Walking While Carrying Weights in Both Hands Is a Good Way to Relieve Bloating, Stomach Pain and Constipation Caused by Gastrointestinal Disease

Probably for genetic reasons (my mother had gastric ulcer that developed into gastric cancer), my gastrointestinal system has always been poor; peptic ulcers often occur in the mouth, esophagus, stomach and duodenum. This year, due to fatigue, staying up late and careless summer eating—overindulgence in raw and cold foods—I have had stomach pain, gastric bloating and constipation for nearly half a year; various Chinese and Western medicines worked slowly. Exercise did not seem to help much either. Later I tried the method of walking while carrying weights in both hands, and the effect was very good—far superior to taking Chinese and Western medicines.

The method is: carry roughly equal weights in the left and right hands, adjusted to each person's strength. I chose about 5 kg in each hand and walked briskly; the speed and distance of the weighted walk are also adjusted to each person's condition, walking until the bowels move freely. One should not over-exercise: diseases such as gastritis and gastric ulcer are themselves strongly related to overwork; over-exercise that causes fatigue may instead worsen the condition. After exercising for a while, as strength improves, the amount of exercise can be increased gradually.

While using this method for fitness, one should also ensure enough sleep—go to bed as early as possible before ten at night, rise at five or six in the morning, and if possible a short midday nap is even better. If one is a patient with gastric or duodenal ulcer, one may simultaneously take some gastric-mucosa-protecting drugs such as licorice zinc to shorten the course.

Whether in TCM or Western medicine, treating gastritis, gastric ulcer or chronic enteritis-induced symptoms such as gastric bloating, stomach pain and abdominal pain, one must consider unblocking the patient's bowels, restoring the normal emptying function of the gastrointestinal tract and lightening its burden. In TCM theory, the stomach and intestines belong to the six fu-organs; they govern conduction and take free passage as the norm. From the modern medicine standpoint, the unblocking and normal emptying of the gastrointestinal tract is mainly brought about by normal intestinal peristalsis. Through personal experience, the author found that walking while carrying weights in both hands is the best bidirectional regulator of gastrointestinal peristalsis. When gastrointestinal motility is insufficient, weighted walking speeds it up; when it is too rapid, weighted walking slows it down.

For ordinary people, ordinary walking already helps maintain gastrointestinal health. But for patients with chronic digestive tract disease, although ordinary walking is not without effect, its health benefit is far less than that of walking with weights in both hands. Walking with weights in both hands is also better than carrying weight in one hand alone or on the back; it comprehensively promotes emptying of the entire digestive system and raises muscle tone throughout the body. It is very beneficial to health and is a fitness and wellness approach of great benefit to patients with gastritis, gastric ulcer and chronic enteritis.