Should I Be Pooping Every Morning? Here's What Experts Say

Our bodies are made up of several important systems that work together to carry out all the processes that keep us alive and healthy. One of the most underappreciated of these systems is the digestive system or gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

The digestive system is a large and complex part of the human body that begins with your mouth and ends with your bowel movements (1). This system is pretty amazing—it breaks down the food you eat into all the essential nutrients your body needs to function.

The breaking down of food into nutrients involves several key organs, such as the stomach and intestines. It also requires the combined efforts of the circulatory and nervous systems to function properly.

A fascinating thing about the digestive system is that it can tell us when something is wrong through symptoms like constipation or diarrhea. But don't worry—there are ways to recognize these warning signs and strategies to address them, but we’ll talk about that later.

Do you ever realize you get hungry at the same time every day? Well, that's thanks to circadian rhythms. These internal processes not only control sleep but also have a big effect on your digestive health (2). They play a role in how your GI tract works, handling digestion and absorption.

When you're asleep, your digestive system slows down, which is why you don't need the bathroom as much. This break is super important to keep your sleep uninterrupted and get your digestive system ready for action when you wake up.

The frequency of bowel movements can vary from person to person. A good rule of thumb for a healthy GI tract is going anywhere from three times a week to three times a day (3). However, anything in between that range is healthy.

The key thing to remember is how often you visit the bathroom and how easily it goes. We'll get into that in a bit. While once a day is pretty normal, some folks might notice they go more or less often.

Big changes, like going from every other day to multiple times daily, could be a red flag. Your unique triggers and lifestyle choices also have a big impact on how often you go.

Certain foods or drinks might bother some but not others. For instance, coffee or even just eating could send some folks running to the bathroom. Others might need to figure out what gets things moving for them.

The Bristol stool chart is a valuable tool in understanding what constitutes a healthy stool (4). It classifies poop into types (1-7) ranging from hard and dry to mostly water. Ideally, a healthy stool is type 3-4 on this scale, which resembles a smooth, soft sausage or snake.

Deviations from this can indicate dietary issues or health problems. A stool scoring one on the Bristol scale is dry and separates into hard lumps, indicating that you may be constipated. On the other hand, stool that is a seven on the Bristol scale is mostly water and may indicate diarrhea.

When it comes to healthy bowel movements, it's important to consider the ease of passing stool. Stools that rank as a one on the Bristol stool scale are likely to be difficult to pass and may take a while. Healthy bowel movements should be relatively easy and quick to pass.

By following the strategies below, you can maintain regularity, which can contribute to healthier and easier bowel movements.

If parts of this article are starting to sound like you (maybe the description of the one on the Bristol Stool scale hit a little too close to home), don’t worry; there are plenty of steps you can take to improve the health of your bowel movements and digestive system.

Here are five easy habits you can begin to use to actively improve your health.

1. Exercise

Physical activity increases blood flow to the digestive system's muscles, which massage food along the digestive tract—a process known as peristalsis—causing them to work more quickly and effectively.

In a 1991 study, ten adults exercised on either a bike or a treadmill for one hour, and their bowel habits were monitored (5). The study found that this simple lifestyle change significantly improved their bowel movements by speeding up the “transit time,” or the time it takes for food to make its way through the intestines.

Research also suggests that exercise affects the balance of bacteria in the gut (6). In one study involving 20 women and 12 men with various body mass indexes (BMI), researchers asked the participants to do three moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic exercise sessions a week, either by running on a treadmill or cycling for 30-60 minutes (7). Stool and blood samples were collected throughout the study, with three-day dietary controls to ensure their diet remained consistent before each collection to limit the changes caused by diet on gut microbes.

The study revealed that exercise increased the bacteria that aids in breaking down dietary fiber and generating butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid, regardless of BMI. Butyrate is crucial for gut health and could be helpful for conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease. Also, the lean participants had higher levels of short-chain fatty acids, like butyrate, in their stool samples.

What's intriguing is that after six weeks of returning to a sedentary lifestyle after the study, the participants' gut microbes returned to their initial state. This suggests that although exercise can boost gut microbial health, these effects are temporary and can be reversed.

2. Eat Plenty of Fiber

Eat more fiber. You've probably heard it before, but do you know why? Fiber increases the weight and size of your stool and softens it (8). A bulky stool is easier to pass, decreasing your chance of constipation. If you have loose, watery stools, fiber may help solidify them because it absorbs water and adds bulk.

Even though fiber is found in many fruits and vegetables, most people still don’t consume enough of it. In fact, 95% of Americans don't get enough fiber, and on average, American adults consume only half the fiber they need (9). Adequate dietary fiber intake is essential for maintaining regular bowel movements.

Native Note: Women should aim for at least 28 grams of fiber daily, and men should strive for about 36 grams (10).

For those struggling to meet their fiber needs, a supplement drink mix might be beneficial.

3. Hydration

Adequate water intake is essential for softening stool and promoting healthy bowel movements.

The cells along your whole digestive tract secrete mucus, which is a gel-like fluid made up of around 95% water. This mucus is food for good bacteria that help support your digestive health and good bowel motility (11). It’s also quite slippery, which helps food move through our digestive system and allows stools to pass out easily through the bowels. If you don’t drink enough water, your body won’t make enough of this slippery mucus to allow food to pass through your digestive system easily.

Water is also important for keeping the walls of your digestive tract smooth and flexible during peristalsis. When you are dehydrated, your digestive muscles may contract slower, and your bowels become slow and sluggish.

Finally, it’s important to understand that your large intestines reabsorb water. The amount reabsorbed depends on your body's water levels. If you are low on water, your body tries to take back as much as possible. This can leave your stools dry and harder to pass.

But if you struggle to drink enough water, try enhancing the taste with a flavored electrolyte mix.

4. Probiotics

Probiotics are bacteria that live in the body and can help defend it from infections. Because most of the probiotics that naturally live in the body live in the gastrointestinal tract, probiotics found in foods and supplements have long been believed to support digestive health.

According to a systematic review in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, probiotics (12):

• Helped soften stools, making them easier to pass
• Increased the number of weekly bowel movements by 1.3
• Probiotics slowed “gut transit time” (the time it takes for waste to become fecal matter and be eliminated) by 12.4 hours

This review also found that the probiotic Bifidobacterium lactis (B. lactis) may be especially helpful in treating functional constipation.

5. Sleep

As we said earlier, your circadian rhythm plays a huge role in regulating your digestive system.

Getting enough quality sleep can be necessary for the health of the GI tract. In fact, misalignment of your circadian rhythm can lead to poor digestive health conditions, including metabolic syndrome, GERD, inflammatory bowel disease, and others (2). Studies have found that just two days of getting less sleep than you need can negatively impact your gut microbes (13).

Lack of sleep can also affect your food choices and, in turn, the microbes in your gut. Research has shown that people who go to bed earlier and sleep longer have better blood sugar control after eating their first meal the next morning (14). That means they’re less likely to experience significant dips in their blood sugar several hours later.

Blood sugar dips can lead to increased appetite and eating more processed foods, which can negatively affect your gut health (15).

Native Note: If you struggle to get enough sleep, try these 15 tips for a better night’s sleep.