Ajirna

What’s Causing Your Indigestion?

Ajirna means indigestion, or the inability to properly digest, assimilate and eliminate food. Symptoms under Ajirna include bloating, excessive gas, belching, heartburn, irritable bowel, constipation, loose motions, and other unpleasant manifestations. According to Ayurveda, Ajirna results from many contributing dietary and lifestyle factors that compromise the strength of Agni, the digestive fire, and hinder its function. Here are some of the causative factors for improper digestion and what we should be doing instead:

– Eating an unwholesome diet

An unwholesome diet is built on consuming overly processed foods, fast-food, junk food, bad food combinations, and foods that aren’t suitable for your current state of health and constitutional requirements or aren’t seasonal.

Focus on eating wholesome foods that are fresh, home-cooked, and seasonal while considering your current constitutional needs (dosha) and correct food combinations.

– Excessive drinking during and after meals

Drinking water or other liquids with and after meals dilutes stomach acids and weakens digestion. The food should be moist enough for us not to require excessive hydration while or after eating.

Focus on taking a few sips of water before your meal, and make sure your food is not overly dry, spicy, or salty. Wait for 30-40 minutes after your meal to drink.

– Irregular eating

Random eating habits confuse the system and cause irregularity in the secretion of digestive enzymes and blood sugar levels. Snacking, grazing, skipping meals, eating late at night, not having a regular eating schedule, and overeating or under-eating are all harmful to digestion.

Focus on regular meal timings, avoid snacking between meals, don’t overeat, and make lunch your biggest meal and dinner your smallest. Try to finish eating before sunset.

– Suppression of natural urges

Delaying or ignoring the urge to pass stools, release gas, burp, or urinate blocks the channels and provoke the accumulation of Ama, or bodily toxins, which is considered the root cause of all diseases in Ayurveda.

Focus on eliminating every day, preferably in the morning, and make sure you don’t suppress natural urges.

– Bad sleeping patterns

A scattered sleep routine irrupts the biological clock of the bodily systems, including digestion. The Ayurvedic circadian rhythm considers when and when not to eat and the best time to eliminate. By following a regular eating and sleeping schedule, all bodily functions get regulated.

Focus on being in bed by 10 PM, waking up with the sunrise, and passing stools in the morning to ensure a clean system and proper digestion.

– Dehydration

Not hydrating enough may decrease saliva production in the mouth, which is the first stage of digestion. Dehydration may also cause dryness in the colon, constipation, difficulty eliminating, and bloating.

Focus on drinking small sips of warm water throughout the day, and avoid iced or cold liquids to ensure the body is absorbing water properly. Eating water-rich fruits and vegetables and avoiding dry and crunchy foods helps too.

– Emotional disturbances

Ayurveda recommends avoiding eating when feeling anxious, sad, depressed, angry, or stressed. When your nervous system is hyped, digestion is compromised.

Focus on taking a few deep breaths before your meal to ensure the nervous system is calm, relaxed, and ready to digest.

– Not chewing enough

Eating fast and swallowing big mouthfuls of food puts much strain on digestion. Chewing masticates the food and coats it with saliva and moisture. Saliva contains beneficial bacteria and enzymes that help the body efficiently break down food and extract nutrients.

Focus on chewing more and talking less while eating. Eat slowly and mindfully.