Why Am I Constipated?
Let’s be honest, there could be several reasons. But constipation is one of the most common complaints out there and most people just quietly put up with it. You know the feeling. Days without going, straining for ages, hard stools and that heavy, bloated sense that you never quite finished, not to mention the stomach pain that can come with not going for a few days and how it can cause you to be annoyed with everything and everyone around you.
The thing is, there is rarely just one cause. Not drinking enough water or eating enough fibre plays a part for some people. So does sitting all day. But your gut is also wired straight into your nervous system, so stress, anxiety, poor sleep and constant rushing can hit your bowels hard. Hormones shift things around your period. Travel throws your rhythm out. Medicines like strong painkillers and iron tablets slow everything down. Sometimes it’s the muscles of the pelvic floor that won’t let go. And sometimes it’s something you’d never guess. Recently a member of our team quit smoking and within days found their gut had almost stopped. It turns out this is really common. Nicotine stimulates the muscles of the gut, so when it’s taken away the bowel can slow right down. UK researchers confirmed back in 2003 that stopping smoking can cause constipation. If that’s you, don’t go back to the cigarettes, your gut will find its rhythm again and the protocol below will help it get there.
Step 1: Senna, the Prophetic Remedy to Get Things Moving
When you’re properly stuck, you need something that actually works. That’s where senna comes in. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “Use senna and sannut, for in them is a cure for every disease except death” (Ibn Majah). Senna is the leaf of a desert shrub. Its natural compounds, called sennosides, prompt the muscles of the large intestine to contract and push things along.
And this isn’t just tradition. In a 2021 Japanese trial of 90 people with chronic constipation, 69 percent improved on senna over four weeks compared with just 12 percent on placebo. That’s a huge difference.
Brew senna leaves as a tea in the evening and it usually works by the next morning. Start with a small amount because it can cause cramping if you overdo it. Stay super hydrated throughout the day and do not use this if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding.
You can buy our Organic Senna Leaves here.
Senna Is a Short-Term Fix, Not a Daily Habit
So in saying that, senna is not a long-term remedy. Used day after day it can cause cramping and your bowel can start to lean on it instead of doing the work itself. Use it for a few days to get things moving, then move on to the steps below. These are the habits that retrain your gut to move on its own, so senna remains on the temporary shelf.
Step 2: The Morning Olive Oil Shot
This one is so simple you’ll wonder why you didn’t start sooner. Olive oil coats and softens the stool and gently wakes up a sluggish gut without the cramping. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) prescribed it for us and one of Islam’s greatest scholars Ibn al-Qayyim described it as a gentle laxative seven centuries ago. In a trial published in the Journal of Renal Nutrition, a small daily dose of olive oil worked as well as mineral oil for 50 dialysis patients with constipation, some of the hardest cases there are.
Take it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. There are three ways to have it:
- Plain: one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil on its own.
- With lemon: the same tablespoon with the juice of half a lemon, which makes it so much easier to get down. Follow it with a glass of warm water.
- With cayenne: add a small pinch of cayenne pepper for warmth. Not everyone can handle cayenne first thing in the morning, so leave it out if your stomach is sensitive.
Do it every morning. Consistency is what makes it work.
Step 3: How to Sit on the Toilet for Constipation
Here’s something nobody tells you. For most of history people didn’t sit to empty their bowels. They squatted, as people still do across much of the Muslim and Asian world. Squatting straightens the bend where the rectum meets the anal canal and opens a clear path out. A modern toilet keeps that bend kinked, so you end up straining against your own body.
A small footstool fixes this. In a 2019 study in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, 52 people tried a toilet footstool. Ninety percent strained less, 85 percent felt they emptied more completely and 71 percent were finished faster. Rest both feet on the stool so your knees sit above your hips. Lean forward a little with your elbows on your knees and breathe out slowly instead of holding your breath to push.
Step 4: Pelvic Floor Retraining for Constipation: Clench and Release
If you strain and strain and nothing happens, the problem might not be your gut at all. It might be the muscles at the very end of it. Your pelvic floor is a sling of muscle that holds everything in. To pass a stool it has to relax at the right moment while your belly gently pushes. In some people the timing goes wrong. The muscle tightens when it should let go, so the harder you strain the more firmly the door stays shut. Doctors call this pelvic floor dyssynergia and it sits behind a lot of stubborn constipation.
The good news is you can retrain it. The research on this is honestly remarkable. In a 2006 trial in the journal Gastroenterology, 109 people with severe dyssynergia were given either five sessions of pelvic floor retraining, known as biofeedback, or a standard laxative. Six months later 80 percent of the retraining group reported major improvement compared with only 22 percent on the laxative. A 2007 American trial found the same thing.
You can start at home with a simple clench and release:
- Sit or lie comfortably and breathe slowly into your belly.
- Gently squeeze the muscles you’d use to hold in wind, lifting them inward. Hold for three to five seconds.
- Let go completely. Feel the muscles drop and soften. Hold the release for twice as long as the squeeze.
- Repeat ten times, two or three times a day.
The release is the part that matters most. Kegels build the squeeze, but for constipation the goal is learning to let go on purpose so the muscle relaxes on the toilet instead of fighting you. If it’s been going on for months, a pelvic floor physiotherapist can check whether dyssynergia is the cause and guide you through proper biofeedback.
Step 5: Calm Your Nervous System With a Vagus Nerve Ear Massage
Your gut has its own nervous system that takes orders from your brain. When you’re stressed, your body switches into fight or flight and digestion is one of the first things it shuts down. That’s why so many people get blocked up when life gets busy, when they travel or when they’re anxious. The vagus nerve is the opposite switch. It runs from the brain all the way down to the gut and puts the body into rest and digest mode, the state where your bowels actually want to move.
Here’s the fascinating part. A small branch of the vagus nerve reaches the skin of your outer ear, mostly in the hollow bowl just outside the ear canal and around the little flap in front of it. Researchers have been stimulating this spot to help the gut. In a 2025 trial in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, 40 people with constipation-type IBS were given either gentle electrical stimulation to the ear or a fake version for four weeks. The real stimulation group had more frequent bowel movements, softer stools and less belly pain. A 2023 review of 34 trials with nearly 2,500 people found that pressing on points of the ear, known as auricular acupressure, also improved bowel movements, although the authors noted much of the research was low quality.
Those studies used devices and pressure points, but you can give your vagus nerve a gentle nudge at home with just your fingertips:
- Find the hollow bowl of your ear just outside the ear canal. Gently massage it with your index finger in small circles for about a minute.
- Move to the little flap of cartilage in front of the ear canal. Gently press and roll it between your finger and thumb.
- Gently pull your earlobes down and massage around the outer rim of each ear.
- Breathe slowly the whole time, making each out breath longer than the in breath. Slow breathing works on the vagus nerve too.
Do it in the morning after your olive oil shot or whenever you feel tense.
Honestly, it’s easier to show than tell. If you’re struggling with the instructions above, watch this video and be patient with yourself. All of this needs a good two weeks or so of consistency.
Step 6: Bedtime Belly Massage With Castor Oil or Magnesium Oil
An evening routine sets you up for the morning. Lie down with your knees bent and warm a little oil between your palms. Massage your belly slowly in a clockwise circle, starting low on the right, up under the ribs, across and down the left side. This follows the path your bowel takes. Five to ten minutes is enough.
The massage itself has been tested. In a 2019 trial of older adults with constipation, regular abdominal massage eased their constipation and improved their quality of life compared with no massage.
Castor oil. Castor oil has a long history as a warm pack over the abdomen. Soak a folded cotton cloth in castor oil, lay it over your belly, cover it with a towel and rest a hot water bottle on top for 30 to 60 minutes. In a 2011 study of older adults in rest homes, three days of castor oil packs reduced straining and softened stools.
Magnesium oil. When your nervous system is stressed, your body holds on to tension. The muscles of your belly and pelvic floor can clench right along with it, which is the last thing a blocked gut needs. A magnesium oil massage helps your body release that tension so everything can relax and move. Magnesium is also one of the best studied remedies for constipation when taken by mouth. In the same 2021 Japanese trial that tested senna, magnesium oxide helped 68 percent of people compared with 12 percent on placebo. You can buy our Magnesium Oil 30% Concentrate here.
Step 7: Fibre From the Sunnah: Talbina and Garden Cress
Fibre gives your bowel something to move. Two foods from the prophetic tradition make it easy.
Talbina. Talbina is a soft barley porridge cooked in milk and sweetened with honey. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that talbina soothes the heart of the sick person and takes away some of his grief (al-Bukhari). Barley is rich in soluble fibre, which holds water in the bowel and keeps stools soft.
Garden cress seeds. Garden cress, hab al-rashad, swells into a soft gel when soaked. Stir a teaspoon of the seeds into water or yoghurt and leave it to thicken for gentle, natural bulk.
Sesame seeds. Sesame seeds are packed with fibre and natural oils that help keep things moving. They are also rich in magnesium. Sprinkle a tablespoon over salads, porridge or yoghurt, or stir a spoonful of tahini through your food.
Just make sure you drink plenty of water with any fibre. Fibre without enough water can actually make constipation worse.
When to See a Doctor About Constipation
Most constipation responds to simple changes. But see a doctor promptly if there’s blood in your stool, weight loss you can’t explain, severe or worsening belly pain or a change in your bowel habits that lasts more than a few weeks, especially if you’re over 50.
Your Gut Remembers Its Rhythm
Use senna to get unstuck, then let the daily habits take over. Start the morning with olive oil. Put your feet up on a stool. Teach your pelvic floor to let go. Calm your nervous system. Rub your belly at night and eat your talbina. Give it a couple of weeks and your gut will remember the rhythm it was always meant to have, using the same remedies our tradition handed us long before the pharmacy shelf existed.
Remember to be kind, consistent and patient with yourself. Our bodies hear everything we say.
References
- Sunan Ibn Majah 3457. The narration on senna and sannut.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 5417. The narration of Aishah on talbina.
- Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah. Zad al-Ma’ad, the chapters known as at-Tibb an-Nabawi (Healing with the Medicine of the Prophet).
- Hajek P et al. Stopping smoking can cause constipation. Addiction, 2003.
- Morishita D et al. Senna versus magnesium oxide for the treatment of chronic constipation: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2021.
- Ramos CI et al. The short-term effects of olive oil and flaxseed oil for the treatment of constipation in hemodialysis patients. Journal of Renal Nutrition, 2015.
- Modi RM et al. Implementation of a defecation posture modification device. Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, 2019.
- Chiarioni G et al. Biofeedback is superior to laxatives for normal transit constipation due to pelvic floor dyssynergia. Gastroenterology, 2006.
- Rao SSC et al. Randomized controlled trial of biofeedback, sham feedback and standard therapy for dyssynergic defecation. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2007.
- Randomised sham-controlled trial of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in constipation-predominant IBS. American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2025;120:2139-2153.
- Jiang ZF et al. Auricular acupressure for constipation in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Physiology, 2023.
- Birimoglu Okuyan C and Bilgili N. Effect of abdominal massage on constipation and quality of life in older adults: a randomized controlled trial. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2019.
- Arslan GG and Eşer I. An examination of the effect of castor oil packs on constipation in the elderly. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 2011.
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