Why Those with Hernias Should Avoid Smoking and Drinking

Understanding how hernias function in your body, and what can bother them, is key to both treatment and prevention. However, other harmful lifestyle choices and habits can massively play into the hernia factor. Especially when it comes to smoking and drinking, the negative side effects can prepare your body to be incredibly susceptible to developing a recurring, painful hernia. To help you avoid this pitfall, and stay on a path toward a hernia-free life, here are reasons why those with hernias should avoid smoking and drinking:

 

Both Smoking and Drinking WIll Lead to Hernia Irritation

Hernias are caused by straining in most cases, and this straining can occur for many different reasons. These reasons can vary wildly and are often directly connected to your lifestyle choices and hobbies, so being aware of them is critically important to your health. Lifting, coughing, urination, and constipation are some of the most common activities that will irritate your hernia. However, two specific activities will massively bother your hernia: smoking and drinking.

In addition to irritation, those who smoke regularly or drink heavily are more likely to develop a hernia in the first place. Nicotine weakens the abdominal wall, and it can cause smokers to have a four times more likely chance of a recurrent hernia. Drinkers are in a similar situation, as alcohol has negative effects on your gastrointestinal tract, stomach, and immune system. To avoid situations where you are putting your body under immense strain, which can lead to many other serious, even life-threatening problems outside of just hernias, you must avoid excessive drinking and frequent smoking habits. Both are a surefire recipe for a hernia-related disaster.

 

Keeping Your Lifestyle Hernia-Friendly is Difficult While Addicted

Addiction has many negative consequences that can worsen your lifestyle habits and overall physical and mental health. Those who are regularly consuming nicotine or alcohol are prone to poor choices and are less likely to be addressing their body’s needs. The combination of these issues will make those living with hernias experience otherwise-avoidable pain, and give those that are still hernia-free a much higher chance of developing one.

Keeping a healthy body weight while being addicted to alcohol is particularly dangerous in terms of developing (or worsening) a hernia. You want to keep your body in a state where it can fight off negative developments, and the health problems that come along with alcoholism will make this a tall order to fill.

Addiction can be difficult to overcome, but with the right support group and planning, you’ll find yourself leading a healthier, more fulfilling lifestyle in no time. There’s no better day than today to make this positive change in your life (and you’ll be saving yourself from a potential hernia in the future as well).

 

Understanding What You Need to Do is Key

Keeping your hernia under control is one of the most important factors in treatment, and knowing how to live a lifestyle that makes it difficult to develop hernias is crucial as well. Getting regular exercise, eating plenty of fiber-rich foods, and maintaining a healthy body weight are just a few of the important steps you’ll need to take to stay healthy.

Suppressing activities like coughing or sneezing becomes incredibly important as well. These actions will severely pressure your abdominal wall and irritate your hernia. Smoking and drinking are both able to cause severe, frequent coughing fits, so this becomes another reason you should be aiming to limit (or fully eliminate) these harmful products from your day-to-day life. Your lungs and heart will thank you, and your body may even reward you by more effectively fighting off the conditions that can lead to hernia development and irritation.

Thankfully, there is more information out there to help you lead an active, physical lifestyle, and plenty of support for any mental health issues you may be going through. Taking advantage of these valuable, accessible resources will be key on your journey toward treating or preventing hernias in your future. It’s your life, and you have the power to make it a healthy, fulfilling and relatively pain-free experience (you only get one shot at it after all). If you find yourself being mismanaged by medical professionals as you treat your hernia, seek help from knowledgeable legal professionals at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers.

 

Here’s to a Healthy, Hernia-Free Life

With this information in mind, you’ll more easily triumph over the negative effects drinking and smoking can cause to your body, mind, and lifestyle. Especially for those who’ve had a history of developing hernias, or who have relatives that have seen frequent hernia afflictions, being able to lead a life that will be both preventative and satisfying is critical. Here’s to a healthy life in your future, and one that is free from hernia-related pain and trauma.

 

Jessica Alexander

Jessica Alexander

I've always loved to write, but I'd never want to be famous. So, I write as Jessica A. over here at ADDICTED. You can think of my like Carmen Sandiego, you trust me, but where in the world am I?
Featured Health