Exercises for Ulcerative Colitis and their Benefits

If you have become a victim of Ulcerative Colitis, you need to reduce the risks related to Ulcerative Colitis and struggle to improve your overall life quality. But how? People adopt different ways to fight against the condition but the most effective way is doing some exercises. As ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease, it needs immediate treatment. Exercises for Ulcerative Colitis, no doubt, have good impacts in managing the symptoms of UC but sometimes, it becomes challenging to do exercise with severe symptoms of UC. Because the symptoms of UC  such as persistent diarrhea, abdominal pain makes you dull and lower your energy level. 

Exports have suggested some medications that can help manage these symptoms and often make them go away completely. However, new research has shown that exercise is the most effective and convincing technique to treat Ulcerative Colitis. Exercises for Ulcerative Colitis give you desired and amazing results. 

What is Ulcerative Colitis?

This is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that makes sores in your colon and causes inflammation. UC is a condition that causes problems in the inner lining of your rectum and colon. Its origin point is rectum but with the passage of time it extends towards colon i.e large intestine. 

Studies show that its symptoms develop over time. They don’t appear to be. It often causes life-threatening complications if left untreated. This is a chronic condition that has no exact cure. Healthcare providers and researchers are still trying to find some effective medicines to treat the condition and reduce the symptoms. But till the date we have no information about any medicine that can help heal the lining of the colon leading to long-term remission. 

Effective Exercises to Treat Ulcerative Colitis

Regular physical exercise is an effective technique to reduce your blood pressure and maintain a moderate weight. So you can’t deny the benefits of regular physical activity because it not only helps control chronic health conditions like UC but also helps control the triggers causing depression, frustration and anxiety. Exercise also interferes with your quality of life and promotes a better mood. It helps increase the production of feel happy (endorphin) hormone so that you can live happily. 

People often feel it difficult to find proper time for exercise due to their hectic routine life. Until you incorporate exercise into your routine, you will reap benefits in a short time. You don’t need much duration for taking exercise. In fact just 3 hours of moderate exercise per week are enough to enjoy the beneficial effects of physical activity.

Experts have suggested a number of exercises that can help manage symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis. But the most effective exercises for Ulcerative Colitis are jotted below:

Strength Training

Ulcerative colitis is a dangerous chronic condition because it further causes other issues in your body that makes you more sick. For example, osteoporosis is the underlying health condition that often occurs in people who are patients of UC. Osteoporosis weakens your bones and causes unbearable pain in joints. Risk of developing symptoms of osteoporosis increases when you are living with UC. This is because certain anti-inflammatory medications are used to treat UC which interfere with your bone-building cells leaving you to increase the risk of bone fractures.

In such a situation, incorporating more weight-bearing exercises to your workout routine not only encourages your bone health but also strengthens your joints. Resistance training, strength training with free weights, tennis, weight machines and dancing are the best strength training exercises for Ulcerative Colitis.

However, the important things to consider are working with a fitness trainer before jumping right into a strength training session. So that you may learn proper techniques to avoid any injury during exercise. 

Running

Another excellent exercise to improve symptoms of UC is Running. Running not only helps reduce severity of ulcerative colitis but also helps improve your cardiovascular health and strengthen your muscles. Running is also good for keeping your bowel functioning properly. It also he;ps release stress. However, studies suggested that running is not good for all people. Sometimes it can cause harm and impact negatively. 

For example, some people are sensitive to running. They get caught by runner’s diarrhea after a run and experience loose stool and intestinal cramping. Therefore, studies show that people living with UC are more likely to develop runner’s diarrhea. Even an intense run often  can exacerbate the symptoms related to the condition.

So it is better to talk to our doctor to evaluate if running is suitable exercise for ulcerative colitis or not, in your case. To check the impact, you may start with a 10 minutes brisk walk every day. After a week, you can increase the intensity upon jogging but with the consultation of your physical trainer. In case of experiencing a flat-up, reduce the intensity of running immediately and go on moderate walk instead.

Biking or Cycling

One more important exercise for ulcerative colitis is biking or cycling. This exercise makes you physically fit, manage inflammation in your body and reduce stress. It is the popular low intensity workout which is a better replacement for certain moderate intensity workouts that may worsen your symptoms. 

According to studies, slow cycling impacts your joint health positively more than other types of exercises. You can start with a 10 minutes of rise for at least four weeks. After one month, you may increase the intensity of rudeness by increasing the number of days and length of rides.

In addition, cycling or cycling is the most reliable exercise that can be combined with other physical activities to complete a duration of three hours per week to maintain a moderate exercise routine.

Yoga

Dietary changes and medications often proved effective in managing UC symptoms. However some factors always trigger them like stress and anxiety. So reducing your stress level is a necessary thing if you want to treat your ulcerative colitis. Other than different types of exercises, you can also rely on yoga poses to reduce your stress. Yoga is the best physical activity that not only provides you exercise moves but also helps ease your stress. 

Studies show that when you experience moderate or severe UC pain, prefer a low impact exercise and yoga belongs to low impact exercise. It has gentle movements that not only improve your joint flexibility and build muscles but also reduce stress.

According to a 2018 study, ulcerative colitis was found as a major factor in decreasing the quality of life in a large number of people during recent decades. The researchers performed an analytical experiment where they divide 100 prole in two groups. They made one group perform yoga exercises that lasted for 90 minutes weekly, while the participants of the other group were made to follow just self-care measures like medications and dietary changes. After one month the results showed that the group of people performing yoga had shown a great improvement in their life quality. They were also reported with lower disease activity than the other self-care group.

So it is concluded that yoga is effective and safe for all groups of people. Especially for those who want to manage UC symptoms without going through resistance training or other hard exercises. But the only thing that makes yoga a risky step is repetitive poses can cause overstretching and strain on your joints leading to severe injury. So it is good to talk with a qualified yoga trainer or join a gym as a yoga beginner before getting started. It will help you learn different yoga poses with proper care and lowest risk of injury.

Swimming

The last option for exercises for Ulcerative Colitis is swimming. This is a low impact exercise that helps maintain a moderate weight, strengthen your muscles and build endurance. Whenever you think of starting swimming as the best exercise for Ulcerative colitis, start slowly with 10 minutes laps of easy swimming. After 3 to 4 weeks of regular practice, add more time each week. Always prefer an intensity that never aggravates your symptoms of UC.

Benefits of Exercises for Ulcerative Colitis

If you’re experiencing ulcerative colitis symptoms, you can get help from exercises. Exercise is good to prevent some common problems related to UC. you can feel better after incorporating certain exercise to your workout routine. Contact your healthcare provider and fitness trainer to know what excuse can boost your health and help manage UC symptoms. Studies suggest, the more you engage yourself in physical activity while experiencing UC symptoms, the more you feel better mentally and physically. Exercise makes it easy for you to bear UC symptoms. 

In addition, anti-inflammatory effects of exercise help reduce uncontrolled inflammation in your digestive tract that may trigger ulceration. Regular exercise helps improve UC symptoms. 

Moreover, exercise is also effective for reducing risk of colon cancer and complications related to ulcerative colitis. Physical activity stimulates your intestinal contractions and helps food pass through the alimentary canal more easily leading to reduction in gastrointestinal exposure to carcinogens.

More advantages of exercises for ulcerative colitis include:

Strengthen Your Bones

Ulcerative colitis causes weakening of bones. Inflammatory bowel diseases including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis cause lower bone density. Studies found that 40 to 60% patients of UC are found with weak bones. The UC itself causes production of a specific protein called cytokines that changes the response of your body about breaking down old bones and creation of new ones. This is the inflammatory effect of UC. The condition also causes production of corticosteroids that causes weakness in bones leading to osteoporosis. 

In such a situation, exercises can help in making your tissues strong and alive. Weight-bearing exercises are considered good for UC symptoms management. Exercise helps you work against gravity and strengthen your bones. In spite of using weights, you may dance, climb stairs, or walk to make your bones strong.

Fast Recovery from Surgery

People sometimes recommend surgery to treat their ulcerative colitis. After surgery, taking regular exercise can help you in fast recovery. Exercise increases your muscular strength, helps keep your lungs clear, prevent blood clotting and makes your blood flow smooth. 

After surgery, when you get permission from your doctor to get back to your workout routine, start with moderate exercise. If you exercise, you can start as soon as you want. Initially, start slowly and keep it limited to 20 to 30 minutes for a week. 

Avoid hard work soon after surgery and prefer just sit-ups, slow walking, going up and down the stairs. 

Keep Your Joints and Muscles Active

Some weight-bearing exercises help your muscles and joints to be active. Aerobic and cardio workouts improve your heartbeat. Exercises are also effective for patients as they help build muscles and strengthen joints. If you feel pain after these workouts, go to low-impact exercises such as cycling and swimming.

Lowering Stress

Stress is not the original cause of ulcerative colitis but stress makes the symptoms worsen. Physically active people gain power to reduce their stress league to improvements in symptoms of UC. 

Lifting Your Mood

Spending a long time while having UC symptoms, affects your life emotionally. You may become down emotionally and feel low self-esteem. But exercise can help boost your mood by increasing the production of endorphins. The endorphin (feel happy) hormone is actually a natural pain reliever produced in your body. It lifts your mood and creates lively sensations in your body. Exercise helps boost its production. Dancing, brisk-wailing and working out in the gym are the best exercises for lifting your mood.

Conclusion

If you’re experiencing ulcerative colitis symptoms, exercise is not easy for you. UC symptoms make it hard for you to move during flare-up. But the increase in mobility and physical activity is the effective way to treat the condition. Exercise helps decrease the inflammation and makes you feel better even with worse symptoms. 

The severity of your symptoms and your tolerance level help decide what type of exercise is best for you. Speaking with your doctor and fitness trainer is essential before starting exercises for ulcerative colitis. Try to avoid hard exercise at the beginning. Always offer a low intensity excuse if you’re a beginner. If you feel that particular exercise is triggering your symptoms, switch to another workout according to your doctor’s suggestion that may help reduce the severity of symptoms.