Travel constipation is when you aren’t able to poop like you normally do when you are away from home. Alterations in your normal routine can affect the speed at which your digestive system works, causing you to become backed up.
Travel-related causes of constipation can include:
- Changes in the size and timing of your meals
- Changes to your internal body clock
- Lack of hydration
- Changes in the foods you eat
- Increased time spent sitting
- Changes in your exercise routine
- Travel-related stress affecting your digestive system
- Lack of immediate bathroom access disrupting bowel movements
- Jet lag effects as your body crosses time zones
With some preparation, you can avoid travel constipation and feel your best wherever your plans take you. Read on for 11 strategies worth trying.
Drink Plenty of Water
One of the biggest contributors to constipation is a state of dehydration. When your body doesn’t have enough fluids, it compensates by drawing water from fecal matter in the intestines. This can contribute to hard, difficult-to-pass stools.
Drink plenty of water
Go when you feel the urge
Stick to a normal schedule
Sit down for meals
Start mornings with a warm beverage
Drink too much caffeine
Sit for long periods
Skip meals or fill up on junk food
Ignore your body’s signals
The presence of harder stools seems to make bowels less responsive and reduces motility, or movement.
When trying to prevent travel constipation, it’s essential to make a conscious effort to drink plenty of fluids.
Milk also has a reputation for causing constipation. Your best beverage choices are plain water, fruit juices, and clear soups.
Try to avoid drinks containing alcohol as well as those containing caffeine, such as coffee, tea, and colas, as all of these can be dehydrating.
When traveling out of the country you must always drink bottled water so as to avoid the opposite problem—travelers’ diarrhea.
When flying, keep in mind that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) rules do not allow you to bring liquids through airport security. Once you are through security, you can buy a large water bottle to drink throughout your flight.
Listen to Your Body
Try to use a bathroom as soon as you feel the need for a bowel movement. Ignoring the urge can lead to travel constipation as the stool material stays in your rectum and gets harder. The harder the stool, the more difficult it is to pass.
If you are uncomfortable using a public facility for a bowel movement, try listening to music through earphones or reading a magazine to help you to relax.
Try not to strain. If you find that sitting on the toilet does not produce a bowel movement within five to 10 minutes, it is best to get up and wait to try again later.
Try to Stay on Schedule
Many people have a sense of an inner clock that determines routine life patterns about hunger, sleep, and bathroom needs.
Keeping your body on a schedule as close to your home life may help your bowels move predictably when you travel.
Whenever possible, try to make sure that there is time for a relaxed bathroom visit when traveling that’s similar to the unpressured experience at home.
To the best of your ability, try to keep to your regular meal schedule and bedtime to keep travel constipation at bay.
Take Time for Meals
Many people who travel eat their meals on the run. The problem is that your digestive system may not register these on-the-go snacks as a meal.
Larger meals can stimulate gut contractions, thus prompting a timely bowel movement. So whenever possible, sit down, slow down, and enjoy a full meal.
Eat a Good Breakfast
For many people, bowel movements are more likely to occur in the morning. You can enhance this natural boost and fend of travel constipation by eating a large breakfast, preferably consuming foods that contain healthy fats.
Large meals and dietary fat intake can both stimulate the release of certain hormones within your body that can trigger the urge for a bowel movement. Staying on track with your morning routine can help you to enjoy your trip for the rest of the day.
Drink Something Warm
Another way to encourage your bowels to empty at the beginning of your day is to drink a warm liquid in the morning. This warm drink could be coffee, tea, or soup.
If you are a coffee drinker, have that morning coffee. There are compounds in coffee, both caffeinated and decaffeinated, that can serve to stimulate a bowel movement.
However, you may want to avoid drinking caffeinated coffee through the rest of the day, as caffeine can be dehydrating. This could lead to excess water being drawn from your stool, which may contribute to travel constipation.
Eat Plenty of Fiber
Dietary fiber is so important to keep your bowels moving consistently so you can avoid travel constipation.
Eating high-fiber foods when traveling can be a bit of a challenge, but with effort and attention, you can find what you need.
Whenever possible, it may help to pack such foods for yourself. Fruits, high-fiber protein bars, trail mixes, cereals, and granolas all travel well.
Good sources of fiber include fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain cereals and breads.
When traveling abroad, you need to be careful about eating raw vegetables, fruits, and salads so as to avoid bacterial infections that can lead to travelers’ diarrhea. It is safer to eat only cooked fruits and vegetables. Fruits that have thick skins you can peel for yourself are also a safe option.
Take a Pass on Junk Food
People tend to eat more junk food while traveling for two reasons: The first is that choices for healthy, whole foods are more limited. The second is the “vacation mindset” that leads people to eat things they might normally avoid or limit.
Junk food typically tends to be low in fiber, which can contribute to the problem of travel constipation. Try to avoid fast food, processed meats, chips, and baked goods.
Instead, look for salads, whole grain options like oatmeal, and lean meats. Yogurt is an especially good choice as it contains some probiotics that may boost your digestive system function.
Move Your Body
Travel often requires a lot of time sitting, whether that be in the car, on trains, in airports, or on airplanes. Moving your body can help your digestive system to keep moving as well.
While waiting for your plane, you can walk the perimeter of the airport. If traveling by car, try to plan for road stops so that you can stretch your body and perhaps do a little walking.
While away, take advantage of hotel pools and gyms to keep up your exercise routine.
Stay Relaxed
Travel itself can be stressful. Try to follow the rule that “the journey is part of the vacation.” Be prepared for delays, traffic, and other hassles. Make sure that you bring along favorite reading materials, books on tape, music, or game apps.
It may help to use relaxation exercises such as deep breathing techniques, yoga poses, meditation, and muscle relaxation to deal with travel stress.
Keeping your body in a state of relaxation, as opposed to its stress response changes, will help to keep your digestive system functioning as it should.
Talk to Your Healthcare Provider
If you know that you are likely to have bowel habit changes when traveling, speak with your healthcare provider before you go. They may recommend travel constipation medicine, such as a laxative or other product to take with you should you become constipated.
Either way, choose a product based on your healthcare provider’s recommendation. It’s a smart option when compared with limited or unfamiliar options in a strange or remote destination.
A Word From Verywell
Constipation is typically defined as experiencing less than three bowel movements in a week, or needing to strain because of small, hard stools that are difficult to pass.
Most of the time, it will resolve on its own—especially once you get back to your normal habits. If not, see your doctor when you get home.
If you experience constipation with rectal bleeding or abdominal pain, seek immediate medical care.
