Do you know how to poop properly?

Has modern humans forgotten how to poop properly?

A rise in gut health issues within society, and from my own struggles with my gut, has me asking this question recently.

Do we even know how to poop?

What the purpose of it is?

What the process is, from the moment food enters our mouths and exits as ‘waste’ through our butts?

These are perhaps confronting questions for some, but maybe also quite relevant.

I’ve recently come across one of Thich Nhat Hanh’s book called Silence, and it is once again reminding me how stimulated and ‘switched on’ we are these days. Even a simple act of relieving oneself sometimes can’t be done without a phone or tablet in our hand. Even a book. We need to be doing something while doing something.

Doesn’t make sense right?

However, it is a common occurrence in a modern lifestyle:

• Having the TV on while cooking and/or eating dinner.

• Driving with a music, podcast, the radio or an audio book on over the speakers.

• “Going for a walk” usually doesn’t mean a quiet stroll in the woods or neighbourhood. Usually it means “I’m going outside to move my legs while I listen to something on my phone.” Sometimes it does mean a quiet stroll, but this isn’t common anymore.

• We walk from A to B, which may take all of 10 minutes, and yet we need to look down on our phone at some point during the journey.

• Bus rides! One cannot be with oneself on a bus; the constant advertisements or music or people talking over the speakers ensures the ride is anything but peaceful.

I say all this with absolute acknowledgement that I am not immune to these behaviours. I recognise that isn’t anybody’s fault when these happen. Over-stimulation is a product of a modern society. If there is anyone out there who can contradict this, please get in touch with me, as I would love to learn of stories and places where there is silence within heavily populated areas.

How did I get from poops to advocating for peaceful and silent spaces in modern society?

Welcome to how my mind works, folks.

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Just in case anyone is curious, here are some resources and further readings you can do on these topics:

Importance of Gut Health

• Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ by Giulia Enders (book)

• Why Gut Health Matters More Than You Think (article by Well.org)

• Your Digestive System: 5 Ways to Support Gut Health (article by Hopkins Medicine)

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Somewhere in Between

• The Story of Shit by Midas Dekkers (book)

Pooping Properly

• Are You Pooping Properly? (article by Share MayFlowers)

• Some common questions people may have about pooping? 9 Weird Pooping Habits, Explained By Science (article by The Healthy)

Silence in Modern Society

• In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise by George Prochnik (book)

• Silence: The Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise by Thich Nhat Hanh (book)

• Not quite about silence, but speaks about over-stimulation in today's world Notes on A Nervous Planet by Matt Haig (book)