Exercise Causes
Constipation!
By
Ashok T. Jaisinghani
This
article was sent in May 1995 as a letter to Medical
Colleges; Medical Journals; Health,
Nutrition & Sports Magazines; Health
& Sports Ministers; Important Indian & Foreign
Newspapers.
One great
medical myth, prevailing for 2000 to 3000 years, is
that physical exercise helps in preventing and curing
constipation. This false belief is still being
dogmatically propagated all over the world by
practitioners of Allopathy, Ayurveda and Naturopathy,
and by experts in Health Education and Sports
Medicine. All therapies based on this dangerous dogma
are a threat to the health of many
patients.
Even after reading about 500
books and thousands of articles on different systems
of medicine and allied fields over a period of about
27 years, I have never found any scientific
proof showing that active exercise, like walking,
running, swimming, cycling, weight-training,
other active sports or physical work, prevents or
cures constipation.
Prize of Rs 100,000
Offered*
Through this letter, I make a
declaration of my promise
to give a total prize of Rs 100,000 (rupees one lakh)
to any scientist or scientists who can give practical
as well as theoretical proofs about how and why more of
active exercise, involving the voluntary movements of
muscles of the body, can prevent and cure constipation
under scientifically controlled conditions.
Is there any Indian or foreign
doctor or scientist of any system of medicine, or
expert in Health Education or Sports Medicine, having
enough courage of conviction, who can prove that
taking more of active exercise can help in preventing
and curing constipation in subjects in experiments
under scientifically controlled
conditions, and win the prize of Rs 100,000
offered by me? Can any doctor, scientist or expert
prove the following: "Keeping
other things unchanged, how and why can more of
active exercise by subjects in experiments help in
preventing and curing constipation in
them?"
Only scientific proofs are required. Dogmatic
opinions of other famous and popular doctors,
scientists and experts, and references from any
authoritative medical and health books of
well-known authors are not necessary.
In my personal library, I have
about 200 books, including medical dictionaries, on
Allopathy, Homeopathy, Ayurveda, Nutrition,
Naturopathy, Physiology, Health, Exercise, etc. In
many of the books, only statements
are made, without giving any proofs, that
physical exercise prevents and cures
constipation.
Active Exercise Cures some
Diarrheas
In scientifically controlled experiments, I had
tried my best in the last 25 years or so to find out
whether active exercise prevented and cured
constipation. I always failed to get any positive
proof. I tried and tried again for hundreds of times
and failed to get any proof each and every time. I
found that it was impossible to get the traditionally
expected result.
Now, I
have practical as well as theoretical proofs that
clearly show that active
exercise tends to cause constipation! A severely
constipated person is able to take very little
exercise, as more of active exercise makes the problem
of constipation much worse. According to my findings,
active exercise and physical work are actually helpful
in preventing and curing some
types of diarrhea.
Law on the Effect of
Exercise
In scientifically controlled experiments, I have
discovered the following formula: "Other things remaining unchanged, the
more of active exercise a person takes, the more
constipated that person tends to
become." Therefore, when a
person takes active exercise daily for two hours, he
tends to become more constipated than when he takes
exercise of the same type for only one
hour.
The other
things that can alter the result of the experiment,
are the quantity and type of food, milk, table salt,
water, etc. To keep the other things unchanged, the
person, who takes exercise in the experiment, should
not change the quantity or type of food, milk, table
salt, water, etc., he consumes during the period of
the experiment.
Athletes Require
Laxatives
From my observations, I have
found that most athletes and sportspersons who take
prolonged exercise regularly, consume more food, more
milk, more table salt and more
water. The larger intakes of these items can provide
greater quantities of laxative nutrients like dietary
fiber, potassium, magnesium, manganese, thiamine,
pantothenic acid, vitamin C, vitamin D, sodium,
iodine, etc. Many athletes and sportspersons taking
prolonged exercise regularly consume Epsom salt
(magnesium sulfate), milk of magnesia, mixtures of
mineral salts that are laxative, or even liquid
paraffin, castor oil and other laxative and purgative
drugs. These laxative foods, salts and drugs are
required by athletes and sportspersons to undo the
constipating effect of active physical
exercise.
Proper and
adequate rest and relaxation, besides more food and
more water, tend to produce a laxative effect and to
relieve constipation. Prolonged active exercise and a
low-calorie diet can be a dangerous
combination for many people.
*In the last
eight years, nobody has even tried to prove me wrong
to claim the prize of Rs
100,000.