Bloating is very common, and we know it can be uncomfortable. Luckily, you can take steps to get rid of it now and reduce it in the long term.
For quick relief, move around, drink some water, or try peppermint capsules or tea. Other long-term strategies, like taking probiotics and changing your diet, can keep bloating at bay.
Bloating typically means gas is building up in your gut, making it feel full and tight. It can be painful and make your belly look bigger.
There are many causes, including certain foods and drinks, and how much air you swallow when you eat. Other factors can include digestive issues, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), as well as food intolerances and hormonal fluctuations.
To help relieve bloating quickly, give the strategies below a go.
1. Try peppermint
Peppermint oil contains flavonoids, plant compounds that have anti-inflammatory effects on your digestive tract. This is why it can ease abdominal pain and bloating.
Peppermint oil helps the muscles in the bowel wall relax and is particularly useful for people with IBS.
You can try taking peppermint in capsules, which you can buy from a pharmacy.
You could also try peppermint tea, but studies to date show that capsules work best at relieving gut symptoms, including bloating. This is because they’re more potent – each contains a certain dose of peppermint.
2. Move your body
Bloating is often the result of trapped wind. So, physical activity – even light exercise, like walking – can get your system moving and help you feel better. You might try this alongside other approaches.
A study from 2021 showed that participants who walked for 10–15 minutes after every meal for 4 weeks reported significant improvements in bloating.
Other studies suggest that yoga can help with bloating, constipation and diarrhoea.
3. Relax physically and mentally with a warm bath
Stress can play a role in bloating. Because IBS is a stress-sensitive condition, people with IBS are especially likely to have symptoms like bloating when they’re feeling tense.
Whether or not you have IBS, managing stress may help your digestion.
Taking some time to relax with a hot bath can help you unwind, and the heat could help relieve some symptoms of bloating.
4. Give abdominal massage a try
Constipation can lead to bloating, and it’s very common: around 10–15% of the global population experiences constipation.
A 2021 analysis found that abdominal massage can ease symptoms, such as bloating.
To help move stool along your colon – also known as your large intestine – lie on your back and rub up in a circular motion on the right side of your belly, from your pelvis up toward your ribs.
Then move across to the left side: rub down toward your hip bone, then back up to your belly button. Rub very slowly, in a clockwise motion, and repeat the pattern for about 10 minutes.
For long-term relief, try the following tips.
5. Take probiotics
Probiotics are live microorganisms, like bacteria and yeasts, and if you take the right amounts, they can have health benefits.
You typically find them in supplements, which might be drinks, powders or tablets. Some yoghurts also contain probiotics.
The good bacteria in probiotics could support your gut microbiome – the trillions of bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microorganisms that live in your gut.
A 2018 systematic review found that specific probiotics helped reduce bloating and improved bowel movement frequency and consistency for some people with IBS.
6. Slowly increase fibre
Fruits and vegetables are rich in dietary fibre, an important nutrient. It passes through your gut mostly undigested, and it feeds the naturally occurring probiotics in your stomach, helping support your digestive and overall health.
Eating fibre regularly helps prevent bloating and constipation. But because your gut bacteria produce gas as they digest fibre, adding too much fibre to your diet too quickly can make bloating worse.
It’s important to increase your fibre intake slowly over several weeks so it doesn’t cause more discomfort.
UK guidelines recommend that adults eat 30 grams of fibre a day, but most of us only get around 20 g a day.
You can follow these tips to make sure you’re getting 30 g a day.
7. Drink more water
Water helps keep things moving through your digestive tract.
Carbonated drinks can cause a buildup of gas in your stomach. To reduce bloating, swap fizzy drinks for still water when you can.
To liven it up, try adding citrus, cucumber or berries for extra fibre. You’ll get the benefits of water without any extra sugar, sweeteners and other additives.
8. Limit salty and fatty foods
Foods with lots of salt can be delicious, but they can also increase bloating. Scientists don’t fully understand why salt leads to bloating, but a key factor is that salt increases water retention.
Meanwhile, fat takes longer to digest than protein or carbohydrates. So, fat keeps your stomach fuller for longer, increasing the risk of bloating.
It’s important to enjoy what you eat – it’s OK to eat salty and fatty foods from time to time.
But increasing your fibre intake, which we suggest above, may be an opportunity for you to cut down on salty and fatty foods, and reduce bloating further.
9. Explore an elimination diet
If the tips above don’t ease your bloating, you could try an elimination diet. It involves cutting out certain foods (or types of foods) for a given period to see if this reduces your symptoms.
But before you start, speak with a doctor or registered dietitian.
Food intolerances affect up to 20% of the global population and could cause bloating. With the help of a doctor or registered dietitian, you could try an elimination diet to see if you have any food intolerances.
In this case, you remove foods that people often have intolerances to, then reintroduce the foods over about 6 weeks. You record how you feel as you go.
Another option may be a low-FODMAP diet. FODMAPs are short-chain carbohydrates that the small intestine absorbs poorly.
Many guidelines, including those from the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), suggest that this diet can improve symptoms of IBS, including bloating.
A low-FODMAP diet can be challenging. But it can improve symptoms for about 50–80% of people who follow the instructions closely under the guidance of a specially trained healthcare professional. This is usually a specialist gastroenterology dietitian.
Avoiding high-FODMAP foods could ease gut problems for some people. Examples of these foods include:
- some vegetables, like garlic, artichokes, asparagus and onions
- certain fruits, like apples, pears, mangoes, cherries and plums
- some dairy products, like cow’s milk, mozzarella and cottage cheese
- certain whole grains, like wheat and rye
- some nuts, like cashews and pistachios
- legumes, like chickpeas, lentils, peas and beans
- some other foods, like honey and mushrooms
You could also try keeping a food and symptom diary – record what you eat and any symptoms – to see if patterns emerge.
10. Explore possible medical conditions
In some cases, bloating is a symptom of an underlying medical condition, so it could be something to explore with your doctor.
Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are both types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). They can cause stomach pain or bloating, diarrhoea, blood in your stool, weight loss and fatigue.
IBS is different from IBD, but some symptoms can be similar. If you have diarrhoea that lasts longer than 7 days or any other persistent symptoms, see your GP.
Gynaecological conditions, like endometriosis and ovarian cysts, can also cause lower stomach pain.
If you have any symptoms that concern you, speak with your doctor, who may be able to identify or rule out these medical conditions.
Reasons for bloating
It’s important to remember that bloating is very common – everyday activities like overeating, eating too quickly, chewing gum and smoking cause you to swallow air and can lead to bloating.
Certain foods and food intolerances can create excess gas in the digestive tract and cause bloating, too.
Dysbiosis, an imbalance in the population of microbes living in your microbiome, can also cause bloating. So can common health conditions, like IBS, coeliac disease and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, known as GORD.
Finally, hormone changes are a common culprit. Increases and decreases in oestrogen and progesterone across your menstrual cycle or during perimenopause cause your body to retain water, which can make you feel bloated.
Summary
Bloating is very common. In fact, 18% of the global population experience it at least once a week. It can be uncomfortable, making your gut feel full and tight.
Quick strategies, like taking peppermint capsules, getting some exercise and reducing immediate stress can often resolve it.
For long-term relief, lifestyle changes can help, including trying probiotics, gradually increasing your fibre intake, drinking more water, and limiting salty and fatty foods.
Sometimes persistent bloating stems from medical conditions, such as IBS, IBD and food intolerances. Your doctor can help rule these out. They might suggest an elimination diet to identify specific triggers.
If your bloating lasts or you have other symptoms, see your doctor so they can test for underlying conditions, which can also include endometriosis and Crohn’s disease.
To learn more about bloating and other gut health topics, visit Symprove’s Gut Hub.
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