You’re bloated and backed up, and you find the thought of having to go to the toilet is making you feel anxious. You don’t want to strain, but you also don’t have time to sit around waiting either… Besides, that might not be good for you anyway.

Constipation is more common than you might think.

Of course there are those bad diet and lifestyle choices you might make, but it can also be brought on by stress (so the anxiety about your situation won’t be helping), medication or a medical condition.

If the ‘old faithful’ remedies of prunes and fibre aren’t working for you, never fear – these six tips are said to give you the relief you have been hoping for, regardless of whether your situation is straight forward or a little more complicated.

Lemon fresh

• 1 fresh lemon
• 1 cup of warm water

Squeeze the juice of one lemon into 1 cup of warm water. Drink or sip until finished completely. This combo helps you get the fluids you need to get everything moving again. It’s a great way to flush toxins from your body.

Oil… it gets more than motors running

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of lemon juice

In the morning consume the tablespoon of olive oil (it works best on your empty stomach). You can mix it with a little bit of lemon juice to lighten the flavour (and the lemon juice also acts as a natural aid for constipation).

Get moving

If your lifestyle involves more sitting and less being active your chances of constipation are higher. While there’s no exact reason for why a lack of exercise is linked with getting backed up, it’s safe to assume that by moving the body you will be helping that muscle in your colon get moving too.

The beauty of baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup warm water

Mix a teaspoon of baking soda with 1/4 cup of warm water. Drink all of the mixture. The quicker you drink this one the better it seems to work.

Coffee is your friend

Coffee not only has the ability to perk you up, it can also help clean you out. The caffeine is a natural stimulant for the digestive system. One to two cups of coffee in the morning is fine, but anything more than that and you might be overdoing it and this can yield the opposite effect.

Molasses

• 1 teaspoon of blackstrap molasses
• tea (optional)

Take the teaspoon of syrup or molasses. If you don’t like the flavour — it’s a thick, dark and strong flavoured syrup extracted from mature sugar cane — you can add it to a cup of tea to dilute.

Do you have any tips for relieving constipation? What other health remedies would you be interested in?