Digestive disorders such as flatulence and bloating can have many causes, most of which are related to an unhealthy diet. However, there are also a few lesser-known triggers for the unpleasant rumbling in the stomach.
Fructose intolerance
Certain fruits have a high ratio of fructose to glucose. Fructose and glucose are both sugars that occur naturally in fruit. For people who find fructose harder to digest, fruits with such an imbalance cause bloating. These fruits include watermelon, apple, pear and mango.
If you think you are less able to tolerate fructose, you should eat fruit with a more balanced ratio of fructose to glucose, such as bananas or blueberries.
Stress
If the body is under high pressure and stress, digestion slows down and you tend to swallow too much air. To suffer less from indigestion despite stress, you can try breathing exercises. For example, consciously breathe out longer than you breathe in. This calms the body, which triggers fewer stress reactions.
Laziness
After a big meal, all you want to do is lie down and wait for the feeling of fullness to go away. But that's wrong, because it encourages the symptoms. Instead, you should take a walk after every large meal to stimulate the muscles of the digestive tract. It's not called a digestive walk for nothing, because physical activity boosts digestion immensely.
Holiday
Around one in two people suffer from constipation due to long journeys. This is due to the drastic change in eating and sleeping routines, which upsets the digestive system. This is why you should try to stick to your usual rhythm and eat and sleep at roughly the same time, especially when travelling.
Gastrointestinal inflammation
Many people suffer from flatulence after suffering from gastroenteritis. Even if the inflammation has already subsided for days, digestion can still be disturbed because the bacteria weaken the defence mechanism. With a few days of strict diet (low sugar and fat), digestion usually normalises again. In more persistent cases, treatment with medication may be necessary.
