What happens to your body when you hold in waste?


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While you may think it’s more convenient to wait for a more suitable time or place to go for a number two, delaying defecation can be more harmful than you think.  Niket Sonpal, M.D.,


assistant clinical professor at Tuoro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York, explained to Women’s Health what happens when you need to go, and why it’s so bad to hold it in.  While


everyone’s schedule and frequency is different, Niket said eating or drinking a cup of coffee can trigger the urge to go - caffeine can act as an intestinal stimulant.  And the process


begins when “stool hits part of the rectum” sending you the signal that you need to go.   If you wait two hours to go, it becomes hard to hold your poo in.  He explained: “In the first few


hours, you’ll feel a sense of abdominal pressure.  “Some people describe it as abnormal cramping, whereas some people have more urgency.”  If you’ve still not gone after six hours, Niket


said your body will eventually start to impact your poo.  Although you might lose the urgency to go, this doesn’t mean it’s disappeared, instead, it means you’re becoming constipated.  If


you hold it in longer than six hours, it can become quite serious, according to Niket.  He said: “I’ve never heard of anyone dying from holding poo, but in adults, voluntarily holding it in


is just going to lead to impaction where the stool is rock hard.”