This Is What Your Poop Is Trying to Tell You About Your Gut Health

Although you do not regularly chat your stool with friends, it is always important to pay attention to them. After all, how often you are poop, what your poop looks like and how long you need to make poop can tell you a lot about your intestinal health, according to experts. To help you understand what is normal against unhealthy, we contacted three gastroenterologists on everything you always wanted to know about your stool.

How often should you poop?

You probably have someone in your family (if you are honest, maybe you) who are convinced that they need to poop every morning. However, a healthy poop schedule is not the same for each person. You don’t need to panic if you are not one of those people who go to the toilet like a clock after your morning coffee.

Dr. Lance UraDomo, interventional gastroenterologist of the city of Hope County Orange, explains: “The term” regular “generally means that the frequency of the stools of a person continues without any change.” In fact, the number of times you poop each week could vary considerably from other people in your household without any concern.

Dr. Michael Schopis, gastroenterologist and attending physician at Manhattan Gastroenterology, said: “The normal coca frequency can go quite considerably depending on the person. Poops anywhere from every two days up to three to four times a day can be considered regular.”

As a rule, UraDomo advises: “Three times a day to three times a week is considered a healthy range”. However, the doctor warns: “It is important to recognize your own regular routine so that if the frequency suddenly changes, you can alert your doctor.”

Is it healthier to poop less or more often?

Dr. Natasha Chhabra, gastroenterologist at Gastroenterology Associates of New Jersey, says how much you can be less important than if you poop enough. She explains: “Having an adequate bms [bowel movements] With complete evacuation is an excellent goal, because having a BM is a way that our body gets rid of toxins and waste. Some may have a daily BM and do not think that they have emptied. “In other words, having less frequent but complete stools can be healthier than having frequent intestinal stools.

How often you need to poop can also depend on the difficulty for you to go number two. According to Schopis, “if it requires a lot of tension and push to have a saddle or it forces you to spend 30 minutes on the toilet, then it is probably better for you to try to poop more often.” He says you should introduce changes in lifestyle to help induce a poop in this situation. Mayo Clinic recommends eating foods rich in fiber, staying hydrated and exercising as natural means of preventing constipation.

On the other hand, it is possible to poop too often. Schopis says: “If someone spends four to five times a day, it’s aqueous and with a significant emergency, then this person is probably poop too much.” The Mayo clinic notes that everything, stomach viruses and bacterial infections to lactose intolerance, can make you poop frequently. Antibiotics can also lead to temporary diarrhea.

What does the healthy poop look like?

Many doctors use the Bristol stool table to help assess the health of stool. The graph is a form scale, which means that it assesses the stool according to factors such as size and consistency. The stools are evaluated from 1 to 7, 1 being the firmer and 7 entirely liquid.

Bristol Tool Type 1-2: Rabbit or grape excrement that is quite difficult and can be difficult to pass.
Bristol Tool Type 3-4: Corn on the ear stool or sausage which are soft and easy to pass.
Bristol Tool Type 5-7: Liquid ground intestinal stools which may or may not include solid parts.

As Chhabra explains, “the middle of the graph (Bristol 3-4) describes a healthy BM, which is generally described as a sausage or a snake.” The poop in these categories is also solid, while it can be smooth or have cracks on the surface.

According to Schopis, a healthy poop in the Bristol 3-4 categories indicates that someone gets both enough water and enough fiber in their diet. He notes that this type of stool is often easier to pass, while “the types of Bristol 1-2 stools are often hard, pebbles and difficult to pass, indicating constipation”.

If your poop floats, you may have excessive gas, eat a diet with a content rich in fat or have a gastrointestinal tract problem. Your poop should flow most often.

Color

You also want to consider the color of your stool. UraDomo reports that “healthy poop can be brown or even greenish but should never be black or contain blood. This could indicate the presence of cancer or other health problems.” If your stools are particularly pale, you may want to talk to your doctor about your liver, your health at the pancreas and the gallbladder.

Smell

According to Mount Sinai Hospital, the smell also counts. Although the poop is never supposed to feel pleasant, if it suddenly has a new or particularly foul smell, you could experience a condition as a chronic pancreatitis or an ulcerative colitis. The good news is that changes in your diet can also produce really stinking stool. So, if you just have a BM seriously odor, it could be by eating or drinking something fermented or consuming a lot of garlic.

How long should you poop you?

It shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes to poop. Schopis says: “Ideally, someone should spend 5 minutes or less without pushing or collapsing to have a saddle.” Chhabra agrees, explaining: “Spending more than a few minutes to have a BM should raise concerns for constipation, especially if you are striving.”

UraDomo offers a little more latitude, saying: “He should take a person between 5 and 15 minutes on the toilet to have a saddle.” He warns that sitting on the toilet longer than it can “cause problems such as hemorrhoids, reduced traffic or dysfunction of the pelvic floor”.

What are the signs of an unhealthy intestine?

There are several key signs that you may have an unhealthy intestine. These include:

Pain: Frequent pain during poop can be a source of concern. This could mean that your stool is too hard or there is a larger gastrointestinal problem.

Blood: Blood in the bowl after your poop can also point out an unhealthy intestine. UraDomo warns: “Blood in the stool can be caused by a relatively minor problem such as hemorrhoids, but it can also be an indicator of cancer, intestinal disease or major internal bleeding.” You should closely monitor the bleeding and consult your doctor.

Intestinal control loss: If you feel intestinal incontinence (Fécale), you may feel rectal or anal muscles. Muscle and nerve lesions resulting from childbirth can also affect your ability to control stool.

Black stool: UraDomo warns that black or black stools can indicate bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract. This includes your esophagus, your stomach and your small intestine.

Chronic diarrhea: If you often suffer from diarrhea of more than a few days, you can face irritable colon syndrome or Crohn’s disease. Celiac disease can also cause frequent and pale diarrhea.

When to talk to your doctor about your poop

Whenever you feel a painful poop or the inability to have a saddle, it is worth talking to your doctor. The NHS warns that chronic constipation can cause a dangerous fecal impaction, and Healthline recommends looking for medical care if it was a full week without saddle.

Schopis says: “If you notice that the stools control your life, either because of the lack of frequency, or too much”, it is a great idea to see a doctor. Black or bloody poop also reports that it is time for a medical assessment.

How to keep your poop healthy

Sometimes, lifestyle changes are everything you need to create healthier shit habits. For example, be sure to drink enough water. Dehydration can cause constipation or make your stools more difficult to pass. Chhabra also recommends eating fibers daily through whole fruits and vegetables. She says that “helps keep your stools more complete and easier to pass.”

More specifically, Schopis advises people to target 2 to 3 liters of water per day and 25 to 30 grams of fibers per day to make healthy and normal stools. Aside from these tips, you may want to consider practicing more to help your intestine operate without clashes.

The bottom line

You don’t need to poop every day, but you have to follow your habits and notice when there is a dramatic change. Symptoms such as tension to poop or experience chronic diarrhea are signs that it is time to make an appointment with your doctor. In the meantime, eating fibers and drinking a lot of water is easy ways to help you poop regularly.