When you take a bite of food, your digestive system immediately gets to work, breaking it down to be absorbed into your bloodstream and put to use. Typically, this entire process happens without you having to give it a second thought, but when digestion is slow, it can be very noticeable.
Slow digestion can be a sign of an unbalanced gut microbiome, which can leave you feeling bloated, gassy and uncomfortable. A balanced, healthy gut is vital for nutrient absorption and immune function and supports mood and brain health. There are many reasons why your digestion might be slow, and knowing the root cause can help you make changes or seek medical care that can ease discomfort and improve your health.
What is a slow digestive system?
The scientific term for a slow digestive system is gastroparesis (delayed gastric emptying)—a disorder that slows or stops food from moving from the stomach to the small intestine without any kind of blockage causing it. Full gastroparesis is prevalent in about 10 men and 40 women out of every 100,000 people in the U.S., but many more, around 1,752 per 100,000, experience similar symptoms.
Normally, food is sent through your digestive tract by muscular contractions in your stomach, but when digestion is slow, this ability is diminished or barely works at all, so stomach contents aren’t emptied properly. When your stomach contents don’t empty fast enough, it can cause upper gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and feeling full quickly during meals and for a long time after eating.
There are three levels of severity for delayed gastric emptying:
Mild: Stomach empties slowly but doesn’t cause many noticeable symptoms that impact your daily life.
Moderate: Slower stomach emptying that causes discomfort and noticeable symptoms that can affect your appetite.
Severe: The stomach empties even slower, causing a lot of pain, nausea and discomfort that can lead to nutritional deficiencies and weight loss and make daily life very challenging.
Symptoms of slow digestion
Your symptoms will differ depending on how slow your digestive system is and your lifestyle and diet. Here are some common symptoms:
- feeling full soon after starting a meal
- feeling full long after eating a meal
- nausea
- vomiting
- too much bloating
- too much belching
- pain in your upper abdomen
- heartburn
- poor appetite
What causes slow digestion
Diabetes is the most common cause of gastroparesis, but it can also be due to autoimmune and nervous system disorders, infections, certain medications and post-surgical complications. Sometimes, though, you can have slow digestion without a clear cause.
Vagus nerve damage
If you have diabetes that’s not well controlled, high blood sugar levels can damage the vagus nerve, which is a long nerve running from the brain to your abdomen that helps control the muscles involved in stomach emptying. Surgery, infections and other medical conditions can also damage the vagus nerve. When it’s damaged, the vagus nerve can’t adequately send the signals to your digestive system muscles telling them to contract, which causes slow digestion.
Medications
Opioids, certain anti-depressants, weight loss drugs and some high blood pressure medications can slow digestion as a side effect of how they interact with digestion-related muscles or nerves. If you frequently use stimulant laxatives, you could be causing your body to become dependent on them and weaken your body’s natural ability to move food along through your digestive tract.
Neurological and autoimmune disorders
Conditions like Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis that affect the nervous system also affect the nerves that control how food moves through your digestive tract. Autoimmune diseases can cause the body to attack its own tissues, including digestive tract nerves and muscles, slowing digestion.
Risks of slow digestion
The impact of slow digestion on your health depends on the severity and length of time you’ve experienced. Your lifestyle habits, including nutrition, can also play a role in managing how much slow digestion can affect your health and cause discomfort.
When it’s unmanaged, you might end up with nutrient deficiencies from poor appetite or vomiting. It can also affect your blood sugar levels, so it’s especially crucial you talk to your doctor about slow digestion if you have diabetes. If food stays undigested for long enough that it hardens and forms a solid mass (bezoar formation), more complications can arise. And, of course, quality of life is at risk when you feel bloated, gassy and nauseous.
How your lifestyle can cause slow digestion
If you don’t have a clear medical reason for symptoms of slow digestion, it’s worth taking a look at your lifestyle.
Your diet plays a role in your digestive health and speed. For one, it’s important to get enough prebiotic fibers. These fibers help feed and grow the good bacteria levels in your gut, which support healthy digestion. Adding fiber-rich foods like beans, peas, lentils, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and seaweed can help digestion and bowel movements. Just be careful to monitor potential side effects like gas or worsening IBS symptoms if you have a sensitive gut. Likewise, certain probiotic strains can help maintain the balance of gut flora. Eating yogurt, kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut or tempeh will provide good bacteria.
Good digestive enzyme production is another benefit of centering your diet around nutritious whole foods like beans, grains, fruits, veggies and probiotic-rich foods. Eating a lot of processed foods and refined carbs can overwork your pancreas and cause inflammation that gets in the way of its crucial job of producing the enzymes that break down your food.
Stress is another overlooked factor that can make a big difference in how your digestion works due to something called the gut-brain axis. Being sure to exercise, practicing mindfulness and deep breathing, and getting quality sleep will all help you tolerate stress by supporting your vagus nerve and enzyme production.
Adding a supplement can also support a healthy gut. Look for a supplement that contains prebiotics, probiotics, enzymes and other gut-supporting ingredients, such as Codeage Fermented Digestive Enzymes with Probiotics & Prebiotics, Codeage Gut Health Formula, or Codeage Multi Collagen + Gut Blend Supplement with Digestive Probiotics. Always speak to your doctor before trying a supplement, especially if you have ongoing symptoms or another medical condition that can impact your gut health.
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