People always talk about ‘normal’ bowel habits. What constitutes ‘normal’?
Bowel habits are an individual thing. Some people go twice a day, while others may go only every other day. Generally, anything between three times a day and three times a week is considered ‘normal’, although there are perfectly healthy people whose toilet habits fall outside even this broad range. ‘Normal’ is what is normal for you and not anyone else. Judge it by your own daily habits. You can often also tell if you’re bowel habits are ‘normal’ by looking at your faeces (‘poo’) – if they are watery and unformed, this is usually because you have diarrhoea, and if they are hard and pellet-like, and difficult to pass without straining, then this is a sure sign of constipation. A ‘good’ stool is soft, just formed (sausage-like) and tends to float on the surface of the water.
