Bloating is a common symptom that can affect anyone, regardless of age or sex. While bloating is not a medical emergency, it can cause abdominal discomfort and prompt you to search for relief options.
Fortunately, there are several methods that you can employ to help debloat your stomach safely and effectively. In this guide, we break down common causes and provide practical guidelines on how to debloat your stomach.
What is Bloating?
Abdominal bloating is a feeling of fullness or building pressure in your abdomen. In some cases, patients describe a sensation of an inflated balloon trapped in their stomach.
A bloated stomach occurs due to the trapped contents building in your stomach, stretching your digestive system’s muscles. Additionally, bloating may emerge if your stomach muscles weaken, slowing your digestive process and causing contents to pool.
In sum, the build-up of stomach contents such as gas, food and water can promote the symptoms of feeling overly full or building pressure.
Some other common symptoms of bloating include:
- Sharp pains that can change in intensity and location
- Gassiness and flatulence
- Burping
- Stomach rumbling
What Does Stomach Bloat Look Like?
Despite common belief, bloating does not always involve distention, which is the visible enlargement of your abdomen. Therefore, you can still experience bloating without the symptom of an enlarged stomach.
It is important to note that distention and bloating are different, requiring dissimilar treatments.
As a result, you must assess your symptoms first to determine if you are feeling bloated or experiencing distention before seeking treatment.
What is the Difference Between Bloating and Distention?
In sum, bloating is a feeling of fullness or stomach swelling, whereas distention involves the physical growth of your stomach girth.
Where bloating occurs due to a stretching or weakening of the muscles in your digestive system, distention is commonly triggered by overeating or excess fluid in the stomach.
If you find that your stomach swelling persists or worsens over time, or you have bloody or tarry stools, we recommend consulting a medical professional as soon as possible.
Bloating Causes
Several causes can lead to your stomach muscles stretching or weakening, which consequently results in abdominal bloating. One of the most common causes of abdominal bloating is excess gas production, typically triggered by a change in diet or a shift in healthy bacteria in your gut.
Swallowing excessive amounts of air, talking while eating and drinking carbonated drinks can also lead to trapped gas pooling in the stomach, which stretches the muscles in the digestive tract and causes bloating. Certain medications, such as multivitamins, supplements, antacids or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), have also been linked with bloating.
There are also various conditions that impact the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, which contributes to frequent feelings of a bloated belly.
Such conditions include:
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
- Food intolerances or allergies, such as coeliac disease or lactose intolerant
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
- Hormonal changes during menstruation or menopause
- Stress
- Diet
- Constipation
- Dehydration
What Foods Cause Bloating?
Your diet is a major factor that could be contributing to your belly bloat. Certain foods are linked to causing digestive issues and producing excessive gas in the stomach, all of which cause a bloated feeling.
Such food types include:
- Salty foods: Excess sodium can in salty and processed foods influences your body to increase water retention to counter dehydration, causing you to feel bloated.
- Fibre-rich foods: Whole grains, beans, and lentils can cause excess gas production, leading to bloating.
- High FODMAP foods: Garlic, onions, wheat and other similar carbohydrates can inflame the GI tract and result in bloating, especially for those with IBS.
- Certain fruits: Apples, pears, and mangos are high in fructose can cause gassiness and contribute to bloating.
- Sugar alcohols: Any sweetener in sugar-free foods or chewing gum can lead to poor digestion and cause bloating.
If you believe these specific foods contribute to your bloating feeling, an appropriate first step would be to change your eating habits and eliminate them from your diet.
How to Treat Bloating
Although an uncomfortable feeling for many, there are various accessible remedies and treatments to help reduce bloating.
These include:
- Hydration
- Exercise
- Massage and Stretching
- Epsom Salt Bath
- Diet
How Long Does it Take to Debloat?
The time it takes to debloat depends on the exact cause of your abdominal discomfort. For instance, if you believe that slow digestion is the cause behind your bloating, you can expect relief from symptoms within 2 hours of your last meal.
However, as a general guideline, you should debloat within the day as your body digests the stomach contents.
Below, we provide more information on debloating methods and detail how to utilise them for relief.
1. Hydration
Your body needs a significant amount of water daily to function correctly. Experts recommend that men consume 2.5 litres of water daily, whereas women should drink at least 2 litres.
If you fail to meet these standards, your body will increase water retention to try and compensate for the lack of fluids. In return, this can increase the likelihood of constipation and bloat.
Therefore, rehydration is key to decreasing water retention and promoting debloating. Rehydrating will also help flush out any excess sodium, which is also known to increase the likelihood of bloating.
When hydrating, you should sip on lukewarm or hot water. This is because cold water can dilute your digestive enzymes and limit the effectiveness of bloat reduction. You can drink green tea or ginger tea if you don’t like drinking hot water.
2. Exercise
Exercise is a useful technique to increase blood flow to the muscles in your digestive tract. This strengthens your digestive muscles, encouraging the movement of any trapped stomach contents and effectively helping reduce bloat.
When exercising to stimulate healthy digestion, we recommend taking a short walk after eating. Light exercise is preferred to debloat as vigorous physical activity can cause further abdominal discomfort.
3. Massage and Stretching
Like exercise, massaging and stretching your abdomen is an effective way to engage your digestive system to pass any trapped gas and other stomach contents. In return, this will help debloat your stomach and relieve any discomfort you may be feeling.
When massaging, you should apply a slight pressure on your abdomen and gently rub in a circular motion. Start from one side and gradually move to the other, ensuring that you rub between your hip bone and lower rib cage.
Meanwhile, when stretching, we recommend lying flat on your back and pulling one knee at a time towards your chest. This will apply additional pressure to your abdomen and promote the healthy digestion of your stomach contents.
4. Epsom Salt Bath
Often, people who are experiencing ongoing stress can be at risk of feeling bloated. While minimal scientific evidence suggests Epsom salts help relieve bloating, patients find that soaking in a bath can help.
Soaking in a warm bath filled with Epsom salts may provide relief if you believe your bloating results from stress. This is because the muscle relaxants such as magnesium and sulphur can soak through the skin, helping relax your body.
Theoretically, this can also relax your stomach muscles, helping promote a healthy digestive system and effectively debloat.
5. Diet
As previously stated, you should avoid foods rich in fibre or with too much salt, as these are known to trigger bloating. Additionally, you may have a food intolerance if you find yourself bloated after consuming particular foods, such as dairy products.
There are also various foods that you can consume to help debloat. In particular, consuming raw foods that contain enzymes is a great way to help stimulate your digestive system and help break down your stomach contents.
Such foods include:
- Potassium-rich foods: This helps reduce water retention in the body, helping remove excess sodium and debloat. High-potassium foods include avocados, bananas, kiwis or pistachios.
- Foods high in water: Eating foods with a concentration of water aids with gradual rehydration and debloating. Such foods include cucumbers, lettuce or celery.
- Probiotics: These help boost healthy gut bacteria, promoting healthy digesting and limiting the risk of bloating. Foods can include kefir or greek yoghurt.
How to Debloat Overnight
Nighttime bloating can be frustrating for many people, as they experience abdominal discomfort that can disrupt their sleep patterns. Fortunately, there are a few methods that you can follow before going to bed to help you debloat overnight.
Such methods can include:
- Allow 2 hours between your last meal and going to bed for healthy digestion.
- Go for a post-dinner walk to stimulate digestive muscles.
- Eat a potassium-rich snack as your last meal.
- Eat dinner slowly in an upright position to ensure proper digestion.
- Massaging your stomach for 2 to 3 minutes before bed can help pass any trapped gas in your digestive tract.
If you find yourself constantly bloated before going to bed, we recommend seeking medical attention, as an underlying health condition may influence your digestion.
What to Avoid When Debloating
Although there are several useful methods to help your body debloat, there are some treatments that we recommend avoiding. This can include any supplement, drink, or over-the-counter medication advertised as a detox.
Additionally, avoiding processed foods and gluten or dairy products would be best when trying to debloat. As previously explained, these foods are known to cause bloating and could create further discomfort for your digestive system.
When to Seek Medical Assistance
While in most cases bloating is not a major cause for medical concern, persistent and recurrent symptoms may indicate underlying health conditions.
Additionally, you should also contact your local General Practitioner if you’re experiencing any of the following symptoms alongside your bloating:
- Changes in the frequency, colour or consistency of your stool (for example, diarrhoea)
- Bloody or darkened stools
- Rapid weight loss
- Little to no appetite
- Rising temperature and fever
- Heartburn
- Vomiting
- Persistent severe pain in your abdomen
While not related directly to your gut health, chronic kidney disease is another common cause for bad breath. The kidneys’ main responsibility is to process any waste or toxins in your blood.
When your kidneys stop functioning, it decreases your body’s ability to expel waste and causes a toxin build-up.
A common symptom of excessive toxins in the body is a fishy smell on your breath. This is known as ammonia breath.
Assessing the symptoms of kidney disease is a difficult task, as most patients often exhibit little to no signs. However, some general symptoms include:
- High blood pressure
- Excessive fatigue
- Loss of appetite and weight
If you have noticed a fishy odour on your breath, you should consider consulting a doctor for a physical examination. A healthcare professional may recommend a blood test to measure your toxin levels.
How the Centre for Gastrointestinal Health Can Help
If you believe that your bloating results from an underlying gastrointestinal condition, we recommend consulting your General Practitioner for a referral to the Centre of Gastrointestinal Health.
Our clinic offers a range of gastrointestinal conditions, including colonoscopies as well as endoscopies, to ensure the correct diagnosis and treatment for your bloating.
The clinic team consists of several expert gastroenterologists and dieticians who specialise in various conditions that could be causing your persistent bloating.
For more information on our services and how we can help, contact us today by calling 1300 580 239 or book online here.