we should try to reduce the amount of alcohol we drink, and it is best not to drink a drop of alcohol. At the same time, we should also control the intake of caffeine, such as coffee and tea. Caffeine stimulates gastric acid secretion and aggravates stomach discomfort. If you like to drink coffee or tea, you can choose low-caffeine or caffeine-free products, and do not drink on an empty stomach.

Regular work and rest to protect digestive tract health

Get enough sleep to help your body repair itself

Sleep is essential for the recovery and health of the body. After the holidays, we must adjust our work and rest schedule as soon as possible to ensure 7-8 hours of adequate sleep every day. During sleep, the body will repair and adjust itself, and the gastrointestinal tract can also get enough rest. Try to fall asleep before 11 o'clock at night and get up around 7 o'clock in the morning to develop a good habit of going to bed early and getting up early. Avoid using electronic devices before going to bed to prevent blue light stimulation from affecting sleep quality. You can take a hot bath and drink a glass of warm milk before going to bed to help relax your body and mind and promote sleep.

Proper exercise to enhance gastrointestinal motility

Exercise can not only enhance physical fitness, but also promote gastrointestinal motility and help digestion. After the festival, we should gradually increase the amount of exercise, and we can do more than 30 minutes of aerobic exercise every day, such as walking, jogging, swimming, etc. The exercise time can be chosen 1-2 hours after a meal, which will not affect digestion and can promote gastrointestinal motility. In addition, you can also do some abdominal massage, with the navel as the center, massage the abdomen in a clockwise direction, 10-15 minutes each time, 2-3 times a day, which helps relieve symptoms such as bloating and indigestion.

Prevent cholecystitis and pancreatitis by taking care of the details of your life

Eat a healthy diet and avoid high-fat and high-cholesterol foods

The occurrence of cholecystitis and pancreatitis is closely related to diet. In order to prevent these two diseases, we should avoid eating high-fat, high-cholesterol foods, such as animal offal, fried foods, cream, egg yolks, etc. These foods will increase the secretion of bile and pancreatic juice, and increase the burden on the gallbladder and pancreas. You can choose some low-fat, high-protein foods, such as lean meat, fish, beans, eggs, etc. These foods can not only ensure the body's nutritional needs, but also will not cause too much pressure on the gallbladder and pancreas.

Eat regularly and avoid overeating

Regular eating is one of the important measures to prevent cholecystitis and pancreatitis. Eat at regular times and in regular amounts, and avoid being too hungry or too full. Being too hungry will cause bile to concentrate in the gallbladder, increasing the risk of stone formation; being too full will stimulate the pancreas to secrete a large amount of pancreatic juice, which can easily cause pancreatitis. In addition, pay attention to food hygiene and avoid eating unclean food to avoid intestinal infection and induce cholecystitis and pancreatitis.

Control your weight and avoid obesity

Obesity is one of the risk factors for cholecystitis and pancreatitis. The high fat content in obese people will affect the secretion and excretion of bile and pancreatic juice, increasing the risk of disease. Therefore, we should control our weight and maintain a healthy body through a reasonable diet and moderate exercise. If you are overweight, you should develop a scientific weight loss plan and gradually lose weight, but do not take extreme weight loss methods such as excessive dieting to avoid causing harm to your body.

After the holidays, it is an important period for us to adjust our lifestyle and protect the health of our digestive tract. Through self-disciplined diet and regular work and rest, we can effectively prevent and alleviate digestive tract problems, while reducing the risk of diseases such as cholecystitis and pancreatitis. Let us start from now on to develop healthy living habits and lay a solid foundation for our physical health. Only with a healthy body can we devote ourselves to work and life with a full spirit and meet the challenges and opportunities of the new year.