Massage of the abdomen usually is very beneficial in treating constipation. It acts by stimulating the muscles and should be given at set times in the day but never until two hours after any meal. The various vibrators act in the same manner as massage. In any massage of the abdomen the thighs should be flexed, as this relaxes the abdominal muscles.
Enemas or injections of warm water may be taken occasionally and then are beneficial, but if long continued are injurious by reason of their irritating effect. At times, when the stomach and intestines have been over-loaded with irritating material, an enema is one of the quickest measures for relief. In obstinate constipation two or three ounces of warm olive oil injected slowly into the rectum at night and allowed to remain until morning will soften the waste material so it can be evacuated easily in the morning.
Constipation never should be neglected as it carries in its train a long line of disorders, as hemorrhoids (piles), abscesses, and intestinal obstruction.
Indigestion and constipation frequently are bosom friends. How often indigestion is a result of nervous strain is perhaps seldom realized. A business man eats his lunch and other meals in a hurry, with his mind on his business. His energies are being consumed by his brain and very little is left to be used in the digestion of his food. One never should eat when tired and nervous. Take a few moments' absolute rest before meals. If possible lie down and relax all muscles for a few moments. Then eat your meal slowly and if possible have some pleasant companion who will talk with you on subjects not connected with your business cares. You will be surprised to note the improvement in your digestion and incidentally in your tendency to constipation.
For the noon meal, office workers should eat only light and easily digested food. Eat your heaviest meal after the work for the day is finished and the blood which has been required by the brain can be spared to the stomach. People doing manual labor that requires physical strength need, and can digest, a heavy noonday meal but the requirements of the brain workers are quite different.
Many girls break down on account of lack of sufficient nourishment. Coffee and rolls for breakfast, ice cream and rolls for lunch and a sandwich and coffee for dinner is not sufficient food for any working girl. And yet that is about the diet of hundreds of girls. Often it is impossible for her to provide more, for when a girl must pay for her board, room, clothes and laundry from her salary of five or six dollars a week, sufficient food becomes an impossibility. Many girls actually are slowly starving on this account. When the wheels of progress make it possible for every working girl to have a comfortable home and sufficient nourishing food many of the social problems will right themselves.