Doctors Say Pooping This Many Times a Day Means You’re Healthy
At this point in life, you probably know what’s normal for you when it comes to pooping. Maybe you usually go in the morning, followed by an afternoon session, or perhaps you tend to poop more or less often than that. Whatever your deal, your bathroom habits are uniquely yours.
But new research has found that how many times a day you poop could give you insight into your long-term health.
Meet the Experts: Sean Gibbons, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington and co-authored the study.
Here’s what the study found about what your pooping frequency may signal—plus what you can do to improve things if you’re not in a sweet spot.
What did the study find?
The study, which was published in Cell Reports Medicine, looked at data from 1,400 healthy American adults, including how often they had bowel movements, as well as their gut bacteria and risk of developing chronic disease. The researchers specifically studied the participants’ poop, took blood samples, and had participants answer questions about what they ate, how often they exercised, and their stress levels.
Researchers discovered that people who had abnormal bowel movement frequencies also had markers of reduced organ function. Meaning, certain organs in their bodies weren’t working at an ideal level when people pooped outside of the normal range.
The researchers discovered an ideal amount of BMs that signaled someone had a healthy lifestyle and a lowered risk of developing chronic disease. But they also found that chronic constipation and diarrhea were linked with potential health issues. When participants were constipated, the bacteria in their gut fermented proteins that created toxins that are linked with chronic disease and kidney issues, says study co-author Sean Gibbons, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington.
On the flipside, having diarrhea was linked with having higher levels of inflammation and reduced liver function.
Basically, hitting that sweet spot of pooping frequency does more than just keep you regular.
Is there an ideal number of times someone should poop per day?
Gibbons stresses that “there's no single number that’s perfect for everyone in the population,” but his study did find that having one to two poops a day is ideal.
Why did women tend to poop less often?
The study found that women tended to poop less often than men as a whole, although it didn’t explain why. “Men tend to poop more frequently than women—we already knew that,” Gibbons says. “The exact reasons why are unclear.”
Gibbons points out that the more you eat, the faster you poop, and it may simply be that men on average eat more than women.
“Sex hormones can also be at play, along with a number of other factors,” he says. “Maybe there is a healthy female and healthy male frequency that differs.”
What are the takeaways from the findings?
Again, there is some variability with how often everyone poops, but aiming for one to two times a day is the goal.
To keep things moving along in there, Gibbons recommends eating plenty of fiber (The American Heart Association recommends aiming for 25 to 30 grams a day), doing your best to stay hydrated, exercising regularly, and minimizing your alcohol intake. “Those things can always help you,” he says.
Making sure to get plenty of fruits and vegetables in your diet, snacking less, and eating less junk food also helped people in the study stay regular.
“I’m confident that people could push their bowel movement frequency in a good direction with diet and lifestyle,” Gibbons says.
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