'Specific' method to ease IBS when travelling according to nutritionist
For the millions of people living with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), travel can feel less like an adventure and more like a gamble when it comes to taking your IBS abroad. IBS affects around 10% of the global population, with symptoms such as bloating, abdominal cramps, diarrhoea and constipation.
While not dangerous, IBS can severely impact day-to-day life and travel can worsen symptoms. According to research by PrecisionBiotics, 65% of those with IBS say they think about their condition all the time, while 50% of people avoid travel due to their IBS symptoms.
Public Health Nutritionist Dr Emma Derbyshire, advisor to PrecisionBiotics, explained: "Crossing time zones, stress, dehydration, a change in diet and a disruption to routine and sleep can all impact your gut and your gut microbiome, the trillions of bacteria which reside in your gut."
Why does travel make IBS worse?
Dr Derbyshire explained: "First, stress plays a major role. Whether it's airport delays, language barriers, or simply being out of routine, stress and anxiety are well-known IBS triggers. Disrupted routines, including irregular meals, sleep and toilet access can also upset the gut's natural rhythm.
"Add in unfamiliar foods, long flights, dehydration, or the fear of not finding a nearby toilet and it's easy to see why symptoms can spiral. The good news? With the right preparation, travel can be manageable and even enjoyable."
Five ways to help keep IBS in check on the move
Prepare and plan
Dr Derbyshire advised: "Do your homework. Research local food options, nearby pharmacies and toilets at your destination. Apps like Flush or SitOrSquat can help locate restrooms. If flying, request an aisle seat for easier bathroom access."
Maintain your routine
She suggested: "Try to maintain regular mealtimes and sleep patterns, even when changing time zones. Pack safe snacks that you are familiar with to avoid relying on unfamiliar menus."
Assemble a gut-friendly travel kit
Dr Derbyshire recommended: "Include medications or supplements you normally use – from anti-diarrhoeals and laxatives to probiotics or peppermint oil capsules. Carry extra clothes, wipes and hand sanitiser.
"Take a proven targeted probiotic formulation to help with your IBS, but it's important to look to specific strains and here I would recommend Bifidobacterium longum strain 35624 – which is in PrecisionBiotics Alflorex Original. This is a rigorously studied probiotics species – recognised by the World Gastroenterology Organisation as the most effective probiotic for the relief of IBS.
"A clinical trial at the University of Manchester showed that a daily dose of 10 colony-forming units (CFU) of Bifidobacterium longum 35624 relieved many symptoms of IBS, including bloating, abdominal pain, gas and improved bowel function. As it doesn't need refrigeration, PrecisionBiotics Alflorex Original is also convenient for travel."
Consume and hydrate intelligently
"Avoid greasy, spicy, or gas-producing foods before and during travel. Limit alcohol and caffeine and stay well hydrated - especially on flights. Choose bottled water in countries with uncertain tap water safety."
Take charge of stress management
"Practice calming techniques like deep breathing, meditation, or light stretching. For those with persistent travel anxiety, gut-directed hypnotherapy or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) may offer long-term benefits.
"IBS can make travel feel daunting, but it doesn't have to derail your plans. With thoughtful planning and self-care, you can stay in control - and focus on the journey, not your gut."
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Daily Record
14 hours ago
- Daily Record
'Specific' method to ease IBS when travelling according to nutritionist
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) can severely impact day-to-day life and travel can exacerbate symptoms For the millions of people living with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), travel can feel less like an adventure and more like a gamble when it comes to taking your IBS abroad. IBS affects around 10% of the global population, with symptoms such as bloating, abdominal cramps, diarrhoea and constipation. While not dangerous, IBS can severely impact day-to-day life and travel can worsen symptoms. According to research by PrecisionBiotics, 65% of those with IBS say they think about their condition all the time, while 50% of people avoid travel due to their IBS symptoms. Public Health Nutritionist Dr Emma Derbyshire, advisor to PrecisionBiotics, explained: "Crossing time zones, stress, dehydration, a change in diet and a disruption to routine and sleep can all impact your gut and your gut microbiome, the trillions of bacteria which reside in your gut." Why does travel make IBS worse? Dr Derbyshire explained: "First, stress plays a major role. Whether it's airport delays, language barriers, or simply being out of routine, stress and anxiety are well-known IBS triggers. Disrupted routines, including irregular meals, sleep and toilet access can also upset the gut's natural rhythm. "Add in unfamiliar foods, long flights, dehydration, or the fear of not finding a nearby toilet and it's easy to see why symptoms can spiral. The good news? With the right preparation, travel can be manageable and even enjoyable." Five ways to help keep IBS in check on the move Prepare and plan Dr Derbyshire advised: "Do your homework. Research local food options, nearby pharmacies and toilets at your destination. Apps like Flush or SitOrSquat can help locate restrooms. If flying, request an aisle seat for easier bathroom access." Maintain your routine She suggested: "Try to maintain regular mealtimes and sleep patterns, even when changing time zones. Pack safe snacks that you are familiar with to avoid relying on unfamiliar menus." Assemble a gut-friendly travel kit Dr Derbyshire recommended: "Include medications or supplements you normally use – from anti-diarrhoeals and laxatives to probiotics or peppermint oil capsules. Carry extra clothes, wipes and hand sanitiser. "Take a proven targeted probiotic formulation to help with your IBS, but it's important to look to specific strains and here I would recommend Bifidobacterium longum strain 35624 – which is in PrecisionBiotics Alflorex Original. This is a rigorously studied probiotics species – recognised by the World Gastroenterology Organisation as the most effective probiotic for the relief of IBS. "A clinical trial at the University of Manchester showed that a daily dose of 10 colony-forming units (CFU) of Bifidobacterium longum 35624 relieved many symptoms of IBS, including bloating, abdominal pain, gas and improved bowel function. As it doesn't need refrigeration, PrecisionBiotics Alflorex Original is also convenient for travel." Consume and hydrate intelligently "Avoid greasy, spicy, or gas-producing foods before and during travel. Limit alcohol and caffeine and stay well hydrated - especially on flights. Choose bottled water in countries with uncertain tap water safety." Take charge of stress management "Practice calming techniques like deep breathing, meditation, or light stretching. For those with persistent travel anxiety, gut-directed hypnotherapy or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) may offer long-term benefits. "IBS can make travel feel daunting, but it doesn't have to derail your plans. With thoughtful planning and self-care, you can stay in control - and focus on the journey, not your gut."
BBC News
18 hours ago
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Will new plans solve parking woes in Peak District tourist hotspot?
The Peak District village of Castleton offers some of the national park's most spectacular rural location - next to the impressive Mam Tor - makes it an ideal spot to escape the hustle and bustle of modern there is a numbers of visitors in recent years - thought to have been prompted by TikTok videos and the increasing popularity of campervans - have led to major parking problems, causing tension between tourists and Derbyshire County Council is fighting authority hopes a raft of new planned parking restrictions - comprising a mixture of "red routes", double yellow lines and parking bays with time restrictions - will ease the situation and make life easier for its will the new approach work? Much of the ire from locals appears to be focused on Old Mam Tor Road, which runs out of the village up Mam Tor and is known as the "Broken Road", because it was split by a recent years, it has become a magnet for Spence has lived in Castleton for seven years after moving up from told the BBC he had come across toilet paper, human waste and loo chemicals left behind by those embracing the "campervan life"."It's just not decent human behaviour when you are visiting a beautiful, picturesque part of the world," he 54-year-old said he had spotted some campervanners leaving toilet paper and excrement behind trees."Some of these vans haven't got a chemical toilet, so they've got to go to the toilet somewhere," he Spence said any measure was better than nothing, but he felt concerned there were no restrictions planned for the top end of the Broken Road."A lot of people turned up during Covid and I don't think some of them ever left. They stay up there for longer periods of time," he said."There is still concern about emptying chemical toilets and waste and rubbish that tends to pile up around there." Gary Glennerster runs Dunscar Farm, which looks across Old Mam Tor Road."There is nothing wrong with the people and they are not committing a crime, but it is the sheer volume of them. It's an eyesore," he thinks the council should be charging people to park on the road, because he says their vehicles contribute little to the local Jonnie Collins – from the campaign group Concerned for Castleton – says two volunteers go to the area where campervans are gathered on Broken Road once a week, and usually return with at least two bins bags full of believes the county council will have a major challenge enforcing the planned parking restrictions because staff already have a large area to cover."I accept walking around cities or towns, there is rubbish but other than volunteers, there is nobody to clear it up and what annoys me most is we know the hotspots where there is excrement - but the authorities don't seem to be willing to try and stop it happening," he Peak Borough Council, which is responsible for bins in the area, said it carried out "year-round campaigns to educate people and encourage responsible visits"."We'll continue to work with our partners to support people in Castleton with the impact caused by a very high volume of visitors to the village," a spokesperson added. Figures obtained by the National Caravan Council - from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) - show 16,447 motorhomes were registered in 2024 - almost double the 8,733 recorded in around the world, including the UK, have seen a large increase in recent years of people living and travelling in converted vans, with a spike in the search term #vanlife on social Dorey, an author and environmentalist, has written books about camper vans and presented BBC Two programme One Man and His Campervan - about travelling across Europe in one of the says campervanning became much more popular during the Covid pandemic, because hotels were closed and camper vans are self-contained."I think social media has also got something to do with it," Martin added."But I am not going to blame it. Social media has brought more things to the attention of more people, whether it's vans, whether it is sport or whatever."I don't think we should demonise #vanlife just because it has got a hashtag. It's always been popular." Bob Riley stays on the Broken Road two or three times a year in his fully-fitted Fiat Ducato van, which cost him £85, 64-year-old told the BBC he had never dropped litter, and had not noticed any of the problems people in Castleton were reporting."They have obviously seen something that I haven't," he said."I have seen lots of friends and family having a good time and leaving no trace."It's a good life, if you respect the area, respect the locals and do the right thing."The county council's public consultation on the new parking restrictions is due to conclude on 8 August before the authority decides whether to implement the plans as they are or revise them. Charlotte Hill, cabinet member for potholes, highways and transport, said: "Our road safety team have been working with Castleton Parish Council to try and identify ways to better manage parking in the village."Castleton is a beautiful place to visit, but the roads were never designed for the kinds of traffic volumes - and the size of vehicles - that we see today."For the past few years, there have been concerns about inconsiderate parking, and some motorists not understanding the restrictions that are currently in place."We hope that our proposals will help local people, make things clearer for visitors and reduce disruption to help make sure visitors enjoy the beauty of our county."Alongside our proposals to restrict parking, we will also look to enforce the restrictions robustly with our team of parking attendants, to ensure traffic can move safely and smoothly in the area, reducing congestion and unnecessary delays."It is a tricky balancing act for the council as it tries to keep residents and visitors happy - and the coming months will tell us how successfully it has managed to do full list of parking proposals can be found here.
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18 hours ago
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Why the smell of cannabis is everywhere and no one does anything
A businessman named Patrick Hannaford is standing on a bridge in the Derbyshire village of Cressbrook, peering down into the River Wye. He's escaped London for a weekend of fly-fishing and is scanning the water for trout, enjoying the pristine air. Then a young hoodied couple arrive, wreathed in plumes of cannabis smoke. The idyll is broken. 'It was the boldness of them that got me,' says Hannaford*, 64. 'The lad even came up and started chatting to me, spliff in his hand, about whether the fish were biting. I could have been a policeman or anyone — they just couldn't care.' • Legalisation of cannabis in US driving soaring rates at UK border From genteel parts of the Peak District to the dingiest squares in central Manchester, the acrid smell of cannabis smoke is increasingly hard to avoid. 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To get a better sense of how and why cannabis has become so prevalent, we visited and conducted interviews in West Yorkshire, Berkshire, London and East Anglia, regularly encountering its distinctive waft, and finding a nation caught between tolerance and mounting frustration. According to the Office for National Statistics, 6.8 per cent of people in England and Wales reported using cannabis in 2023-24, which is about 2.3 million people. Surprisingly, given the apparent increase in public smoking, that marked a 200,000 decline in overall use. The picture is mixed. In Hebden Bridge, the artsy Pennines town, cannabis use is remarkably public and commonplace. In a late afternoon audit of the town centre on a Thursday last month, we came across eight groups of people or individuals who appeared to be smoking it, and one apparent cannabis deal taking place in broad daylight in the town square. We saw no police. On a bench in Calder Holmes Park, we met Jahan, 27-years-old, with a long, black ponytail, who was smoking a joint with his mother. 'There are loads of pubs here who allow people to smoke cannabis in their beer gardens,' said Jahan. 'Locals round here don't care.' Not everyone in the town is so relaxed. Michael Hylands, 75, retired and with neatly cropped white hair, angrily described it as an 'epidemic', pointing out that this is not just a crime and disorder issue. The strength of high-grade skunk being smoked today doesn't just smell more pungent, but is having a major psychological impact on users. • Legalisation of cannabis in US driving soaring rates at UK border 'Everywhere you go, it's really bad,' he said. 'The young ones here are really struggling with it psychologically. The weed's so strong today, and it's everywhere. You'd think it was legal.' When asked about our findings, Hebden Bridge's local police inspector, Craig Collins, said his officers were carrying out 'proactive policing operations' and had made six stop-and-searches in the past month, resulting in one arrest and some 'community resolutions'. The authorities are certainly supposed to police cannabis use; the drug retains a class B classification, with those caught in possession facing up to five years in prison, a fine or both. But in reality, many cannabis smokers operate with something close to impunity. Police resources are mostly devoted elsewhere. In December, a survey of 253 police officers conducted by Opinium for the Centre for Social Justice think tank found that 66 per cent believed the drug has, in practice, been fully, partially or mostly decriminalised. An even greater number said the state's approach doesn't work: One experienced policeman based in Camden, north London, told us it was impractical to expect them to do any more, particularly with the paperwork involved in arresting and processing offenders. 'When an average officer might have 15 or 20 cases on their hands for assaults and other more serious stuff, they're just not going to go around arresting people for smoking a joint,' they said. • Gen Z drink far less than their parents but want drugs decriminalised More effort goes into pursuing the cultivation of the drug, but police are overwhelmed with the number of new 'grows' — cannabis farms — setting up across the country. From vacant rooms above shops to flats, houses and industrial estates, gangs have been setting up grows to supply their local markets, says Harding. In recent years cannabis farming has been dominated by Albanians who have aggressively expanded their operations across the country. The drug is now also widely available online, with advertisements stuck to lampposts and advertising posted on social media. Is there more that can be done? Councils across the UK have been receiving increasing numbers of complaints from residents about public cannabis smoking. In Ipswich, councillor John Cook's environmental health team saw a particular spike in concern from residents whose neighbour's smoke was persistently wafting into their property. His team launched a pilot programme where, rather than treating public cannabis smoking as a crime for the police to handle, they treated it as a nuisance, like loud music or regular bonfire smoke, meaning council officers could intervene more easily. A hotline was set up last year for residents. Council officials would start off by monitoring the property, then knock on the door to tell the offending smoker of the complaint. If that did not work, they would follow up with formal warning letters and, finally, sterner mediation. This had a significant impact. Some 80 per cent of the cases were resolved with the initial 'words of advice', with three quarters of the remainder ceasing after receiving the letter. Only a minority required further mediation. 'I was sceptical at first, but it's been a great success,' says Cook. The nine-month pilot has been made permanent, and complaints have slowed down to a dozen or so a month. Other councils are now looking at launching similar 'cannabis odour' projects. Simon Harding's fear is that antisocial behaviour such as public cannabis smoking is sending wealthier people to live, work and play in privately managed and well-policed housing, office and retail developments, leaving everyone else stuck in crime-infested high streets and housing estates. But even in glossy, privately owned public spaces, the authorities' attitudes to cannabis smoking seem relaxed. Canada Water is a 53-acre expanse of shiny new shops, bars, offices and apartments being developed in what was once a tough area of southeast London. A handful of uniformed security staff employed by British Land, which owns and manages the development, keep watch over the shiny new development. As we began interviewing British Land's operations director Mark Evans about his cannabis policy, we were engulfed in a cloud of smoke. A twentysomething man in sunglasses and a bandana had lit himself a long, pungent joint. On the bench next to him, a father and his young son gazed out over the lake eating ice creams. Nobody said a word. 'I don't see any harm,' Evans explained as we watched the scene. 'Nobody seems bothered and if no one's being affected, and no one's complained, we'd probably let it ride. We don't want to go looking for trouble unnecessarily.' It was similar near the neatly clipped playing fields of Eton College in Berkshire, where we met Dave*, a 50-year-old music teacher and father of two. An advocate of legalisation, he said he usually smokes cannabis twice a week. But he also believes it should be done away from other members of the public. • Sadiq Khan calls for cannabis to be decriminalised As we walked on a footpath through the grounds, by a cricket match being played by boys from the famous school, a man cycled past smoking a joint. Dave tutted in irritation. We had already seen three people smoking cannabis in busy areas on the 20-minute walk from the train station. 'It's just inconsiderate,' he said. 'Most people don't want to smell it or see it, particularly when there's children around. I don't see why they can't just smoke somewhere more private.' He headed into wild grassland lining a lazy River Thames where he found an isolated bench in view of Windsor Castle. 'Beautiful,' he said, producing a neatly rolled joint, which he lit, inhaling deeply. 'And I'm not bothering anyone.' *Some names have been changed
