You probably haven't thought much about your pooping habits since your parents toilet-trained you eons ago. Our society doesn’t like to talk about poop, so if you’re doing it “wrong,” you may not even know it.
Nevertheless, how often and how you defecate can have an impact on your colon’s health. If you have bad bathroom habits, you need to change them, especially as you age.
We at Colon and Rectal Surgeons of Greater Hartford encourage healthy bathroom habits to keep your colon, rectum, and anus safe, comfortable, and functional. If you notice troubling signs, such as pain, blood, or constipation, our colorectal experts diagnose and treat you at our offices in Bloomfield, South Windsor, and Plainville, Connecticut.
What bathroom habits can damage your colon health? Here are the main ones to break today.
Your body evolved to eliminate feces with minimal effort. When a mass of waste matter (i.e., feces, stool, poop) moves from your colon to your rectum, it signals your rectum to contract and your external and internal sphincters to relax.
All of this movement is involuntary; you don’t have to do a thing. What you can control is your anal sphincter. When you want to “hold it in,” contracting your sphincter does so. When it’s time to “go,” you simply relax your sphincter.
At this point, the feces should progress on its own from the rectum through the anus and into your toilet, usually about 30 seconds after you’re ready to go. However, if you’re not eating enough fiber or drinking enough water, your stools may be hard.
Hard stools can slow the progress. The worst thing to do, however, is to try to hurry things along by pushing or straining. Straining could cause complications, such as:
If you need to strain or push to expel your feces, you may be constipated or have an underlying medical condition. Contact us for an evaluation so you can break this potentially dangerous bathroom habit.
Due to time constraints, or even embarrassment, you may find yourself holding in stool for longer than you should. Maybe you don’t like to use public restrooms for #2. Maybe you’re embarrassed that you need to use the toilet several times a day.
Holding stool inside your rectum for prolonged periods signals your body that it can’t go. Your body then responds by holding onto stool for longer than it should. This can lead to problems such as:
It’s normal to poop anywhere from twice a day to three times a week. If you go fewer times than that, or if you resist the urge to defecate, you may need to undergo bowel training.
Now here’s one you may not have heard of: Sitting on the toilet isn’t actually the best way to go to the toilet. Our ancestors, some current cultures, and those on the cutting-edge of health prefer to squat.
That doesn't mean you need to dig a hole in your bathroom floor or even purchase a special toilet addition. Simply placing your feet on a footstool before the toilet can help you “assume the position.”
Squatting angles your rectum and anus more perpendicular to the toilet bowl, which lets gravity help the poop expel. Squatting tends to reduce the tendency to strain, plus makes poops faster.
If you rely on laxatives and caffeine to get you started, stop. Defecation should occur naturally and on its own. If that’s not what’s happening in your toilet, you need to come to our office.
Helpers such as laxatives and coffee can actually do more harm than good. Over time, your body relies on that extra push of stimulation and develops a decreased sensitivity to your own body’s signals.
Do you need to re-potty train yourself to avoid damaging your colon? Find out more about good bathroom habits and get help with constipation or pain by calling our office nearest you (Bloomfield, South Windsor, or Plainville, Connecticut) today, or contact us online.
