What your poop says about your health

Everybody poops, but nobody really talks about it. But while putting a lid on all potty talk may keep conversations civilized, it may mean we’re missing out on valuable clues to our health.

Your poop can tell you if you’re eating enough fiber and drinking enough water, or if your digestive system is processing food too slowly or too quickly. Also, lasting changes in your bowel habits or the appearance of your poop can be a sign of a medical condition that requires treatment.

Read on to learn what your poop can tell you, how you can easily describe it and why it’s good to talk about it. Just hold off on sharing the details of your latest bowel movement until after dinner. There should be some limits, after all.

Poop health 101: What’s normal?

After you go to the bathroom, turn around and take a look. Based on what you see, do you wonder: Is my poop normal? Do I have healthy poop?

From the earliest diapering and potty-training days to every age and stage that comes after, it’s important to be aware.

Turns out there’s a lot of variety in what’s normal. Just as everyone poops, everyone’s poop is different. And your poops may not be exactly the same every day. However, there are some general characteristics of “normal poop”.

Poop size

A normal stool size is at least a couple inches in length, and ideally between four and eight inches. Tiny poops aren’t good. You shouldn’t be pooping out pellets – not unless you’re a bunny, deer or other wild animal.

Poop shape

People use a lot of different expressions when they talk about having a bowel movement. But in terms of accuracy, the ones comparing poop to logs are probably the closest.

The healthiest shape for poop is a long cylinder. When poop takes on other shapes, it may indicate something could be going on with your digestive system.

Poop firmness or consistency

Ideally, your stool should be somewhere between firm and soft. Thankfully you can figure this out just by looking at it – there’s no need to do a touch test. If your poop is a well-formed log and it wasn’t too hard to squeeze out, it’s probably the right consistency.

Poop color

What’s a normal stool color? Normal poop is brown and comes in every color from tan to espresso. The brown color is largely due to bile and bilirubin.

Bile is a yellowish-green fluid made by the liver and stored in the gallbladder. Bilirubin is an orange-yellow substance that the body makes through the normal process of breaking down red blood cells. Through the digestive process, these fluids mix with your foods and usually make your poop brown.

Other poop color meanings

The color of your poop generally reflects what you consume – whether that’s food, beverages or medicines. While brown is the most typical color, there are other colors we may see in the toilet. Here’s what the color of your poop might mean about your health:

Black poop: There are a few reasons why your poop may be black, including taking iron supplements or a bismuth medication like Pepto Bismol. But black stool can also mean that you have bleeding in your upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Any internal bleeding is an issue, so if you can’t figure out why your poop is black, make a primary care appointment right away.

Green poop: If your poop is a little greenish, it’s totally fine. Green poop may signal that your food isn’t spending enough time in your digestive system or that you’re eating a ton of leafy greens like spinach. And if your poop suddenly looks like neon green playdough, the likely cause is artificial colors from drink mixes, bakery frosting or frozen novelties.

Red poop: There are dietary reasons why your poop may turn red – beets, cranberries, red gelatin or tomato juice. But red poop can be a cause for concern because it may mean you have bleeding in your colon – this can be a sign of colon cancer or digestive disorders. Bloody stool may look coated in red, or you may notice spots of red in it. If you can’t explain the red color by your food choices, get in touch with a primary care doctor.

Yellow poop: If your poop is yellow, greasy and stinky, it probably means that you’ve been eating too much fat. But sometimes it can be a sign of malabsorption, which means that your body isn’t able to pull nutrients from food during digestion. Malabsorption usually happens due to sickness, food intolerance or diseases that affect the intestinal lining.

Pale or white poop: Chalky is not a good look on poop. It may mean your body isn’t producing bile. It could be that you have an infection or that your bile duct is blocked. Pale poop could also be a side effect of medicines, including some used for diarrhea.

Timing of bowel movements

The most normal time to poop is in the morning after your body worked overnight processing your food. But there’s nothing wrong with having bowel movements at other times of the day.

How long it takes you to poop

It should take just a couple minutes for you to have a bowel movement – certainly not more than 10-15 minutes. If there’s pain or straining to get your poop out, you’re probably constipated.

How often should you poop

You don’t need to poop every day to be regular. It’s normal and healthy to have a bowel movement anywhere between three times a week to three times a day. If you’re producing soft, well-formed logs that aren’t hard to push out, your bowels are probably in good shape.

Poop smell

Poop never smells like a bouquet of roses. So if your poop stinks, you’re in good company. But if the smell of your poop makes your eyes water, that’s not normal. Most likely it’s due to an infection or a stomach bug, and your stinky poop will go away after you get better.

But in some cases, foul-smelling feces happens when your body is unable to process gluten or other nutrients. If you notice that your poop smells really bad after you eat certain things, bring it up to your doctor – especially if you’re experiencing unexplained weight loss, too.

Should poop sink or float?

Most poop sinks. But if your poop floats, it’s typically not something to worry about. Floaters are often caused by excess gas from eating things like beans or sugar-free candies. But if you have floating stools that are also stinky, it can be a sign your body isn’t processing food correctly because you have an infection, food intolerance, a digestive disorder or other medical condition.

The Bristol stool chart: Types of poop and what they mean

If you’re having pooping problems, you’re probably not thrilled at the idea of describing your bowel movements in detail when you visit the doctor. The good news is that you may not have to.

There’s a handy poop health chart that doctors often use to describe the type of bowel movements people have. The Bristol stool chart categorizes the shape and texture of bowel movements into seven types.

Chances are you’ll experience all these poop types at one time or another. But if you continue to have unhealthy poop types like constipation or diarrhea, you should talk to your doctor.

Type 1

Shape and consistency: Type 1 looks like smallish, roundish pellets that are surprisingly hard to squeeze out – especially for their size. They typically look like marbles, nuts or berries.

What it means: If your poop is coming out in small balls, it means you’re constipated, and your stool might have been hanging around in your digestive system for a couple extra days. Normally it takes about three days for food to complete the journey through your digestive system.

Constipation is usually caused by diet or lack of exercise. Other causes are a blockage in the digestive system and conditions that affect hormones such as pregnancy or diabetes. It’s normal to be constipated occasionally, but if you’re always blocked up, it’s not good for your health. Find out what causes constipation and how to get relief.

Type 2

Shape and consistency: Congrats! It’s a log – just not the healthiest kind. Type 2 poop looks like a lumpy log. You can tell it’s type 2 if it’s a log that took a bit of effort to get out.

What it means: If your number two is type 2, you probably have mild constipation. As with type 1, common causes can be diet, blockage and hormonal changes.

Type 3

Shape and consistency: Type 3 has a sausage shape with cracks on the surface. It can look a little bumpy like a cob of corn. This type of bowel movement should slide out quickly with little effort. When you flush it down it shouldn’t fall apart.

What it means: Hooray! Your poop is normal, and your digestive system is working the way it should.

Type 4

Shape and consistency: If you’re seeing a log that has a smooth surface like a sausage or a snake, then you have type 4 stool. This type is also easy to push out and should flush down in one piece.

What it means: Way to go! This shape is also normal. Whatever you’re doing, keep it up.

Type 5

Shape and consistency: Type 5 stools are soft blobs with defined edges. They are smallish like type 1 but easy to push out.

What it means: Your diet may not have enough soluble fiber and your food was pushed through your digestive system too quickly.

Type 6

Shape and consistency: With type 6, you’ll see mushy blobs with ragged edges. These stools can look a little like porridge.

What it means: You have mild diarrhea. This could be related to diet, illness or a medical condition. If you have chronic diarrhea, even a mild version, it can be difficult for you to get the nutrients you need from your food.

Type 7

Shape and consistency: Type 7 is pure liquid with no solid pieces – like gravy.

What it means: You’ve got diarrhea. It can be caused by a variety of things, such as food poisoning or an illness like norovirus. But it can also be caused by medical conditions or food intolerances to things like gluten or lactose.

Keep yourself (and your poop) healthy

Healthy poop – and a healthy you – depends on many factors, including diet, exercise, overall health, medications and stress. But lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise can go a long way toward producing perfect poo time after time.

Include colon-healthy foods in a diet that’s heavy on the fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Eating a rainbow of foods can help your body get the widest array of vitamins and minerals for the best colon health. Plus, eating whole foods makes it easier to get the fiber you need to move things along.

Drink plenty of water

Water helps break down food during digestion, allowing your body to pull out all the helpful nutrients. If you’re dehydrated, your body doesn’t have enough fluids to make your poop the right consistency, causing constipation. To stay hydrated, make sure you drink regularly throughout the day, especially when you’re thirsty.

Eat on a schedule

Eating on a schedule may help keep digestion on track – and give your body time to process your food between meals. Try to eat breakfast within one hour of waking and lunch 4 to 5 hours after breakfast. For best digestion, don’t eat dinner within three hours of bedtime. And since it takes 3 to 4 hours for your digestive system to fully digest food, adding a mid-morning and an afternoon snack can keep digestion moving between mealtimes.

Get regular exercise

Getting your body moving is a great way to keep digestion moving, decreasing the time that food spends in your colon and helping with constipation. And it doesn’t take a lot of activity to support poop health. Even walking around 10 to 15 minutes a day may do the trick. Stretching and yoga can help, too.

Current colorectal cancer screening guidelines recommend you get screened beginning at age 45, or sooner if you have certain risk factors. There are different screening options available, including a colonoscopy and the FIT test, which is a poop test you can do at home. The starting age for colorectal cancer screening recently changed, so check with your insurance company to see what’s covered.

When to give your doctor the scoop about your poop

Sometimes a bad bathroom experience is just the result of a bad burrito. Sometimes constipation is caused by too much cheese. These things happen – even to the best of digestive systems.

But there are times when your symptoms may indicate a bigger problem, and you should talk to a doctor. So, watch out for changes in your bowel habits that last longer than a few days, including:

• Recurrent constipation
• Recurrent diarrhea
• Severe abdominal pain and indigestion
• Poop that is always very stinky and often floats
• Unintentional weight loss
• Red stools or black stools that cannot be explained by your diet. These poop colors may signal that you have bleeding in your digestive system, something that can be a symptom of a more serious condition. So, don’t put off making an appointment.

When you meet with the doctor, they’re going to want to know how your digestive system is – or is not – moving and grooving. Collecting this information can be as easy as keeping a tally of how often you’re going and the types of poop you have – there are even a variety of mobile apps out there to help you keep track.

It’s also a good idea to pay attention if the food you eat makes a difference to your bowel habits. And of course, make note of pain, bleeding, weight loss and other symptoms.

Based on your bowel habits and symptoms, your doctor will work with you to come up with a treatment plan. They may also refer you to a gastroenterologist, which is a doctor who specializes in digestive heath.

While no one really wants to talk about digestive problems, paying attention to what plops into the toilet can lead to a healthier poo – and you.

How Many Times Should You Poop a Day: Factors and Frequency

Bowel movement frequency differs from person to person. As a general rule, pooping anywhere from 3 times a day to 3 times a week is normal.

Bowel movements are a necessity of life. They allow you to empty waste from your diet via your intestines. While all people make bowel movements, the frequency varies greatly.

Some researchers indicate that anywhere from three bowel movements a day to three a week can be normal. Sometimes the consistency of a person’s stool can be a more significant indicator of bowel health than frequency. However, if a person doesn’t poop often enough or too frequently, both can cause severe health problems.

There is no generally accepted number of times a person should poop. As a broad rule, pooping anywhere from three times a day to three times a week is normal. Most people have a regular bowel pattern: They’ll poop about the same number of times a day and at a similar time of day.

According to a survey of more than 2,000 participants that Healthline conducted, respondents reported the following bowel patterns:

• Almost 50 percent of people poop once a day. Another 28 percent report going twice a day. Only 5.6 percent reported going only once or twice weekly.
• Most respondents (61.3 percent) reported their average bowel movement was in the morning. Another 22 percent reported going in the afternoon while only 2.6 percent poop very late at night.
• Nearly 31 percent of respondents reported their poop consistency was similar to that of a sausage or snake, of a smooth and soft consistency.

Several factors can influence how much and how often you poop. These can include:

Diet

Both soluble and insoluble fiber in the forms of whole grains, vegetables, and fruits can add bulk to your stool, promoting bowel movements. If you don’t have a significant amount of these foods in your diet, you may not poop as regularly.

Fluids also make stool softer and easier to pass. This is why many doctors recommend increasing fluid intake if you’re often constipated.

Age

The older you get, the more likely you are to be constipated. This is due to a number of factors, including reduced gastric movement that encourages digestion, reduced mobility, and taking more medications that may slow bowel health.

Activity level

Peristalsis is the internal intestinal movement that propels digested food material forward to be eliminated as stool. You can help this movement along through physical activity, such as walking or engaging in other forms of exercise.

Chronic or acute illness

Some chronic illnesses, such as inflammatory bowel disease (which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis), can cause increased episodes of bowel movements, followed by periods of constipation.

Acute illnesses, such as viral gastroenteritis (stomach flu) or an injury that requires you to take pain medicines that slow down bowel activity can cause changes to bowel movement patterns.

When it comes to normal bowel movements, consistency of your poop can be a factor in addition to frequency. Stools should be soft and relatively easy to pass. They most commonly resemble a snake or sausage because this mirrors the inside of the intestines. Generally speaking, stool should be brown due to the breakdown of red blood cells in the body.

“Loose” or watery stools can indicate you have some digestive irritation and the stool is passing through your intestines too fast to become bulky. This may become a problem not only because you need to go more frequently, but also because your body won’t absorb as many nutrients from your stool.

Conversely, stools that are hard can be very difficult to pass. They may cause difficulties pooping, which can lead to hemorrhoids and cause stool to back up in your intestines.

Whether due to illness or changes to activity or diet, everybody experiences a change in their bowel movements from time to time. However, changes that last longer than a week may be cause for concern.

There are also some symptoms that indicate you need to seek emergency medical attention. These include:

• blood in your stool, which may appear red or black and have the consistency of coffee grounds
• vomiting blood, coffee ground-like emesis, or what appears to be stool
• lack of bowel movement in more than three days
• severe, stabbing abdominal pain

If you regularly have problems with constipation, passing stool, or diarrhea, you should see your doctor. Your doctor will likely take a medical history and review the medications you take to determine if any of them could contribute to constipation or diarrhea. They can also recommend lifestyle and dietary changes that could promote bowel regularity.

Frequent urination and correct stool, what is the norm?

The human body is a complex but interconnected system, where the work of one organ directly depends on the normal functioning of another. At the same time, each system and each organism is unique, it works in accordance with its own regime. Different people go to the toilet in different ways. While some people feel the urge to urinate up to 5 times a day, others relieve themselves every 2 hours. Also, some people empty their bowels daily and only in the morning, others do it a maximum of once every few days. What is actually the norm, and what is the disease and deviation? Is frequent urination a sign of pathology? How many daily trips to the toilet is normal?

A large number of factors influence the functioning of the intestines and the urinary system. These include:

• diet and drink;
• air temperature;
• environmental climate;
• congenital and acquired diseases;
• medicines taken;
• age, psycho-emotional state of a person.

However, there are generalized daily norms for emptying the intestines and bladder, which report on the conditionally normal functioning of the body. Conventionally, it implies individual characteristics. On a day for an adult, it is normal to relieve a small need up to 8 times, if we are talking about a man. For a woman, urination up to 10 times a day is also considered normal. The urge to go to the toilet at night is not in itself considered a disease. However, more frequent urination in women and men may be a symptom of a developing disease.

For an adult, regardless of gender, it is normal to empty the bowels 1 or 2 times a day. Pathology is not considered if the act of defecation occurs not every day, but every other day. Moreover, some people are quite comfortable emptying their bowels no more than once every 3 days, and this is also the norm.

Urination deviation

An unambiguous deviation can only be considered when a person who has emptied the bladder no more than 6 times a day begins to urinate up to 12 times a day, or vice versa, no more than 3 times. However, in this case, it is not the disease that should be blamed for the fact that frequent urination has appeared. The reasons may be the following:

• excessive exercise;
• pregnancy;
• end of menstrual cycle;
• use of diuretic drinks;
• hypothermia;
• taking diuretic drugs.

An appointment with a urologist should be made when frequent urination in men and women is accompanied by one or more of the following symptoms:

• mucus, pus, blood in the urine;
• increased body temperature;
• changed, bad smell of urine;
• unusual color of urine;
• burning pain when urinating.

Causes of urination deviation

An experienced specialist will help determine the cause of symptoms, identify the disease at any stage of development. There are a large number of causes that provoke pathologies associated with frequent urination:

1. Disease of the urinary system. Infectious-inflammatory process is a frequent culprit of the disease of the urinary system. It is a symptom of cystitis, developing urolithiasis, pyelonephritis or urethritis.
2. Endocrine pathology. Excessive production of certain hormones can cause frequent urination. This is a symptom of hyperparathyroidism, hyperaldosteronism, diabetes insipidus.
3. Gynecological diseases. The urinary system is closely related to the reproductive system, which is why gynecological problems lead to an increase in defecation. This reason may be in the prolapse of the uterus, oophoritis, thrush, adnexitis, tumors of the uterus or ovaries, endometritis, cysts, uterine fibroids.
4. Andrological diseases. Frequent urination in men is not uncommonly a symptom of prostatitis or a benign prostate tumor.

Infrequent urination is also a symptom of a disease or a disturbed state of the body. Thus, a decrease in trips for small needs can be a symptom of:

• lack of water in the body due to refusal to drink or inability to drink water;
• dehydration due to diarrhea;
• kidney disease;
• edema;
• cancer;
• urolithiasis.

Abnormal bowel movements

Prolonged absence of bowel movements, accompanied by discomfort, is an alarming symptom requiring medical attention. A delay in bowel movements for more than 2 days is called constipation, and an increase in bowel movements, accompanied by liquid stools, is called diarrhea or diarrhea.

Among the causes of constipation are the following:

1. Lifestyle. Rare urge to empty the bowels may appear due to: malnutrition, physical inactivity, frequent travel, lack of drinking a normal amount of water, a busy work schedule.
2. Medicines. Medications often provoke the development of constipation. Most often they occur due to antidepressants, antibiotics, antihistamines, medicines for high blood pressure, drugs to reduce the acidity of the stomach, diuretics, narcotic drugs containing codeine.
3. Violation of organic nature. Reducing trips to the toilet can occur due to acquired or congenital features of the intestine. Among them are such diseases as: intestinal obstruction, tumors, incarceration of the intestine, dolichocolon, inflammation in the intestine, adhesions, diverticulosis.

Intestinal disorders. The psycho-emotional sphere of human life also affects the frequency of bowel movements.

Also, the causes of constipation can be dyskinesia, hemorrhoids, diabetes mellitus, thyroid disease, the development of irritable bowel syndrome, the appearance of anal fissures.

The most common cause of diarrhea is eating foods that have a laxative effect – plums, apricots. Medications, and in particular antibiotics, have an impact on the appearance of diarrhea. Frequent loose stools are also a symptom of poisoning.

But there are more serious causes of diarrhea, and in particular, such diseases:

• rectal cancer;
• salmonellosis;
• colitis;
• intestinal tuberculosis;
• Crohn’s disease;
• hyperthyroidism;
• dysentery;
• liver disease;
• shingellosis.

In case of any disturbance in the body, it is important to seek the help of a therapist in a timely manner. Self-diagnosis, like self-treatment, can be very dangerous. Unauthorized intake of drugs that the doctor did not prescribe provokes the development of pathological conditions up to the appearance of irreversible consequences. However, even without visiting a specialist, each person is obliged to monitor the frequency of urination, defecation, at least in himself and in his young children. For a child, intestinal upset is especially dangerous, because it indicates an infection that has got inside or another pathological disorder in the body.

It is very important to prevent the development of serious diseases in a timely manner, so it is important to pay attention to signs of violations of the usual emptying of the bladder and intestines in a timely manner.

In the Heratsi Medical Center, doctors will help with the correct diagnosis. The cost of all services of the medical center can be viewed in the “Price” section or by calling the round-the-clock hotline +7 (863) 333-20-11.

How many times a day should an adult have a stool

How often should bowel cleansing be performed? Indeed, in the absence of bowel cleansing for three days, defecation can be difficult and accompanied by painful sensations.

Consequences of constipation

The main danger of stool retention is that constipation can be considered as a “universal pathogenic block”, which can accompany and provoke not only intestinal diseases, such as dysbiosis, diverticulosis, colitis, polyposis, hemorrhoids, colorectal cancer , but also diseases not directly related to the gastrointestinal tract: varicose veins, metabolic syndrome, atherosclerosis, arterial hypertension ^4-6 .

How to normalize stools

Deficiency of dietary fiber and water in the diet, sedentary lifestyle, excessive consumption of caffeine, stress are the most common causes of constipation ⁵ .

By normalizing your diet and lifestyle, you can achieve that daily morning bowel movements become a habit. How to achieve this? It’s not all that difficult.

• First of all, you need to stick to the daily routine. Try to get out of bed and go to bed at the same time ⁵ .
• Watch your diet, determine the meal schedule and try to stick to it. The last meal should be 2 hours before bedtime, and at night you can drink a glass of kefir. Naturally, night snacks are out of the question ⁷ .
• Review your diet, exclude from it smoked meats, spicy, fried foods, as well as foods that weaken intestinal motility. Such products are: canned meat and fish, hard-boiled eggs, muffins, pasta, millet, semolina and rice porridge, potatoes, red wine, chocolates, pears, green (unripe) bananas, as well as dogwood, lingonberries, pomegranates and pureed soups. If you can’t completely remove these products from the menu, at least limit their intake. You should reduce your consumption of coffee and strong tea, and, of course, fast food should be avoided ⁷ .
• The daily diet of a person should include foods rich in dietary fiber: cabbage (including sauerkraut), carrots, beets, radishes, turnips, cucumbers, tomatoes, legumes, seaweed ⁷ .
• Pay attention to vegetables and fruits that have a slight laxative effect: plums, apricots, sour apples, ripe persimmons, herbs, watermelons, melons ⁷ .
• Add bran to your regular meals, buy bran bread with whole grains. Every day you should try to eat salads with raw vegetables seasoned with vegetable oil, which also has a laxative property ⁷ .
• It is important to reduce the amount of food consumed at one meal. It is better to eat often, but in small portions – 5-6 times a day ⁷ .
• Remember to drink plenty of water. An adult needs about 2 liters of water a day (assuming their kidneys are working properly) ⁷ .
• Of course, you need to go in for sports ^5.6 .

But, despite the seeming simplicity of the recommendations, it is not always possible to fully comply with them. The high rhythm of life dictates its own conditions: sometimes we can only dream of a full meal in a calm atmosphere or a subscription to the pool. Simple tips will come to the rescue that will help you gradually make good habits a part of your life.

1. In the hustle and bustle of the day, we may forget to follow all of these tips. Therefore, plan your menu for the week in advance and buy products in accordance with it.
2. Can’t eat well at work? Take with you nuts, dried fruits, pumpkin seeds for a snack. These are healthy and tasty products that perfectly satisfy hunger.
3. Forgetting to drink water? Set a reminder on your phone to take a glass of water every hour.
4. No time to go to the gym? Try to forego the car where possible, switch to a bicycle, skip the elevator, get off one stop early and walk this section of the journey, and start your day with morning exercises.

If proper nutrition and physical activity do not help to cope with the problem of constipation, try the laxative Duphalac® .