Britt Jones
A doctor has warned about the impact of holding in wind.
When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go, says a medical professional. Aside from it leading to digestive pains, holding in wind can also spark a couple of other issues.
Have you ever had to go, but realised that it’s not the time nor the place?
A few hours go past, and you’re curled up on the sofa at home, holding your abdomen as your middle feels like it’s being repeatedly stabbed with a hot poker stick. Boy, I bet you wished you’d have let it rip earlier during a scheduled ‘fart walk’. But you didn’t, and it came with a painful consequence.
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For example, you could get diverticular disease and diverticulitis, as per the National Health Service (NHS).
According to its website, these ‘are conditions that affect the large intestine (bowel), causing tummy (abdominal) pain and other symptoms’. It happens when small bulges or pouches appear in the walls of the intestine- called diverticula. Aside from the pain, it could also cause some nasty digestive issues, as per Dr Karan Rajan.
The NHS surgeon explained on the Modern Wisdom podcast that you could even cause yourself to have foul breath if you don’t let your body carry out what it needs to do.
Why? Mmm, you won’t like the answer.
Dr Rajan explained that if you don’t let the gas out the back way, it could come up the front way instead and end up in your mouth. Well, your breath. This scientific process is called pulmonary reabsorption.
“A fart is gas, it's a chemical, it's a bunch of chemicals,” Dr Rajan said. “And when you hold in a fart there's a percentage of that fart vapour which will defuse through the walls of the colon, through the walls of the intestine and eventually it will go to your bloodstream.”
He added that the gas will eventually make it out of your mouth, telling listeners: “All the blood circulates and eventually it goes to the lungs where the waste products are then exhaled out.”
“You will literally breathe out fart fumes if you hold it in,” he concluded in his grim warning.
What’s even worse is that the gases he’s talking about that are found in his gut are nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen.
If you’ve been past a cow field, you’ll know what methane smells like.
So, these gases will be absorbed into your bloodstream and then circulate in your lungs before being exhaled out of your mouth.
It’s probably better to just fart, to be honest.
But if you’re finding that you’re constantly having gas issues, maybe it’s time to take a look at your diet.
As per the NHS, there are a few things you can do to minimise how much gas you’re producing.
For example, you could eat smaller meals, more often. drink or chew food slowly, with your mouth closed, exercise regularly to improve how your body digests food, and also drink peppermint tea which aids in digestion.
If you have severe pain, bloating, a change to your bowel habits, or you lose weight rapidly without trying, see your GP for advice.