How Long Does It Take for Mammals to Poop, According to Science
Poop may be a delicate topic for some, but not here at Lifehacker: we have tons of things to say about this topic , from a simple way to force ourselves to poop to judging its shape and color . Today’s poop question? How long does it take to complete a deed, according to science.
A recent study, appropriately titled Soft Matter, found that mammals of different species and sizes take an average of 12 seconds to do their job. This, of course, includes people. The time it took for various animals, regardless of size and mass, to reach finish number two, remained relatively constant, with the fastest at around five seconds and the longest at 19 seconds.
The researchers came to these results after collecting and analyzing 23 videos in which different types of mammals are being released. “There are surprisingly many fecal videos on the web,” one of the researchers, Patricia Young of the Georgia Institute of Technology, told New Scientist . They are mainly tourists who visit zoos to film and upload videos on the Internet, she said. One of the reasons for this constant duration:
Yang also found that normal, low-pressure animals used to push the intestines are permanent and unrelated to the creature’s body mass. This means that the pressure on normal excrement is the same, whether it is a human or a mouse.
For our purposes, your BM duration can be a strong indicator of your overall health. Let’s be clear that the 12 second average does not include your “sitting time”. But if you’ve been sitting there for ages and you have nothing to show, it could be a sign that you have constipation. The only thing you can do is drink enough water . Or, if you run out of battery too quickly, there may be other health problems.
Bonus points if you are reading this article while on the throne.
Defecation Hydrodynamics | Soft Matter (via New Scientist)