Man suffers from diarrhea in restroom. Photo: vchal (Getty).
Everyone on this planet has been put in the precarious predicament of having to poop, but not having the opportunity. Maybe facilities weren’t readily available. Perhaps you were on a date or some other social situation where you had one in the chamber, but didn’t want other people to know you went poop. Sure, you’d feel a lot better, but you know in the back of your head that this evacuation is going to take a good 10 to 15 minutes. Can’t risk that on a first date, we get it. But science has chimed in on the dangers of holding in your poop.
Just to be perfectly clear, we are talking about the dangers of having the urge to go, and holding it in. Constipation is a different beast altogether. According to Verywell, the longer your stool is held, the harder it becomes. This can cause tears and fissures in your rectum. And we can all agree that no one wants to bleed-out from a build-up that you piled dinner on top of.
While the occasional “holding in” of your poops won’t cause long-term problems, doing it for days at a time — or on a constant basis — will.
So next time you’re on a date, pretend to take a phone call or say you ran into an old friend in the bathroom. And if you ever find blood in your stool, see a doctor, because there’s never a right time for something like that.
